Time for a glass of something that goes "Fizzzzzzzz"

Good evening crafty friends and welcome back to Casa Mia - as the current Covid restrictions ease, I hope you are keeping safe and well … please make sure that you adhere to any requirements that are local for you.

It's the fifteen of the month again (it's worrying how quickly they seem to come round!) and it's time for a new challenge at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps Challenge. As ever, our challenge is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Don't have any All Dressed Up images? No worries, Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store and has also very generously provided some freebies here. However, please play fair with the freebies, and send your friends over to ADU for them … this will ensure that they continue to be available for other crafters to share! Thank you!

One of my colleagues celebrated her 40th Birthday last month, and whilst all team members receive a handcrafted card on their Birthday, I wanted this one to be special as this lady and I have covered a Duty Day together in the office together since the beginning of lockdown. I also happen to know that she particularly enjoys celebrating with a glass of something that goes "fizzzzzzzz", so this gorgeous image was very appropriate and the recipient absolutely loved her card, and the bottle of Prosecco that went with it!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a 5" x 7" premade base in white card. This is a new size for me and I quite like being able to print my images that bit larger!
• Design Paper - is this beautiful Gray Paper which is part of a collaboration by the Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking designers called All the Princesses. This paper can be found in the Solid Paper Kit by Janet Scott. I have matted and layered this onto some matt black card for elegance.
• Image - is the ultra-glamourous Prosecco Time by the wonderful Wendy who is the artist behind All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. This gorgeous girl comes with her own sentiment too, but I cropped it out for this card. I have brought this girl to life using my Copic alcohol markers, before die cutting her with one of my Sizzix Framelits Ovals dies.
• Sentiment - has been die cut from silver mirri card, before being mounted on a fishtail banner made from the Gray Paper.

I hope I have inspired you to come over to the blog and join in with this month's challenge. But if you're in need of further inspiration please head over there to feast your eyes on the gorgeous creations made by my every-so-talented Dressy Teamies. Then, don't forget to come back and show us your creations which need to be Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. This challenge ends on the evening of 14th August, UK time.

In the meantime, I would like to share my card with the following challenges:

• Challenge #39 - Anything Goes at CD Sunday Plus
• Challenge #490 - Creative Free For All but Add Pink at Fab 'n' Funky Challenges
• Challenge #7 - July at World Wide Open Design Team Challenge

That's it from me for now … take care!

Crafty hugs,

Helen x

Seeing Red .... and pink, and silver ;o)

Wowsers, it has been absolutely months since I last posted here ….. and quite a bit has happened in that time! I have still been creating, but not regularly as life kind of got in the way, plus my mojo has been on a very extended break. 

But I'm back now, and so back I tried to post this yesterday afternoon instead of today 😂

With it being the 15th of the month, it's time for our new challenge at All Dressed Up Challenges . As usual, our challenge is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Not got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store and has also very generously provided some freebies here - please send your friends over to ADU for the freebies though, to make sure they're available for other crafters to share!

Since youngest Bambino turned 18 last autumn, her friends are (one by one) also celebrating their eighteenth birthdays. Last weekend was youngest's BFF's (best friend forever) 18th, and I know that she loves receiving my cards - apparently she still displays the card I made for her birthday last year! With it being her 18th, I felt I had to create something really special for her, and Wendy's Amore image met with youngest Bambino's approval ... and this card was born:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is made from Centura Pearl Snow White Silver which I have cut, scored and folded to make an A5 card base with the fold at the top of the card.
  
• Image - is the beautiful Amore, created by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps; and this girl really is great value for money as she comes on her own (as here), holding a bunch of balloons (including the sentiment) and the bunch of balloons come on their own. I have brought this girlie to life using my Copic Pens (a mix of Ciao and Sketch), doing my best to follow some of my Kit and Clowder classes, before fussy cutting her out and attaching her to my card.
• Shaker Element - is made using this month's Balloon Die cover gift from Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine. I have cut this from Red Centura Pearl card and some acetate, which were perfect for "sandwiching" the red, pink and silver "18 Confetti". I wrapped some twine from my stash around the base of the balloon, and led this back to Amore's hand.
• Sentiment - is a very simple Happy Birthday die cut from Silver Mirri card

Youngest Bambino was delighted with my project, and I understand that it was very well received by her BFF!

I hope that I have inspired you to play along with our challenge, but if you are in need of further inspiration please head over to the blog and check out the uber gorgeous creations by my talented teamies. Then come back and show us your creations which are Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image!

