Flowers for you

Good evening crafty friends and hope this post finds you well.

It's New Release Inspiration Day from the second half of the blog team over at All Dressed Up and Wendy has designed 4 wonderful images perfect for all kinds of card, including those "oh-so-tricky" early teenage boys. Here are the images:

From top left going in a clockwise direction there is Busy Little Bee, Little Squeak, Surfs Up and Summer Time - just click on the image name to be taken straight to it in the shop!

I've used Little Squeak for my card this month (as we have a little squeaky house guest with us, having his own holiday whilst his family are away!) and here it is:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a pre-made card base in A6 size
• Design Paper - is from a freebie Brambly Hedge download by Crafter's Companion way back in May 2013. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be on the website any longer 😞
  
• Image - is Little Squeak created by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps Esty Store. I have brought this cutie to life using my Spectrum Noir markers  using some of the techniques for texture in the March 2017 Monthly Class from Kit and Clowder before die cutting it using one of my Die'sire Create-a-Card "Emma" dies
• Sentiment - is by Lili of the Valley and comes from the Swirly String Sentiment Set. As mine is a clear stamp rather than digi, I have stamped it directly onto my DP using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
• Ribbon - is from my stash and tied into a double bow using the bow maker on my Ultimate Pro

I hope that I have inspired you to head over to the ADU shop and treat yourself to some of these images, but do head over to the All Dressed Up Challenge Blog to see the other wonderful creations using these 4 new images.

Don't forget that we're hosting our usual Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image challenge on the Blog and that our Facebook Teamies are hosting their own challenge for August and the theme is Girlz Rule with an All Dressed Up Image.

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

• Favourite Embellishment and Why at As You Like It Challenge - ummmmm, embellishments? They're the things that everyone puts on their cards to make them look gorgeous and if I try the same, mine look like something the dog brought in - right?!!!!!!! 😅 Having said that, even I can make a piece of ribbon look nice courtesy of the bow making prongs on my Ultimate Pro and a big double bow like on this card hides a multitude of sins, including the fact that my die cut has a straight edge underneath the bow - shhhhhh, don't tell anyone will you!!!!!!!
• Challenge #40 - Animal Kingdom at Craft Rocket Challenges
• Week 429 - Forest Friends at Allsorts Challenge Blog
• Challenge #5 - Anything Goes but Feature a Creature at 2 Crafty Critter Crazies
• Challenge #5 - Anything Goes but must have something related to an Animal at Crafty Animals
• Animals at Dragonfly Dreams

And just in case you were wondering about our house guest, here's a pic of Willy the guinea pig enjoying some spinach!

That's all from me for now - enjoy the rest of your week.

Hugs, Helen x

On Your Bike

Good morning crafty friends and hope this post finds you well. After a month's hiatus, I'm back - things got a bit hectic as usual as we approached the end of term at school and then we went to France for a camping holiday the evening we broke up (not to be recommended I can assure you!) and although most of my DT creations were made and posted on the respective DT blogs, somehow I didn't seem to get the time to post them here at Casa Mia. However, now the summer hols are here, normal service should be resumed 😄!

We'll kick things off with the new challenge over at Feeling Sketchy which starts today. This month we're being sponsored by Diane from Di's Digi Stamps. Diane is very kindly offering the lucky winner of this challenge a US$12 Voucher to spend in her store - thank you Diane!

Here is the sketch for this challenge:

And here is my take on it:

We haven't been using sponsor products for this challenge, so everything is from my stash. My card recipe is as follows:

• Base card - is a pre-made A6 card base in white
• Paper - is from the Crafter's Companion May 2015 Club Inspire download called Springtime Florals. I have used this pretty sprigged floral paper and inked the edges using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink to add definition
  
• Topper- is also from the Springtime Florals download and again has been edge distressed using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink
• Flowers - are another part of the Springtime Florals download and I have fussy cut them before adhering them to my project
• Border - is embossed using a border embossing folder from the current (September 2017) issue of Cardmarking and Papercraft magazine. I have embossed this onto a piece of yellow Core'dinations card and then (following a raid on Papa Mia's shed ... shushhhh, don't tell him will you 😏 ) carefully sanded the raised part to reveal the white coloured core.
• Sentiment - is another border embossing folder from the September 2017 issue of Cardmarking and Papercraft magazine. I have embossed this onto a piece of Neenah cardstock and cut it into a pennant shape before very carefully going over the embossed lines with my AB2 Spectrum Noir Marker Pen

