Showing posts with label Tools-Ultimate Pro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tools-Ultimate Pro. Show all posts

Friday, 1 September 2017

The Love Bus

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

Good evening crafty friends and I'm back with another post!


I'm GDT with the Dressy Girls over on the All Dressed Up Facebook page and tonight sees the launch of the new Challenge - our theme for you this month is Square Cardz with an All Dressed Up Image.


We're heading off to a family wedding tomorrow - the bride was one of my bridesmaids when Papa Mia and I got married many moons ago and is also one of his cousins, so this is the very special card I made for the happy couple using one of Wendy's gorgeous wedding images and trying to follow the wedding colours of blush and rose gold:


My card recipe is as follows:
  • Card base - is Centura Pearl Snow White with Hint of Gold which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card base. I have also scored 5 vertical lines at ½cm intervals on the folded side of the card
  • Image - is the beautiful Just Married by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. I have brought this lovely camper van to life using my Spectrum Noir Colouring System Marker Pens in the listed colours before die cutting it using my largest Sizzix Ovals die. I then tool distressed the edge of the oval just to add a little bit more detail
    • Love Birds - IG1, IG2, IG3, CR6, DR5, DR7
    • Suitcases - CR2, PP3, PP5, CR6, DR5, DR7, EB1, EB2
    • Bunting - CR6, DR5, DR7
    • Windows - IG3, IG1
    • Bodywork - IG1, IG2, IG3, CR2, PP3, PP5, CR6, DR5, DR7, Clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen and 2 pearls
    • Tyres - IG4, IG6, IG9
    • Grounding - EB1, EB2,
    • Outline - BT1
  • Embellishments - of pearls and ribbon were from my stash and I used the bow-maker on my Ultimate Pro to tie that lovely big bow.
I hope that you've inspired you to come over to the All Dressed Up Facebook page and play along with our Square Cardz with an All Dressed Up Image. Haven't got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has 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! Don't forget that our blog challenge of Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image is also running at the moment - why not enter your card into both challenges so that you're in with a chance of winning more images? 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
That's it from me for this evening ... now I must shoot off and ensure we've got everything ready for travelling to the wedding tomorrow!

Have a great weekend!

Hugs, Helen x

Wednesday, 22 February 2017

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:


Hope you have a great evening!

Hugs, Helen x

Monday, 2 January 2017

A "Pizza" the Action

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

Hello Crafty Friends and, as promised, here is my second post of the day.

Sooooo, did any of you make any New Year's resolutions? I don't, mainly because I normally break them within the first week! But I've got some crafty ones tucked up my sleeve: 
  • use some of the many digis in my stash
  • finish off my PHD's  ... projects half done 😉
  • make cards that are not DT projects
  • do my Kit and Clowder classes to improve my colouring
  • don't buy more stash, because I've nearly got enough to open a craft store anyway!
Errrmmmmmm ... you'd better wish me luck with these! 😜Have you made any crafty resolutions?

Anyway, back to work!

Today sees the start of our new challenge at Incy Wincy Designs and our challenge this fortnight should be a nice and easy one to break you into the New Year gently .... Celebrate! What and how you celebrate is up to you, we just want to see your projects that celebrate anything; birthdays, weddings, graduations, new babies .........

We've got 2 fabby sponsors lined up for you.

The first is new to us and it's the team at Diddybag who are offering a $20 Gift Certificate to one of our lucky winners. Here's a little about them:



Diddybag offers over 10,000 sets of clipart.
We sell vector art and jpg/png. Starting at 99¢ and up.

From Adorable whimsical animals and children to elegant Victorian art.
All CU. No license necessary. All vector sets can be made into cutting files,
although the 99¢ Economy sets are subject to the artist’s terms.
We also have lots of scrapping and outlines for coloring as well.

Join our newsletter and receive news of our new sets, sales and freebies!