I would like to play along with the following challenges:

• Challenge #131 - Ladies or Girls at Crafty Friends
• Challenge #246 - Feminine + a Sentiment at Aud Sentiments
• Challenge #157 - Birthday (Including the Optional Twist of both Die Cutting and Fussy Cutting) at Time Out Challenges - I have used 2 different die cuts and also fussy cut my girlie out!
• Challenge #39 - Use Dies at Daisy Chain Challenges
• HLS March Anything Goes With Dies Challenge at Happy Little Stampers
• Challenge #49 For the Ladies/Girls at Pearly Sparkles Challenge Blog
• Challenge #36 - Die Cuts and/or Punches at SheepSki Designs Challenges
• Always Anything Goes at World Wide Open Design Team Challenge

In these uncertain times, I hope that you stay safe and healthy and if the country goes into "lockdown", have fun crafting!

Helen x

Shoe Delight

Good afternoon crafty friends!

Hope you are well and that the weather is as sunny with you as it is here on the south coast of the UK; although that breeze is definitely on the nippy side! As promised last week, I have been creating projects as there are a couple of family Birthdays this week. Here is one of them:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a premade A5 base in white card
• Design Papers - come from a set by Janet Scott at Pixel Scrapper called All The Princesses. I have used the Gold Paper (which I have embossed using a retired embossing folder called Ornate Fans) and the Green Paper
  
• Image - is Heels Polka Dots by Jodie at Bugaboo Digi Stamps. I have brought this high heel to life using a combination of my Copic and Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers together with a slick of Clear Sparkle Pen over the bow and ribbon, before die cutting it with my largest Die'sire Essentials Ovals die. I left the cut in the die, and then sponged from the edge inwards using Scattered Straw Distress Ink.
• Sentiment - comes from one of the Crafter's Companion Advent Calendars and I have die cut this from plain black cardstock, and again slicked my Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen over the letters to add some glitz to the card.
• Gems - are from my stash

I have been inspired by and would like to enter the following challenges:

• Challenge #309 - Colour (So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz) at CAS Colours and Sketches
• February BINGO Challenge at Catch the Bug - I'm claiming the middle column of Bugaboo Image, Embossing and Sparkle
• Sketch #491 at Tuesday Morning Sketches

I would also like to enter this card into these challenges too:

• Challenge #213 - Fancy Folds or Embossing at The Crafter's Cafe Challenge - I'm definitely going with embossing here thanks to this lovely, feminine fan embossing folder. I've used lightweight card and a digital paper and I like the way some of the card has distressed itself and got a white "edge" to it!
• Favourite out of Birthdays or Christmas and Why at As You Like It Challenge - It's Birthdays all the way here at Casa Mia!!!! I only make special Christmas cards for Papa Mia and the Bambinos, and for the Mother in Law. Everyone in the family gets a handmade Birthday card as their Birthdays are spread throughout the year, and I'm just not organised enough to make Christmas cards all year round!
• Challenge #329 - Clean and Simple at Addicted to Stamps and More

That's it from me for today - off to deliver this card to its recipient!

Have a good day.

Hugs, Helen x

Bathtime Bubbles

And ….. BOO!

Just in case there is anyone out there in Blogland who still follows my musings and wondered where I got to …..

It's the last day of January, and I can now reveal that I am rather hit and miss with my New Year Resolutions:

• Use up supplies in stash - check & ongoing!
• Blog cards on time - errrr 
• Make cards earlier than the day before they are needed - errrrrrrrrrr .....

OK, so there is room for improvement!

Here is a card I made for our office to give one of our colleagues for her upcoming birthday. As we gave it to her today, I am now safe to blog it!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - pre-made 15cm square in white card
• Design Papers and Flowers - are from a beautiful kit called Unwind by Melo Vrijhof at Pixel Scrapper. I have put the layout of papers and flower elements together digitally, following this
  
  week's sketch at Sketch Saturday. I used Leaf Paper in Tan, Solid Lime Paper, and cropped a section of the Flower Scatter 01 before copying and flipping it to make the arc of elements as suggested by the sketch. I ensured a drop shadow is under the green strip and the flowers to give some depth to them.
• Image - is the uber-cute Lazy Louise and Bathtime Bubble Friends by Lizzy Love at Oddball Art Co.. I have brought Louise to life with a alcohol markers in a mixture of Copics and Spectrum Noirs before finishing off the bubbles with a Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen in Clear. I die cut the image using a Die'sire Create-a-Card die called Emma, now sadly retired/
• Sentiment - is one of the freebies that came with Crafter's Inspiration Issue 18 Magazine and I have stamped it directly onto the green strip using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink
• Gems - from my stash, completed this creation.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

• Week #548 with The Paper Shelter at Sketch Saturday
• January Oddball Challenge - Razzle my Dazzle at Oddball Art Stamps - I'm hoping that sparkly bubbly bath counts!
• Challenge #405 - Anything Goes at Die Cutting Divas
• Challenge #326 - Anything Goes at Addicted to Stamps and More
• Anything Goes at Crafty Sentiments Design

Hope you're having a crafty week!

