Wake Up and Smell the Coffee!

Good afternoon everyone and "Happy Hump Day"! We're over Wednesday lunchtime, which means it's downhill to the weekend ...... wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

I know I don't usually do mid-week posts (unless I'm GDTing) but I'd been toying with this card in my mind. And then yesterday, a whole host of challenges popped up in my blog reader and crystallised my thoughts. So this morning I went for a run (OK, if you'd seen me it was more of a waddle ... and then I bumped into 2 students from school, waiting to be picked up to go to their college course; I was looking puce and sweating buckets! Heaven only knows how many sniggers and giggles I'll face tomorrow!) and then went to my yoga class. Came back at lunchtime, knuckled down ... and here's the result of this afternoon's labours:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - pre-made Kraft Card Blank in A6 size
• Design Papers - are from a kit called Comforts of Home by Summer at Summertime Designs.  (I think that's quite appropriate given the image and sentiment don't you!) The bottom layer is called Large Dots Paper and the top layer is called Red Chevron Paper. 
• Image - this lovely image was a digi freebie on The Alley Way Stamps Blog in November 2012
  
  (unfortunately it is no longer available) and I believe it was drawn by Alison Spelman - can't you just smell the coffee? I looks like it probably is now part of a stamp set called Breakfast Club. I die cut around the digi using an oval die before paper piecing it - my TOP TIP here is to make sure your scissors don't have any sticky residue on them which could wreck your fiddly cutting, give them a clean ... I find that a bit of cotton wool soaked in nail polish remover does the trick (and it doesn't involve rummaging in "himself's" shed for the white spirit either!!!!!) The bottom layer and handle are from Small Dots Paper (Comforts of Home kit), the band reminded me of a wrapper you get with a take-away coffee so I paper pieced this from a sheet of Kraft Card and then the heart shape was printed on Red Dots Paper (Comforts of Home kit) - once the heart was stuck on the other layers, I gave it a slick of Glossy Accents to highlight it. I finished the oval off by hand drawing some faux stitching in my metallic Bronze Gel Pen.
• Sentiment -  is by one of my favourite "sentimentalists" and that is Paulette from Create with TLC. This was a recent freebie on her blog ... thank you Paulette. I have put the sentiment into a speech bubble from the Speech Bubbles set, a freebie from Squigglefly. Again, this came under the spell of my trust metallic Bronze pen, and came out the other side with some faux stitching on!
• Ribbon Slider - is made from a length of satin ribbon in sage green and a faux button. This was made from 4 circles punched from Kraft card using my 1.5 cm circle punch which were stuck together, had 2 holes punched through and then slicked with glossy accents which was allowed to dry before threading my ribbon through.

So there you have it - and I'm quite pleased with this afternoon's work! Now I've just got to put the shopping away and cook tea, oh and hide the evidence of this afternoon's crafting session and pretend I've been doing housework :o) !!!!!!!!!

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

• Be Inspired #41 at The Alley Way Stamps
• Challenge #114 - Borrowed Sketch at Top Tip Tuesday - my TOP TIP is above 
• Challenge #73 - Seeing Dots at Little Miss Muffet Challenges
• Get Krafty - Use Kraft Cardstock at Ladybug Crafts Ink
• SFC4513 - Polka Dots at Squigglefly
• Challenge #188 - Add Some Doodling at Craft Your Passion
• #104 - Paper Piecing at Crafty Cardmakers
• Stitching - real or faux at Just Inspirational Challenges
• Challenge #65 - Stitching - real/faux at Crafting for All Seasons

Whatever you're doing this afternoon/evening, have fun!

Hugs, Helen x

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

Gardening with Clementine

Good afternoon friends and I hope you're well on "middle day! This is the end of "Post-fest" ... I've caught up now! However, it also means I've got to return my crafting items to their various hidey-holes as my husband is due back this evening from a business trip.

This post brings with it news of this week's challenge at Incy Wincy Designs where our challenge for you this week is Metal Mania. We would like to see either some Metal added to your project, or your image could have something on it that's made from metal ... so you could use brads, pins, staples, poppers; or an image with a swing, shovel, wagon, or anything else you can think of!

We've been sponsored this week by the wonderful Gerda at The Stamp Fairy and she is offering this week's lucky winner at $10 Gift Certificate to her store! She's also kindly supplied the DT with some wonderful images to showcase, and here is my card featuring metal staples, a paperclip and a watering can on the image:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Ivory which I cut and scored to make a 15cm square card
• Design Papers - are both from the Summertime Paper Collection, which was a magazine freebie. On the floral paper, I used the largest rosette from the "nest" on the Ultimate Pro Embossing Board Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats as a die and embossed this shape onto the DP before cutting it out. I used a corner rounder on the polka dot paper before turning the top corner over to reveal a swatch of the floral paper which I had printed onto the reverse.
  
• Image - this little cutie is called Clementine Spring 3 and she has come from the pen of Gerda at The Stamp Fairy. I've brought this green fingered rabbit to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens and chalks in the following colours:
• Clementine's Fur - EB1, EB2, TN2, TN3, TN4
• Clementine's Hat - Paper Pieced with paper from Summertime Paper Collection
• Watering Can - BGR1, BGR2, BGR3
• Plant Pot - BT4, BT5, BT6
• Flowers - DR4, DR5, DR7, BG8
• Outline - GG1
• Grass - LG3, LG4, LG5
• Sky - Craf-T Chalk in Light Blue
• Sentiment - is by Paulette at Create with TLC. I superimposed the word art onto a banner shape in my word processing programme and, once it was printed and cut out, I gently distressed the edges with some Craf-T Chalk in Red before stapling it to the base DP.
• Twine - from my stash and coloured using a Spectrum Noir Pen in shade DR5
• Staples and Paperclip - are from my desk!

I hope you'll head over to Incy Wincy Designs and check out the very creative metallic projects from my team-mates, this month's Guest Designer Winnie and our very special Guests, Annette and Céline from the Stamp Fairy DT. Don't forget to come back and show us your creations which have Metal Mania! This challenge ends on Sunday 26th May 2012.

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

• Challenge #20 - Anything Goes with Optional Sketch at 613 Avenue Create ... I followed the sketch!
• Challenge #57 - Animals at Dream Valley Challenges
• If The Paper Fits (Paper Piecing) at Papertake Weekly
• Challenge #128 - Circles at Penny's Paper-Crafty
• May Challenge - Anything Goes at Chalk N Stock

Have a great afternoon everyone!

Hugs, Helen x

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