I hope that I have inspired to you to have a go with this sketch and join in the fun at Feeling Sketchy this time, however if you're need of any further inspiration please head over to the blog and check out the other wonderful creations by my clever teamies. Then come back and show us your take on our sketch - don't forget that you can flip or rotate the sketch or change the shapes ... we just need to see that you've been inspired by our sketch. We'll be back with our new challenge on 1st September.

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

• Challenge #87 - Embossing Wet or Dry at Crafting with Dragonflies
• Challenge #5 - Flower Power at SheepSki Designs Challenge
• Challenge #53 - Pretty Pastels at Cardz 4 Galz
• Challenge #490 - Embossing at Cute Card Thursday
• Challenge 47 - F is for Flowers at Sunny Day Crafting
• Challenge 69 - Anything Goes with the option of Girly at The Crafty Addicts
• Challenge #235 - Flowers at Ooh La La Creations
• Flower Fancy Challenge at Di's Digi Challenge

I'll be back a little later with my next DT card - in the meantime, enjoy your Tuesday!

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

Walkies!

Good afternoon blogging buddies and I hope that this post finds you well. If's nearly the end of the Easter holidays here at Casa Mia, but I'm going to enjoy the weekend!

Over at All Dressed Up this afternoon, it's time to see how the second half of the Dressy DT have inspired everyone using the New Release Images for April. As usual, Wendy has outdone herself with some stunning digis, and here they are:

The new images are Butterfly Bunny (top left), Happy 40/50/60th (top right) - and yes you really do get all 3 images for the price of one!, Pretty in Plaits (bottom left) and Spring Walks (bottom right). The links will take you directly to the image in Wendy's Etsy shop.

I've been lucky enough to play with Spring Walks, and here is my card for your inspiration:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Centura Pearl Ivory cardstock which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card base
• Design Papers - are from the Crafter's Companion Club Inspire October 2016 Download of the Month Times Gone By. This set of shabby chic style papers is a "card companion" meaning all you have to do is press print and affix the result to your card (ideal if you're card making in a hurry) but all 3 papers come individually in the download too, together with some sentiments and ephemera.
  
• Image - is Spring Walks and this girlie and her canine friends out for a walk (perhaps in the Bois de Boulogne 😉!) come from the pen of Wendy Burns, the artist behind All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. I have brought this trio to life using my Spectrum Noir Markers Pens in the listed colours, before fussy cutting them out and adding them to my card.
• Skin - FS2, FS3, FS4, TN4, FS8 (Blush)
• Hair - TN3, EB3, EB8, AP4, Silver Gel Pen
• Top - AP1, AP2, AP4
• Trousers - EB1, EB2, Blender Pen
• Sandals - EB2, EB6
• Small Dog - EB2, EB3, EB6, EB8
• Large Dog - EB1, EB2, EB6, AP4
• Flowers - AP2, AP4, CG2
• Grass - CG2, CG3
• Outline - BT1
• Flower - is made from the same Times Gone By paper as the top layer of my card companion. I have used my Die'sire Classiques Delicate Flower die and then bent all of the petals over to give a 3D effect. I have also popped a small silver gem from my stash in the centre of the flower.

Please do head over to the All Dressed Up Blog where you can see all the New Release Images showcased by the Dressy Girls. And when you've treated yourself to this image, don't forget that the Blog Challenge is running until 14th May where it is always Anything Goes with an All Dressed up Image and the Facebook Dressy Girls have their own challenge and the theme until the end of April is Feature a Creature - this image would be perfect!