Hugs, Helen x

My Little Japanese Girl

Good evening crafty friends and hope you've been enjoying another lovely weekend.

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 which are going to be perfect for your Spring into Summer projects.

From bottom left going clockwise we have Play Day, Counting Sheep, Oriental Girl and Sassy who was only available as a freebie via the Kit and Clowder Facebook Group earlier this month.

I am using this oh-so-very-pretty Oriental Girl, and here's my card:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is black card which I have cut, scored and folded to make a Free Standing Pop Up Card following this tutorial from SplitcoastStampers
  
• Design Paper - comes from the Kimono Papercrafting CD-Rom
• Image - is Oriental Girl by the very talented Wendy Burns, the artist behind All Dressed Up Stamps. I have brought this gorgeous girl to life using a mixture of Copics and Spectrum Noir Marker Pens. I have used a couple of technique classes from Kit & Clowder to help with my colouring: Skin & Hair Class for the slightly darker skin tone than I normally colour and also a bonus Monochrome Class for the black/grey hair.

I've left this card sentiment free as she's currently destined for my "box" awaiting a recipient!

I do hope that you'll come over to All Dressed Up and maybe treat yourself to a digi or two! And don't forget to enter our challenges. The Blog Challenge is always Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image and on the Facebook Page, the April Challenge is Flora and /or Fauna. Hope you'll be able to join us!

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

• Challenge #4 - Anything Goes with option of Dimensional Projects at Crafter's Castle
• Anthing Goes with Patterned Paper at CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge
• April Challenge - Anything but Square at Delicious Doodles
• Challenge #64 - Favouring the Feminine at Scribble Designs Challenges

Have a great week!

Hugs, Helen x

Happy 40th!

Good afternoon crafty friends - hope you have had a wonderful weekend!

It's been nice to see the sunshine here at Casa Mia, after the grey weather of the last couple of weeks ... let's hope it stays!

It's new challenge time at All Dressed Up Challenges and we're also introducing our new Dressy Girls following the recent DT Call - it wasn't an easy choice, but we hope that everyone will find inspiration from our new ladies who have made some fabulous creations! As usual, our challenge is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Not got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store and has also very generously provided some freebies here - please send your friends over to ADU for the freebies though, to make sure they're available for other crafters to share!


One of our friends celebrated her 40th Birthday last Sunday, and her husband threw a surprise party for her to which we were invited. This wonderful image was just perfect to mark her special day!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Centura Pearl Snow White Silver which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card
• Mat - is a sheet of teal coloured Core'dinations Card which I cut to 14.5cm square
  
• Image - is Happy 40th by Wendy at All Dressed Up (which I have printed onto a 14cm square panel of Neenah Solar White Cardstock.) There are 3 digis in this great value set (the others are Happy 50th and Happy 60th) and not only are they great to help celebrate those big '0' birthdays but they would be fab for big anniversaries too! I can just see this in ruby colours for 40th or gold to celebrate a Golden Wedding Anniversary! Anyway, as my project is for a birthday, I have gone for different coloured flowers using my Spectrum Noir Marker Pens. As I have also followed the Elements of Nature Class by Alyce at Kit & Clowder to colour the Leaves, Rose, Poppies and Gerberas, and then used the Hydrangea tutorial for colouring the small purple flowers, I am unable to share my colour combinations with you. However, you will have to trust me when I say that you will not regret purchasing this class if you wish to improve your colouring ... 😃 The 4 butterflies were coloured using VB1, VB2 & VB3 with a tiny pearl on each for the head. The sentiment was embossed using a VersaMark Watermark Pen and silver embossing powder, although I think I would have been better embossing in smaller portions to get a more even finish.
• Frame - around the heart wreath, has been cut using my Die'sire Classiques Lace Corner dies. For the two upper portions, I cut around the wreath using a sharp craft knife so that these parts would sit on top of the die (like an "Out of the Box" Technique) and not be cut, and would then nestle back down into place once the die (and negative parts) was removed.

I hope I have inspired you to come over to All Dressed Up and play along with this challenge. If you're in need of further inspiration please head over to the blog and check out the other gorgeous creations by my Dressy Teamies and also help us to welcome our new Dressy Girls! Then come back and show us your Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Don't forget that for more chances to win some of Wendy's gorgeous images, our Facebook Dressy Teamies have their own challenge running until the end of February and their theme this month is Flora and / or Fauna.