Our second sponsor is Naz from Sasayaki Glitter Digital Stamps and Naz is offering our second lucky winner one uncoloured digital image from her store. Naz also has a Challenge Blog and you can find her Facebook Group here.




Both of our sponsors have generously provided us with some digis to showcase, so here goes with my first project, a Pizza Box Party Invitation:


This little box was so quick and simple to put together, once I had played around with the digis and got the topper and invitation designed and printed out, and I thought these would be quite neat to hand out on the playground!

My project recipe is as follows:
  • Pizza Box - is a 6 inch x 11 inch piece of lightweight card (I used cream but you could use
    white and print a background design onto it, or even kraft card for a more authentic look!) which I scored, cut and folded using my Ultimate Pro and Boxer Board following this tutorial at SplitCoast Stampers
  • Topper and Inside Sheet - have been designed in my word processing package to fit in a 10 x 10 cm square, using images from the Pizza Party Set from Diddybag. I used the free font Coffee House for the black text and everything else came from the set! There's room on the back of the inside sheet to add the party details.

I hope that I've inspired you to come over to Incy Wincy Designs and Celebrate! with us, but if you are in need of any further inspiration do head over to the blog and check out the other great creations from my talented teamies! We'll be back with our next challenge on 16th January 2017.

I'll be back a little later to link this project up to some blog challenges.

In the meantime, take care!

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

Monday, 3 October 2016

The Aurora Watcher

Hello friends, and a particularly warm welcome to Carole who is my newest follower and also a fellow DT member over at All Dressed Up. I hope you enjoy my crafty ramblings Carole!

Today sees the start of our new challenge at Incy Wincy Designs and this time our challenge is All That Glitters. I love a bit of sparkle, don't you?:oD !!!!!!!


Our kind sponsor for this challenge is Mi Ran who is the artist behind ArtbyMiran, and she'll is offering the lucky winner of a prize pack.


Mi Ran was also kind enough to offer the DT a choice of digi to showcase for this challenge, so here's my card featuring one of her gorgeous images:



OK, so it's time for some "Ramblings" from Casa Mia. Earlier on this summer, the BBC screened a series by Prof. Brian Cox (yes, he who "messes with my head"!) called Forces of Nature. If you've seen the programme, I guess you'll be in step with me and know exactly how this card came to life. If not, read on .... In the very last episode of the series, Prof. Brian was explaining about the Aurora Borealis and there was a segment filmed with a British family who live in the Aurora oval in Norway. The segment showed Mum, Dad and 4 children all piling into their motor home and going Aurora chasing. When they were filmed with the Aurora Borealis light show overhead, the children's faces were just filled with absolute wonder. So, when this image popped up as one we could use for this challenge, I just had to try and create my own Aurora Borealis for you.  Oh, and if you want to know more about the family in Norway, you can follow their antics on their own blog Aurora Addicts.


My card recipe is as listed, following this Bendi Fold tutorial at SplitCoast Stampers to create the card:
  • Card back - is a 5½ x 4¼ inch piece of Neenah Solar Crest Card which I have coloured in a representation of the Aurora Borealis/Northern Lights following a bonus Background Tutorial with the May Monthly Class by Alyce at Kit and Clowder. The Spectrum Noir Pens I used to create this background are CG4, CG3, LY3, PP2, BP3, PL3, PL4, TB7, TB9 together with a white gel pen for the stars.
  • Snowy banks - are made from a 5½ x 2½ inch and a 5½ x 1¾ inch piece of white glitter card which I had in my stash. I cut a slanted top edge to each piece, embossed one of the wavy embossing lines on my Ultimate Pro and then cut this out to make the top edges of the snow banks.
  • Snowflake - is the middle sized snowflake from the Festive Wonder Snowflake Trio die set, part of Sara Davies' Signature Collection and sadly no longer available. I cut this from the same white glitter card as the snowy banks and then adhered it to my Aurora background.
  • Image - is the enchanted Girl wearing Hat and Scarf by Mi Ran at ArtbyMiran. I have brought this awestuck girl to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours, before fussy cutting her out and attaching her to a snowy bank.
    • Skin - FS2, FS3, FS4, TN4, FS8 (Blush)
    • Hair - TN3, EB3, EB8
    • Hat, Scarf & Mittens - LY3, CG3, CG4
    • Top & Tights - IG1, IG2, IG3
    • Skirt & Boots- TB1, TB4, TB8, TB9
  • Sentiment - came from a stamp set which was a freebie with Crafter's Inspiration Magazine - Issue 8 and I've stamped this in Black Memento Ink directly onto my glitter card.