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

• Favourite Colour and Why at As You Like It Challenge - I always seem to have a large area of neutral colour on my cards at the mo, and brown/tan/beige/cream seems to be fitting the bill nicely because these neutral shades tone in well with many other colours, pink in the case of this card
• Challenge #49 - Easter/Spring at Animal Friends Challenge
• Challenge #1 - Anything Goes at Crafty Animals
• Challenge #7 - Spring is in the Air at Daisy Chain Challenges
• April Challenge - Shabby Chic or Vintage at Eclectic Ellapu
• Challenge #91 - Your Favourite Colour Combo at Sparkles Monthly Challenge - pink and brown are a classic shabby chic combo and one of my "go to" combo's when inspiration is lacking! I was helped by the card companion here in just the right shades to go with the Vintage AP colours of the girl's top
• April Showers and/or Spring at Crafty Calendar Challenge
• Use Something Digital at Di's Digi Designs Challenge - the image and my papers are digital compositions

I hope you enjoy the weekend!

Hugs, Helen x

Bunny and me

Good afternoon crafty friends and happy Thinking Day/Founder's Day to any friends who are current or former members of any Girl Guide Association or the Scout Association!

To those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, today would have been the birthdays of Lord Robert Baden-Powell (founder of the Scout and Guide movements) and his wife Olave who became the first World Chief Guide. Today is the day when Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Senior Section members and all leaders are encouraged to participate in activities to learn more about their fellow Guides and Girl Scouts all over the world. Although I'm no longer in uniform, I have been very lucky to have been chosen to represent Girlguiding UK abroad 3 times and I have to say, there is something very, very special about singing Taps at the end of a campfire with 50 other members from many, many different countries, each young woman singing in her mother tongue but to the same tune. Just writing about it now, is making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up! Once a Guide, always a Guide and it is something still special to me.

February sees us celebrating the first new release of 2017 over at All Dressed Up and this month, Wendy has brought us some wonderful images celebrating Love. Of course, Valentine's Day has been and gone for this year, but these delightful images would be a great addition to your stash:

Top left is Love Heart, top right is Some Bunny Loves Me, bottom left is Be My Valentine and bottom right is Little Birdie all available now over at the All Dressed Up Digital Stamps Etsy store.


I have been lucky enough to play with Some Bunny Loves Me, and here's my card:

I've made a K-card which, once made, looks like a variant of a swing card.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - 2 pieces of A5 lightweight card onto which I've printed my papers which came from the January 2017 Download of the Month at Crafter's Companion and this collection is called Be Mine. The front portion of the card has been scored to make an A6 card base, and the middle portion of the card was scored in a concertina fold. I then used the heart embossing shape on my Ultimate Pro to emboss my K/swing portion, cut half of this out and brought it to the front of my card (if you click on the image closeup photo, you can just see the cut marks around the left edge of the white heart!).
  
• Image - is the utterly gorgeous Some Bunny Loves Me by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. I brought this cutie and her little rabbit friend to life using my Spectrum Noir Alcohol Marker Pens in the listed shades, before embossing round them using the same heart shaped template on my Ultimate Pro, cutting them out and fixing them to the swinging portion of my card.
• Skin - FS2, FS3, FS4, TN4, FS8 (Blush)
• Hair - TN3, EB3, EB8
• Bunny and Girl's Bunny Ears - GB8, GB9, GB10, PP3, PP5
• Top - IG1, IG2
• Skirt, Scarf, Hair and Shoe Bows - BT3, BT5, BT9
• Shoes and Belt - True Black
• Pull Along Cart - CR7, CR9, CR11
• Grounding - IG2

So, a really clean and simplish card from me this time; just letting the pretty papers and adorable image speak for themselves 😊

For more ideas using these beautiful images, please head over to the All Dressed Up Blog to check out the other gorgeous creations from my talented teamies and the first half of the Blog Dressy girls showcased these images here.

Don't forget that we've got our current Blog Challenge Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image running until 14th March 2017, and the All Dressed Up Facebook Group have their own challenge of Romance and/or Red - why not combine the two by using one of Wendy's newly released images?

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

• February 2017 Challenge - Anything Goes with bonus theme of Love/Friendship at Spectrum Noir Facebook Page
• Friday Challenge 72 - Any Kind of Hearts at Quick Quotes - there are hearts on my card front on the DP and also my aperture and image are heart shaped!
• Challenge #5 - Have a Heart at Daisy Chain Challenges
• February Challenge - All You Need Is Love at Dare2BArtzy
• February Challenge - Love is in the Air at Crafty Calendar Challenge
• Challenge #108 - Simply Love at The Cutie Pie Challenge
• Love/Romance Challenge at Whoopsi Daisy Challenge
• Challenge #124 - Love at Simply Create Too
• February Challenge - Love/Romance at Craftaholics R Us
• Challenge #56 - Love is in the Air at Paper Creator

Hope you have a great evening!

