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

Sass-i-tude!!!!!

Good morning friends and I hope this post finds you well. Well after the wind, rain and hail this weekend, yesterday evening was dry and clear. I hope this is a precursor to some better weather .... but I'm not holding my breath! My heart goes out to anyone who's been wind or rain affected, and I hope you get sorted soon.

I've had a couple of weeks away from blogging as I hurt my neck and couldn't manage to stay in one position long enough to craft. However, all is well now so I'm back with the launch of the new challenge this morning at Incy Wincy Designs. I'm really looking forward to seeing your creations this week as we want you to go Sassy and Sexy.

We've got 2 amazing sponsors this week who have both offered a prize, so there'll be 2 happy crafters next Monday!

Our first sponsor is My Creative Classroom who are offering our first lucky winner a seat to a Workshop Class of their choice, and here is a little about them:

My Creative Classroom is an online arts and crafts learning center. Our interactive and in-depth courses are instructor led and filled with wonderful projects and techniques to help you get the most out of your supplies.  Our Spring 2014 Semester is under way and will offer well over 100 courses. Along with our Traditional Instructor-led Workshop Classes we have also added Self-Paced Workshops. We've recently added more classes to our Library, which offers retired classes at 40%-50% off regular price.

 We have opened our brand new challenge blog, My Creative Life 2014 , which will issue challenges to help us use all of our supplies this year. Along with that is the companion course with the same title, which is FREE to our newsletter subscribers. Come join in on the fun and test drive MCC.

We are excited to be sponsoring Incy Wincy Designs Challenge. You can view our entire class list on our website at My Creative Classroom. You can also view classes on our Facebook Page too! One lucky winner will receive a free seat to a Workshop class of their choice.....Good Luck!

Our second sponsor is Lindsay at Sassy Studio Designs who is offering our second lucky winner 4 Digital Images of their choice. Lindsay has also very kindly given the DT their choice of image to use for this challenge (Thanks Lindsay!) so if you're spoilt for choice, head over to Incy Wincy Designs and check out the inspiration from the DT.

Here is my card for you, featuring Bubble Gum Sassy:

I'm not sure about how sexy she is, but she sure is SASSY!

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. 
• Backing Paper - is from a set by Summer at Summertime Designs called Freedom. I've used a paper
  
  called Stars. 
• Heart Shape - is also from the Freedom kit and I've digitally layered it onto the paper
• Image - this girl with sass-itude is Bubble Gum Sassy by Lindsay at Sassy Studio Designs. I have brought her to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Skin - FS2, FS3, PP5
• Hair - GB8, GB10
• Top - DR5, DR7
• Trousers - EB1, EB2, Colourless Blender, TB3
• Sneakers - TB3
• Bubble - Craf-T Chalk in Pale Pink
• Outline - BT1, IG2
• Sentiment - is by Paulette at Create with TLC which was a freebie only a couple of weeks ago. When I saw it (knowing I had this image to use) I knew it would be totally perfect!
• Twine - from my stash wrapped around the card 3 times and tied in a handmade bow

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and be tempted to join us on this challenge sharing your Sassy and Sexy projects. This challenge will end on Sunday 16th February 2013.


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

• Challenge #193 - Katrina's Sketch at Sunday Sketch and Stamp - I've flipped the sketch so it suited the direction the image was facing and used a heart instead of the circular shape
• Include a Sentiment Challenge at Whoopsi Daisy Challenge
• Make it Girly at Come and Get It Challenges
• Challenge #27 - One Heart at Challenges and Candies Blog
• Challenge #20 - Showcase (and Explain) Your Favourite Style at As You Like It Challenge - OK, where to start on explaining my favourite style? 
• A square card base - check! 
• Digital Papers from a co-ordinating set, which means I can play with re-sizing, and layering papers/images to get my layout - check! 
• Coloured image, OK so I know my colouring isn't the best (still can't get a 'glossy look' to hair) but I have managed a lighter patch on this girl's trousers - check! 
• Minimal Embellishments, so they don't overpower either the image or papers - check! 
• Sentiment from my "Go To Sentiment Mistress" - check! 
• That must be my favourite style then .... not necessarily CAS but everything showcased to perfection - check! :o)

Have a crafty 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

Away with the fishes ... ?