So, there you have it ... my glittery card. To check out more gorgeous glitteriness, please head over to Incy Wincy Designs and take a peek at the lovely creations by my teamies. Then come back and show us your creations that are All that Glitters. We'll be back with our next challenge on Monday 17th October 2016.

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


Hugs, Helen x

Saturday, 1 October 2016

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:

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:

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

Hugs, Helen x


Thursday, 14 July 2016

"I've nearly beaten my high score ..... !"

Hi everyone and a very warm welcome to Tee who is my newest follower!

Wow it seems ages since I last posted and this one should have been up last week - apologies for the delay. I always think I'm in control towards the end of the summer term and then I usually get several curved balls slung at me all at the same time. Well, this year is no exception and time just seems to be totally running away with me! I'm just hoping that one of them doesn't fall out of the sky and clobber me :o) !!!

Anyway, our challenge this time at Incy Wincy Designs is Fancy Folds, where we're looking for your cards that have more than one fold, and the fancier the better! 

As usual we've got a couple of great sponsors with amazing prizes up for grabs!

Our first sponsor is Craft Classes Online who are offering our first lucky prize winner 1 seat in an online class of your choice. 

Craft Classes Online (CCO) brings multiple Creative Arts Instructors together on one site to provide students with the best choice in online craft workshops. Our instructors offer online workshops that are engaging, affordable, and time-saving. Students from across the globe can learn any number of techniques and creative projects from the comfort of their home and on their schedule. 



Make sure to check out our blog, Everyday Moodlings, which offers a theme of the week and challenges us to use all of our craft supplies during the coming year. We offer ideas, tips, tutorials, and crafty inspiration. 

We are excited to be sponsoring Incy Wincy Challenge Blog. You can view our class list on our website at www.CraftClassesOnline.com[http://.]. We continuously update our website with new workshops, so check back often.

Become a subscriber to our newsletter and gain access to our FREE class, “Ink Essentials”! Come visit us on our Facebook page, too. One lucky winner will receive a free seat to an online workshop valued at $25 or less. Good Luck!





Our second sponsor is Brigzy and the team at Doctor Digi House of Stamps who are offering our second lucky prize winner 2 digital images of their choice.

DR Digi's House of stamps is a site that aims to bring you digi stamps with a sense of humour. We're not your average digi site, you wont find flowers and teddy bears.  Well you might.. but it'll be holding a bloody big chainsaw!

Dr Digi's have also been kind enough to give all the DT an image of their choice to showcase on their project with folds, so without further ado, here is my card:



My card recipe is as follows:

I hope I've inspired you to come over to Incy Wincy Designs and join in the fun with Fancy Folds but if you're lacking inspiration, please check out the wonderful array of makes by my clever teamies! This challenge ends on Saturday evening (UK time) and we'll be back with our next challenge on Monday.


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

Until next time, take care!

Hugs, Helen x

Friday, 3 June 2016

Kool Kidz

Hi folks! Hope this post finds you well!