Hugs, Helen x

Elegant in Cream

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

Good morning crafty friends and a Happy New Year to you all!

I hope you had a fantastic festive season - here at Casa Mia we had a lovely, if slightly quiet, time as some of our engagements were cancelled due to others succumbing to the dreaded cold and flu! However, every cloud has a silver lining and ours was that the Bambinos wanted to play family games. So we've spent most evenings round the dining table with either Cludeo, Mousetrap or Scattegories out and had a fab time. Back to earth tomorrow with a bump though as school starts again 😃

We're running a day late over at Feeling Sketchy as Cathy has been away for New Year, but we're delighted to bring you our first sketch of 2017. We don't have a sponsor for this challenge, so Cathy will be arranging a Gift Certificate for our lucky winner. 

And here's the sketch we're playing with, as drawn by Michelle:

And here's my take on it:

Sadly, I had need for this card and it should already be with it's recipient 😢

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - black cardstock which I cut, scored and folded to make DL size with the fold at the top
• Layered card - is Ivory Centura Pearl which is ½cm smaller all round than my DL card base
• Papers - are from the March 2012 Crafter's Companion Club Inspire Download Rose with Love. I used the cream coloured Rose paper from the download and die cut  these using my smallest wonky square from my Die'sire Elegance Stamping Frame Die. I cut a small slit into the bottom right square so I could insert the tags.
  
• Sentiment - is part of the cover gift from the January 2017 issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine which I stamped onto a tag which I had embossed using my Ulti Bags Ultimate Pro Embossing Board
• Flourish - is another old Die'sire Die, this one is called Leaf Swirls and I cut this from the same black cardstock as the base
• Small Tags and Dragonfly - are dies which came from my Crafter's Companion Advent Calendar 2016. I cut these both from Ivory Centura Pearl and curled the dragonfly's wings to give it a bit of dimension. I also added a small Silver Gem from my stash.

I hope I've inspired you to have a go and play along with this sketch, but if you're in need of further inspiration do head over to the Feeling Sketchy Blog where my talented teamies are showcasing some great creations. Then come back and show us your take on our sketch. We'll be back with our next challenge on 15th January 2017.

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

• It's all New at Whoopsi Daisy - my Sentiment is brand new as are the 2 small dies from my crafty Advent Calendar!

I'll catch you a bit later, as I have another blog post going live today.

Hugs, Helen x

Stars and Stripes

Good morning crafty friends and hope that this post finds you well.

It's 1st December which means Christmas is this month - yikes !!!!!!!! I'll be putting the decorations up in the office tomorrow as we've only got a couple of weeks left at school now and had also better get a wriggle on with our family preparations, although the majority of the present buying has been done - just need to wrap them now 😂 !

Being the 1st of the month, means it's also new challenge time at Feeling Sketchy and this time, Cathy has gone nice and simple for everyone - it's Keep Calm because Anything Goes! As usual we have a sponsor and prize pack for this challenge, so do come over and play along with us!

Now I had a, OK another "senior moment" when creating this card because I made it when we were still debating what we were doing for this challenge. So I have created using a past sketch for inspiration - I have gone back to Challenge #122 back in June 2015 here at Feeling Sketchy and used the following sketch:

And here is my card for you:

I needed a male birthday card for my B-i-L and this seems to have done the job perfectly 😉

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Kraft card which I cut, scored and folded to make an A5 card with the fold at the top
• Papers - are part of the great Just For Men Signature Collection by Sara Davies at Crafter's Companion, however you can try out these papers and some of the elements for free by getting the Rock Star - June 2016 Download of the Month. I've used 3 of the 4 papers in the download (wide stripes, ledger paper and stars for one of my stars!)
  