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

• April Challenge - Butterflies at I'm a Crafter's Companion Facebook Group
• #387 - Creative Corners at Tuesday Throwdown
• Challenge #137 - Use Die Cuts at Simply Create Too
• #201 - Happy Birthday Aud Sentiments at Aud Sentiments
• Challenge #47 - Flowers at Craft Rocket Challenges
• Vibrant Colours at Seize the Birthday
• Challenge #287 - Make Your Mark at Addicted to Stamps and More
• Challenge #334 - Flowers at The Paper Shelter
• Challenge #423 - Dies at Everybody Art Challenge

Well, it's back to work for me tomorrow after the Easter break - I hope you have a great week!

Hugs, Helen x

Little Dreamer

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

Here at Casa Mia, we're a little over half way through our half term holiday. You see, even though I've left a school based job, our team works so closely with schools that we don't work at full strength through the holidays. So I'm lucky enough to still have the school holiday off!

It's new challenge time at All Dressed Up challenges and it's everyone's favourite which is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Not got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store and has also very generously provided some freebies here - please send your friends over to ADU for the freebies though, to make sure they're available for other crafters to share!

I'm definitely dreaming of warmer (and drier 😉!) days, so I have teamed this very summery image with the current Sketch Saturday sketch for my inspiration card:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is Snow White Centura Pearl which I have cut, scored and folded to make an A6 size card base
• Design Papers - are all fromthe brand new Vintage Tea Party Signature Collection by Sara Davis available on the CD-Rom in Crafter's Inspiration Magazine - Issue 17 (Spring 2018). I have used Picked Raspberry Distress Ink on the edges of my papers, just to make them "pop" a bit! This also gives a defined edge which means the papers don't need to be matted and layered which cuts down on weight, and postage costs!
  
• Image - is Dreaming of Summer by Wendy at  All Dressed Up and I have brought this cutie to life using a mixture of Copics and Spectrum Noir markers before die cutting into 2 corners using my Scattered Butterflies die which was another goodie from the current Crafter's Inspiration Magazine. Two of the butterflies are "cut in" which means that that their wings are 3D - I have bent these wings back up, and also given them a slick of Picked Raspberry Distress Ink plus a bit of bling!
• Skin - Copics in E00, E21, E11, E04, R20 (Blush)
• Hair - TN3, EB3, EB8
• Dress - PV1, PV2, PV4
• Sprigs of Greenery - CG3
• Butterflies and Bees - EB1, PV2, PV4
• Flowers - DG1, PV1
• Sentiment - is from one my favourite sets, Swirly String Sentiments by Lili of the Valley. Mine are clear stamps, so I inked it up with the Picked Raspberry Distress Ink before stamping it direct onto my image panel.

I hope I have inspired you to come over to All Dressed Up and play along with this challenge. If you're in need of further inspiration please head over to the blog and check out the other gorgeous creations by my Dressy Teamies and this month's Guest Dressy Girl Helene. Then come back and show us your Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Don't forget that for more chances to win some of Wendy's gorgeous images, our Facebook Dressy Teamies have their own challenge running until the end of February and their theme this month is Red / Romance / Hearts.

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

• Week #500 - Special Celebration at Sketch Saturday
• Challenge #268 - Girl Power at The Crazy Challenge
• Challenge #22 at The Classic Design Team Open Challenge
• February Challenge with Optional Theme of "Cute or Die" at Oddball Stamps - I've used a border die to cut butterflies on my image panel and I think this girly is pretty stinkin' cute!!!! 😊
• Challenge #70 - Girly at Stemplegarten Challenge
• Challenge #17 - Things with Wings at Sweet Stampers Challenge
• Challenge #2 - Anything Goes with the Option to Share your Favourite Distress Ink Technique at Crafter's Castle - Definitely using a foam make up sponge to ink distress my papers edges is my favourite way of using DI. Oh, and also using them to stamp sentiments, because the colours match perfectly!
• February Challenge - 2 or more Layers at Crafty Calendar Challenge

That's it from me for today - I'm off to enjoy a bowl of chowder and a sit down to catch up on all the action from the Winter Olympics! Hope you have a lovely evening.

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

#takeaselfie

Good morning crafty friends and hope you are well. Can you believe that we're half way through July already! In a little over a week, schools in our area will have broken up for the holidays and I for one, can't wait!

It's new challenge time over at Feeling Sketchy which means it's time for a new sketch. Andrea from SheepSki Designs is sponsoring us for the whole of July (thank you Andrea!)