We're nearly at the end of half term here at Casa Mia and the whole week has virtually been spent with hot lemon and honey drinks (yuck, I hate honey!) and a box of tissues in tow ... yup, I succumbed to the dreaded "the-holidays-are-here-so-let's-jump-the-school-staff" bug!!!!!!! ;o) At least yesterday evening found me well enough to accompany Mother in Law and PapaMia to an Aled Jones concert (yes he of Walking in the Air fame, and he can still manage the first few lines of the song some 30 years later!) at Portsmouth Guildhall. We were treated to a very entertaining evening of wonderful music (a mix of choral, musicals and pop) and Aled was a very engaging and amusing speaker between the numbers! At least nobody told me to "Shushhhhhhh" so I can't have been coughing too loudly :oD

And now I feel much, much better today, so I'm able to bring you my card for the current challenge at Feeling Sketchy. Our sponsor this time is the lovely Heather Valentin from Lacy Sunshine Stamps who is offering a prize pack to the lucky winner of this challenge.


Here's the sketch we'd like you to use as your inspiration this time:


and here is my take on it using a sponsor image:




Now I have to confess to having had rather a "senior" moment with this project. I chose this image as I thought it would be perfect for our nephew who will be 12 later this summer - a basketball dude with a graffiti wall behind? Perfect! Only when my image arrived did I look more closely at it and see that on his t-shirt is a "No Bullying" slogan. Don't get me wrong ... I most definitely don't have a problem with that (heaven knows I've had to pick up the pieces at the end of a school day for many, many, many years so I know how devastating it can be not only to the victim, but to their families too) but I wasn't sure how right this was going to be for my nephew! Oooooops!


My card recipe is as follows:
  • Card base - is a wonky rocker card cut out of black cardstock using my Ultimate Pro together with the largest wonky "circle" from the nest on my Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats Embossing Board which I then handcut, carefully! Once cut, I scored and folded the "circle" so that it had 2 scallops on the bottom as "feet" to make my rocker base.
  • Image - is the very cool Kyle - Kidz Street as drawn by Heather at Lacy Sunshine Stamps.
    Once I'd realised that the whole image on this card base size was going to be far too small for me to colour, I decided to do a close up which I then debossed using the circle which fits inside the wonky "circle" from the nest on my Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats Embossing Board and then cut it out by hand. I coloured the image using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours:
    • Skin - FS2, FS4, FS3, FS9, TN4, FS8
    • Hair - TN3, EB3, EB8
    • Basketball - OR2, TN6, TN4, TN8
    • T-Shirt - EB1, EB2, EB6, EB8
    • Trousers - BT3, BT4, BT6, BT7, BT0
    • Baseball Cap - OR2, TN6, TN4, TN8, True Black
  • Sentiment - is one of the Graffiti Words from the image which I imported into my word processing package and then cropped in tightly to the word. I coloured the image using my Spectrum Noir Pens in OR2, TN6, TN4, TN8 (to match the basketball). I love the ombre effect these colours give, don't you?

I hope you'll come over to the Feeling Sketchy blog and check out the other fabulous creations by my talented teamies, and then don't forget to come back and show us your take on our sketch. We'll be back with our next challenge on 15th June 2016.


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


In the meantime, hope you have a great weekend and take care!

Hugs, Helen x

Wednesday, 20 April 2016

All Aboard!

Good evening crafty friends!

I hope, like me, that you've been enjoying some very seasonal spring-like weather. My poor washing machine is in a state of shock as I've been doing so much laundry!

It's new challenge time at Incy Wincy Designs and this time we'd like you to be Inspired by a Song, Book or Movie. So, make sure your creation represents your favourite and don't forget to tell us what it is!!!

We've got 2 lovely sponsors lined up for you with 2 great prizes and, I have to say, most of the DT will be showcasing both sponsors because (like me) they simply couldn't choose which sponsor's images to use :oD!!!!!!!



Our first sponsor is the lovely Sami from Sami Stamps who is offering a prize pack to our first random winner.