• File Tab - comes from the Die'sire Essentials Just the Ticket die set and I have cut this out of Kraft card and then popped it under the ledger paper. Although it doesn't show very well, I used some foam pads under the tab to lift it off the card.
• Circles - were created using (and please don't spill your tea/coffee etc. here) an upturned glass tealight holder which was just the right size for my ledger paper 😂. I inked the rim with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and used it to stamp the 4 circles
• Sentiment - comes from a Sheena Douglass Perfect Partners Victorian Floral - Poppy stamp set which came with my Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 7. I again used Memento Tuxedo Black Ink to ink up the sentiment, which fitted inside my circles perfectly!
• Stars - were created from Kraft card and the star paper from the Rock Star Download and my Die'sire Essentials Stars dies in several sizes before being attached to the card, both flat and raised up a bit.

I hope I've inspired you to come along and join in with our Keep Calm because Anything Goes! challenge at Feeling Sketchy, but if you're in need of further inspiration (both seasonal and general) then do head over to the challenge blog and check out the great creations by my wonderful team mates. Then come back and show us your creations. We'll be back with our final challenge of 2016 on 15th December.

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

• Challenge #148 - Something Beginning with T at Cardz4Guyz - My "T" is for tab

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

Hugs, Helen x

Live, Laugh, Love

Good morning my crafty friends, and doesn't it feel like we need a bit of love in the world right now? My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by Friday night's atrocities in Paris, a city I love having lived there for 3 years as a girl.

It's new challenge time at Feeling Sketchy and we've got another lovely sketch for you this week. But before I reveal the sketch, I guess you'd like to know who is sponsoring this week's challenge?

It's the lovely Jodie and team from Bugaboo Digital Stamps who have very kindly offered the DT members their choice of digi from the store ... thank you! Don't forget that everyone's a winner with Freebie Fridays at Bugaboo - while you're there don't forget to check out all the wonderful digis that Jodie has ... there's bound to be one to suit every occasion!

Right then, here's this week's sketch as drawn by our talented teamie Michelle:

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

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - pre-made in white cardstock, approx 14.8cm square
• Papers - are from the April 2015 Crafter's Companion Club Inspire download called "Spring is Here". I have digitally created the papers layout, even adding shadows to the right sides and bottom of the yellow and checked layers to give a bit of depth.
• Images - are the Butterfly Live Laugh Love Trio by Jodie at Bugaboo Digital Stamps. I resized these so the fitted the checked paper strip and my die ;o), and then printed them out. I used my smallest Die'sire Essentials Circles die to cut these butterflies out, before I fixed them to my card.
• Flower - is made from the largest and middle sized dies in my Die'sire Essentials Flowers for all Occasions set and some deep red Core'dinations card and then I've added a clear to the centre of the flower.
• Butterfly - is the largest butterfly in the Die'sire Essentials Beautiful Butterflies die set (unfortunately I can't find this for sale any longer) which I cut from Snow White Centrua Pearl card. I edged the wings with my new Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen Inspired Violet (which is available as part of the Spring - Summer Sparkle Pack).

For more fabulous inspiration for this sketch, please head over to Feeling Sketchy and see what my incredibly talented teamies have created! Then come back and show us your creations following our sketch. Remember, you can flip or rotate the sketch, change the shapes ... we just need to be able to see that you've used our sketch!

I would like to enter my cards into the following challenges:

• CMC#74 - Colour Combo at Card Mania Challenges
• Challenge 4 - Anything Goes/Use Die Cuts at The Crafty Addicts
• Use a Stamp or Digi Image Somewhere on your Project at Crafts Galore Encore
• Friday Challenge 57 - Things with Wings at Quick Quotes

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Hugs, Helen x

Thanks a Latte!

Hi friends!

Hope you are well today and not overwhelmed by the wet weather that seems to have hit the UK. Yesterday, Papa Mia's weather station recorded over an inch of rain in 24 hours ... it's a far cry from the gorgeous sunshine we experienced last week!

As promised in yesterday's post, I'm back today with another inspiration card for the current challenge at Incy Wincy Designs. Just as a recap, this week's challenge is Thankful for you so we're looking for your projects which say "Thank you"!