Good morning friends - hope you are well and stayed safe in last Monday's stormy weather.

The Half Term holidays have come (... and gone!), and I'm back to school today. Scary to think that the next time I'll get some time off is the Christmas Holidays. Eeeeeeeekkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eldest came home from New York safely on Friday - she had an amazing time but was absolutely pooped and slept for 14 hours that night! They only had a delay of an hour flying out which wasn't due to the weather at all, but a medical emergency who had be evacuated from the flight and "de-bagged". I think she's smitten with NYC, and would love to return.

It being a Monday morning, it's time for a new challenge time at Incy Wincy Designs, and this week our challenge is for you to use Ribbon, Twine or Fibres. Our sponsors this week are Lindsay and her lovely team from Sassy Studio Designs who are giving this week's lucky winner 4 Digital Images!



Lindsay has also kindly given us some images to "play with" this week (thank you!), and here is my card for you:

Hmmmmm ... this looks like another photo "di-sas-ter". Will get a better shot during daylight hours and post it!

My card recipe is follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Ivory which I cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card.
• Design Papers - are from a kit called She Sells Sea Shells by Summer at Summertime Designs
• Image - this very surprised youngster is called Little Honeys - The Little Mermaid and she comes from the pen of Lindsay at Sassy Studio Designs. My Little Mermaid was brought to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours before being fussy cut:
• Hair - GB7,GB8,GB10, CR4, CR5, CR6 (I'm still not sure that I've got the 'light shine' in hair right, but I'll keep trying!)
• Skin - FS2, FS3, CR5, BT4
• Shell Bikini - CR5, CR6
• Fin - BT4, BT5, BT6
• Outline - BT1
• Shell - is an embellishment from the She Sells Sea Shells kit, which I fussy cut and then slicked on some Glossy Accents to make it stand out!
• Ribbon - white organdie with a Satin Trim from my stash

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and look at the other gorgeous creations by my team mates and this month's Guest Designer Sandy together with our Special Guest Designer Annette. Then don't forget to come back and show us your creations featuring Ribbon, Twine or Fibres!

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

• Challenge 14 - Case your Favourite Designer at As You Like It Challenges OK, this probably is not so much casing but more like stalking!!!! This designer's blog was one of the first I followed when I ventured into 'Blogland' and I am always totally blown away by her absolutely wonderful creations. I can only aspire to be able to create "gorgeousness" as well as she does, but now she has started making more C&S creations, I can at least attempt to be as creative as her! The designer I'm casing is ..... Annette 

Have a good week.

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!

Oh Baby!

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

Morning all and hope you're all well!

What a busy day yesterday was, and I'm sooooo veeeery sorry that I didn't get to finalise my posts and get them up and running on here - second week running that I've been late too. Hmmmm - bad me!!!!! However, today is a new day and I'm hoping to not only get caught up but also to get ahead and try and schedule next week's posts too! Wish me luck :o)

Anyway, there's a new challenge started at Incy Wincy Designs and this one's a fab topic - Butterflies and Bows. 

We have got 2 totally amazing sponsors for you this week ... just a shame I can't enter our own competition!

First, we're welcoming Heather Valentin from Lacy Sunshine Stamps . This is Heather's first time sponsoring one of our challenges, and she is offering one lucky winner a $20 Gift Certificate to her store. And with sooooo many gorgeous images to choose from, I can guarantee that you'll be spoilt for choice. Heather also has a retiring section with a number of her digital images priced at just $1, so there is no excuse for not topping up your stash! 

Our second sponsor is perennial favourite, Krista from Saturated Canary who is offering our second lucky winner 2 digital images from her store.

Both of our lovely sponsors very kindly offered the DT their choice of image to use this week. However a number of my teamies, like me, had sooooooooo much trouble choosing between Heather's images and Krista's images that we had to do one of each! 

So here is my first card for this challenge, and this one features one of Krista's gorgeous images:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Ivory onto which I embossed the largest Butterfly shape from my    Crafter's Companion Ultimate Pro. Once I had cut out this shape, having left 2 hinges at the top of the wings, I then cut the reverse of the card the the same outline.
  