It's new challenge time over at Feeling Sketchy which means it's time for a new sketch. Andrea from SheepSki Designs is sponsoring us for the whole of July - thank you Andrea! She has also very kindly given the DT some of her gorgeous images to use as inspiration for this challenge, and we showcased these in our last challenge. Some of the DT have swapped images so that you can see how different people use the same image.

Here's the sketch we're following this time:

And here's my take on it, using a SheepSki Designs image which I was lucky enough to win earlier this year:

Regular readers will know that my eldest Bambino celebrated her 18th at the beginning of the month, and this is the card I made for her from Papa Mia and I. And this image was perfect for Bambino as, like many other girls of her age, she's permanently attached to her phone and can often be caught in a similar pose 😁!!!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is Centura Pearl Snow White Silver which has been cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card base
  
• Image - is the totally mesmerising Selfie Obsession by Andrea at SheepSki Designs which I have coloured using my original Spectrum Noir Markers in the listed colours before die cutting her using my largest Die'sire Essentials Hearts die
• Skin - FS2, FS3, FS4, FS6, TN4, FS8 (Blush), DG4 (Eyes)
• Hair - BG5, BG7, BG9
• Dress - VB1, VB2, VB3
• Phone - IG1, IG2, IG3
• Heart Frames - are made from Silver Glitter Paper which I have die cut using my 2 smallest Die'sire Essentials Hearts dies to make a frame
• Sentiment - comes from 2 separate dies and was cut from Turquiose Glitter Paper. The Happy Birthday die was in my Crafter's Companion Advent Calendar 2016 and I used the "th" portion of this die to cut again from the turquoise glitter to go with the numbers. The "1" and "8" both come from the Diamond Press Whimsical Alphabet collection
• Glitter Domes - are from my stash

I hope that I have inspired you to have a go with this sketch, but if you're in need of any further inspiration then please head over to the Feeling Sketchy blog where you can see the other great projects by my clever teamies. Then come back and show us your creations - don't forget you can flip or twist the sketch, change the shape of the elements ... we just need to see that you've been inspired to create using our sketch! We'll be back with our new challenge on 1st August 2017.

Have a great weekend!

Hugs,

Helen x

Vintage Rays

Good morning crafty friends and hope that this post finds you well. Can you believe that it's the first day in October and we are officially three quarters of the way through the year!

It's new challenge day at Feeling Sketchy and our sponsor this time is the wonderful Tammy from A Day for Daisies who is offering the winner of this challenge a prize. And everyone can be a winner through Tammy's generosity; if you head to Tammy's shop you will be able to find a couple of freebies to try out Tammy's gorgeous stamps!

Here's the sketch we're playing with this time:

And here's my "take" on it:

I've gone for a "vintage vibe" with this card and found this softly coloured DP with a gorgeous feminine feel to it and didn't totally copy Michelle's sketch as I fancied trying a "starburst" background.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a pre-made A5 card blank in white cardstock
• Design Paper - is Roses Painted Collage Paper from the kit Jane by Melo Vrijhof at Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking. I followed this tutorial at SplitCoast Stampers to cut and lay the wedge shaped papers onto another piece of white cardstock, which I'd cut slightly smaller than my card base. The tutorial was so easy to follow, and I'm really pleased with the result.
  
• Butterfly - is the largest butterfly in the Die'sire Essentials Beautiful Butterflies set. I coloured this following a Kit and Clowder Monthly Class bonus Mini Workshop on butterflies from July 2016. I had to change the colour scheme to match my paper, and used my Spectrum Noir Pens in shades PP1, CR2, PP2, CR4, CR6, IG8, True Black and Clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen to tone in but followed Alyce's techniques before curving the wings up to make it 3D.
• Sentiment - I embossed a banner shape using my Ulti Bags Embossing Board with my Ultimate Pro and cut this out, before stamping the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Swirly String Sentiment Set by Lili of the Valley (which is fast becoming my "go to" set!) in Tattered Rose Distress Ink
• Ribbon - is from my stash

I hope I've inspired you to come over to Feeling Sketchy and join in with this sketch but if you're short of inspiration, please head over to the blog and check out the other wonderful creations by my clever teamies. Then come back and link up your "make" - we'll be back with our next challenge on 15th October 2016.

I would like to take part in the following challenges:

• Challenge #266 - Blooming Days at The Paper Shelter
• Challenge #169 - Ribbon or Lace at Crafty Ribbons
• Happy Birthday with additional topping of Soft and Simple at Seize the Birthday

I'll be back later on with a rather exciting post ... in the meantime, take care!

Hugs, Helen x