Today I'm showcasing an image from our second sponsor, who is our very own Nikki from Limited Runs Digital Stamps. In yesterday's post, I used an image drawn by Emma Canning from Flat Friends Boutique. Both ladies are very kindly offering a prize pack, so we'll have 2 lucky winners on Monday! 

For this card I've been inspired by 2 current challenges: the first is the World Card Making Day Special Challenge at Feeling Sketchy (which Cathy invited us DT girls to take part in) and the second is the current sketch at Sketch Saturday which, being CAS, is right up my street!

So, without further ado here is today's card for you:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Kraft cardstock which has been cut, scored and folded to a 9.9cm square card
• Paper - is from the October Club Inspire download from Crafter's Companion which is called Autumn Days. I edge distressed the paper with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink, just to make it stand out from the base card
  
• Image - is by Nikki at Limited Runs Digital Stamps and it's called Coffee Addicts #3. I have brought this winter warmer to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours before fussy cutting the cup out:
• Cup - GT1, GT2, GT3
• Label & Bands - GB5, GB6, GB7
• Frosting - TN6, Blender Pen
• Sentiment - has been CASE'd from Bugaboo's Coffee Time - Thanks a Latte image and sentiment set. However because Jodi's sentiment didn't fit the sketch layout, I've retyped this in my word processing package using a free font called Coffee House and coloured it to tie in with the colour swatch. I cut the sentiment into a fishtail banner shape, before distressing the edge with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink.

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and check out the wonderful creations by my fab team mates ... also, please say farewell to Amy who is leaving us after this challenge :o(  Bye Amy, I shall miss your gorgeous creations.

As a result, we are having a DT Call! Sooooooo, if you're interested in joining our fun team (and we do have fun!), please send an email to incywincychallenge@hotmail.com with a link to your site, and tell us a little bit about yourself!!! No DT experience is necessary - we are just looking for HAPPY crafters who like to have a good time. You must be able to work with digital images and be able to create on a weekly basis.


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

• World Card Making Day Special Colour Challenge at Feeling Sketchy
• Week #381 at Sketch Saturday
• Challenge #161 - Autumn Leaves/Colours of Fall at Eureka Stamps
• Fall is in the Air at Melonheadz Friends
• Monday Challenge - Autum is in the Air at Simon Says Stamp Challenge
• October Challenge - Brown or Kraft at Stamp and Create Challenges

Hope you have a great rest of the week!

Hugs, Helen x 

Très Jolie!

Good morning friends; hope you are well. It's the last week of the school summer holidays, back to it next week but before then we've got a bank holiday here in the UK! Whoo hoo!!!!! Then I don't feel quite so guilty for poor PapaMia!

It's new challenge time at Incy Wincy Designs and this week it's all about the one special day everyone has each year - our theme for you is Birthday Wishes. 

We have been sponsored by the oh-so-lovely Wendy Burns at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps, I can say that she's lovely as I was fortunate enough to win a bundle of her stamps in a challenge win earlier this year and as it occurred at the time that MiL was recuperating from her knee op, I was rather delayed in claiming my prize. Wendy was so sweet and patient with me, so it's both a pleasure and a treat being able to showcase her stunning designs! Wendy is also providing this week's lucky winner with a prize pack of 2 Digis.

Wendy very kindly gave the DT a couple of digis to showcase, but I've used one of the images from my win, and here is my card:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is Ivory Centura Pearl which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card
• Papers - are from a Crafter's Companion Club Inspire download from August 2013 called Parisien Florals.
  
• Image - is called Party Frock and she is by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps - not only is this image fabulous for teen/girlie birthday cards, but I think she would be awesome for a Prom card too! I coloured this very elegant girl using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours before die cutting her using my largest Die'sire Essentials Ovals die.
• Skin - FS2, FS3, TN2
• Hair - GB8, GB10, EB5, EB8
• Dress - PP1, PP3, PP5, DR3, CG1, CG2, DG3
• Shoes - CG1, CG2
• Outline - BT1
• Sentiment - is from the Sentiment Stamp Set which came with the Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 6. I stamped this onto Neenah Cardstock and then stencilled round the inside of the medium oval tag from the Die'sire Tags One set - unfortunately I can't find this set available for purchase any longer. I used the same die to cut out the tag from Ivory Centura Pearl and mounted the stamped sentiment oval to this, and then threaded 2 lengths of twine (from my stash) through this to fix the tag to the card. 