• Image - this beautiful baby is called Butterfly Baby and she comes from the pen of Krista at Saturated Canary. This little cutie has been brought to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Hair - GB7, GB8
• Face - FS1, FS2, BT2, CR3
• Baby Grow - GB1, GB2, GB3
• Wings - LG3, LG4, LG5, LV1, LV2, LV3
• Outline - GG1
• Sentiment -  is of course by my favourite designer, Paulette at Create with TLC. I took this totally apt sentiment into my word processing package, and recoloured it in purple to match the colour scheme on my card, before printing it out in a purple coloured oval. Once the sentiment was cut out, I punched a hole in each side of the oval and threaded through some thread from my stash, which I had coloured using my Spectrum Noir Pen in LV3 so it matched the rest of the project, to make a "Ribbon Slider". I then finished off the slider, by tying a bow around the threads.

There'll be another post from me in a minute, and then I hope you'll head over to Incy Wincy Designs to check out the other gorgeous creations by my team mates and our Guest Designer for June Linda. Don't forget to then come back and show us your creations featuring Butterflies and Bows. This challenge ends on Sunday 16th June 2012.

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

• Day 152 - Sweet Baby at 365 Cards
• Challenge #48 - Addicted to Colours at Addicted to Stamps and More!
• Challenge 188 - Hey Baby! at Totally Gorjuss
• June Challenge - Summer at Crafter's Companion Challenge

Catch you in a minute!

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

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!!!!!!!!!!!

This is "Whaley" good!

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

Good evening friends and a slightly later post than normal from me with the new challenge from  Incy Wincy Designs. This week we want to see your creations featuring Ocean Animals.

We're sponsored this week by the wonderful Melissa at Meljen's Designs, who has kindly provided some images for the DT to showcase this week as well. Thank you Melissa!

So here is my card for you:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Turquoise (mine came in a Brights pack from Crafter's Companion which they don't seem to have on their web site any more). This was I cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card.
• Design Papers - are all by Summer at Summertime Designs and they come from her kit Relax. I tried to use colours and shapes that evoked the sea and wave movements. From the bottom layer, the papers I've used are called Stripes, Turquoise, Paisley and Lime Circles. I have digitally matted and layered these papers together using a khaki/tan outline in my word processing programme. The letter tiles are also part of this kit, and I imported them individually into my word processing programme as well and layered them up onto the Lime Circles paper. I had to do a bit of nifty cutting with my craft blade around the "K" so that I could tuck the card rectangle underneath it!
  
• Image - this beautiful image is called Mamma Whale by Melissa at Meljen's Designs. At the moment this tender image is on half price sale, so why not treat yourself? I brought these 2 giants of the oceans to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours before gently tool distressing the edge.
• Mamma Whale - IB2, IB3, TB4, PP4
• Whale Calf - IB1, IB2, IB3, PP4
• Swirls - GT2
• Heart - PP4
• Outline - GT1
• Sentiment - is, of course, by Paulette at Create with TLC ... who else can come up with such cracking sentiments? I got this one from Paulette in May 2012 - I think it was a freebie on her blog.

I do hope you'll head over to Incy Wincy Designs this week and see the other wonderful layouts from my very talented team-mates and Valou - it's her last week as our Guest Designer and she has made some wonderful creations, so please head over to her blog and leave her some love. Then come back and show us your creations featuring Ocean Animals. This challenge closes on Sunday 5th May.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (with a little help from the girls at Feline Playful - thank you!):

• Cupcake 240 - All at Sea at Cupcake Craft Challenges
• Challenge #157 - Stripes or Dots at Robyn's Fetish
• Craft it Up & Link it Up Party #5 - Use a Pun at Craftin' Desert Diva's
• RCS #34 - Thank You Cards at Red Carpet Studio
• GL Torn & Distressed at Gingerloft Challenges
• Challenge #33 - Something Fishy at Delicious Doodles
• Make us Laugh and Smile at Jellypark Challenges
• Inspiration Challenge - Colour Palette & Photo Inspiration at Crafter's Digital Art Center

Hugs, Helen x