This card has already gone to it's recipient, who I know is delighted with it :o) !

For more Birthday Wishes inspiration, please head over to Incy Wincy Designs and see what wonderful projects my talented teamies have created. Then come back and show us your creations - this challenge ends on Sunday 30th August 2015.

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

• Challenge #98 - Use a Sentiment at Chocolate, Coffee & Cards
• Challenge #153 - Use a Die Cut at QKR Stampede
• Challenge #278 - Use a Digi at Robyn's Fetish Challenge
• Challenge #231 - Utterly Feminine at Corrosive Challenge
• Challenge #151 - One for the Girls at A Gem of a Challenge
• Challenge #39 - Anything Goes with an ADU Image at All Dressed Up Challenges

Have a great week!

Hugs, Helen x

From the Catwalk

Good morning friends ... hope you are all well this morning. I would like to welcome 2 new followers to my blog - Karen who is following via blogger, and Patti who is following via e-mail ... welcome to my little corner of blogland ladies, and I hope you enjoy the inspiration I share!

I'm going to be scheduling this post as I've got a Target Setting Review appointment at school with youngest bambino and her form tutor first thing, then it's off to the gym for a quick run on the "trotmill" (I'm doing a bit of Fartlek at the moment ... and no, I'm not swearing! It's where you run really fast for a short burst and then go more slowly, fast, slow and so on for around 20 minutes) before heading into my regular Yoga class.

I'm ever so excited to be bringing you the first New Release from Sophia's Sweet Scribbles and this release is going to get you all heading over to buy it, as we're bringing you The Fashion Collection.

These 6 different dresses will be totally perfect for all the ladies in your life, and I'm thrilled to be showcasing The Day Dress:

This card really has been so very simple to put together, just to demonstrate that with the right materials you can have a great card in next to no time!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is pre-made in white card, around 14.7cm square
• Papers - come from the May 2015 Club Inspire free download by Crafter's Companion. This collection is called Springtime Florals and I have used one of the Card Companions from the set.
  
• Image - is by the very talented Larissa at Sophia's Sweet Scribbles and is called The Day Dress. To bring this dress to life, I paper pieced it using the same dotty paper from the Card Companion only I've reduced the scale to make the dots smaller and closer together. I've used my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours to bring the dress and dress form to life, before fussy cutting it out.
• Dress - GT2, Blender Pen, Silver Gel Pen (to give a light lacy effect to the top portion of the bodice)
• Dress Form - EB1, EB2, Blender Pen
• Outline - GT1
• Sentiment - is by Debbie at The Crafty Pad and comes from the Stitching Ticket Sentiments Set. I have put a slit in each end of the ticket so I could thread it onto an oddment of gold coloured satin ribbon I found in my stash (courtesy of a bargain £1 bag from Hobbycraft I think!) to make a ribbon slider

I hope you'll come over to the Sophia's Sweet Scribbles Store, Sweet Scribblers! Facebook Fan Group and Sophia's Sweet Scribbles Official Website and see the other wonderful creations from my very talented teamies! Also, at the Official Website, Larissa is very kindly giving you a chance to own 2 digis from this fabulous collection.


And finally, we're having a DT call ... would you like to join us and create with these and other wonderful images? If so, head over to the Sweet Scribblers! Facebook Fan Group for all the details. We'd love for you to join us!

I would like to enter the following challenges:

• AIMPDC6 - Anything Goes with a Digital Image at Doodle Pantry
• Challenge 328 - Card for a Girl at Everybody Art Challenge
• June Challenge (with Nikki Burnette) - Girls, Girls, Girls at Crafty Times Challenges
• Challenge 155 - Seeing Spots at Wags 'n' Whiskers
• Challenge #127 Anything Goes with the optional twist of Make Something for your BFF at 613 Avenue Create
• Paper Piecing Challenge at Come and Get It Challenges
• Challenge 6 - Always Anything Goes at Simply Papercraft Challenges

Hope you have a great day!

Hugs, Helen x