Our second sponsor is new to us here at Incy Wincy, but has been around blogland for a while - welcome to Nikki from Melonheadz Illustrating. Nikki is offering our second random winner a bundle from her store



For this card, I have been inspired by youngest Bambino and my favourite Christmas film of all time .... The Polar Express. Both before Christmas and during the holidays it's our "snuggle up together" film! And like The Polar Express, this card keeps on surprising as it's a "Never-ending" card:

First side:


Second side:


Third side:


Fourth side:


My card recipe is as follows:

  • Card base - is white cardstock which I've cut, scored and folded, using my Ultimate Pro following this tutorial which I found on SplitCoast Stampers. I will say that the written instructions once the 2 layers are stuck together are exceedingly difficult to follow, however once I'd watched the video the folds made complete sense!
  • Papers - are from the Nordic Christmas CD-Rom, which I believe is out of stock or has been retired at Crafter's Companion. I've cut the papers to size for each panel of the card following the tutorial.
  • Images - are from the North Pole Express Set by Nikki at Melonheadz Illustrating. I wanted to use the whole set so that my never-ending card told the story of the film, so the children on side 2 are three separate images which I've put together; on side 3 I've put the elf and present together, and also Santa and his sack. These images are all pre-coloured and are also .png files, which means they have no background so can be layered onto something else straightaway. Because I wanted a small white border around each image, I have printed these separately to my papers and then fussy cut each image out.
  • Sentiments - the "Believe" sentiment is by Paulette at Create with TLC and was a goodie from the 2011 Christmas Club. The lower sentiment is computer generated using a free downloadable front called Scriptina.
So there you have it, my card inspired by my favourite film. Soon, I will be bringing you a card featuring an image by our other sponsor which has been inspired by one our my favourite songs. 

In the meantime though, do head over to Incy Wincy Designs to see how my very talented teamies have been Inspired by a Song, Book or Movie and then come back and show us your projects. Just don't forget to tell us which Song, Book or Movie you've been inspired by ... otherwise you won't be able to qualify for one of our prizes :o(

We've also got a DT Call on at the moment too - all the details are on this post. Don't forget that you don't have to have had DT experience (we all started somewhere!) we'd rather that you are a fun person who enjoys crafting!

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


Whatever you're up to this evening, have fun!

Hugs, Helen x

Tuesday, 16 February 2016

Welcome to the Dragon's Lair ... ooops, Library!

Hello crafty friends and hope you're well this morning. After a rather chilly start here, we've got a very bright and sunny day - would love to put some washing on the line but it's not that warm and that's always assuming I could make it to the line without sinking into the lawn :oD!!!!!!!!!!


It's new challenge time at Incy Wincy Designs and this time we'd like you to Personalise It! It doesn't matter what your project is, but we'd like to see some sort of personalisation on it and it doesn't even have to be for you ..... ! 


We've got two fabulous sponsors for this challenge:



Our first are the team at Fabrika Fantasy ... as well as their online store of digital artwork you can keep up to date with them via their blog or visit their Facebook Page where Dmitry is hosting another challenge! They're offering a prize to our first lucky random winner.






Our second sponsor is Lizzy from Oddball Art who is offering 3 digital images of choice to our

second lucky prize winner.


Lizzy has always loved the stranger, quirkier side of life and that is exactly what she loves to create. Her art described as a perfect combination of sweet and sour that glitters up the grunge! As a love of all things whimsical, kawaii and creepy cute, she throws in some Pastel Goth with a touch of glam, punk & rockabilly pinup!
She has certainly never been a mainstream type of girl and definitely won't fit into your stereotypical cookie cutter artists role; but rather she finds beauty in the truly unique, big eyed creepy little cuties with a bittersweet sadness. She is never truly happier that when she is in her art studio painting or sewing, creating a whimsical dream world easily recognizable as her signature style of creepy yet cute, all the way from the haunting darkness to the rainbowtastic, Lizzy's creations are lovingly sprinkled with a heartbreaking sweetness.
Growing up a child of the 80's, pop rocks princess, with an extreme fondness for anything candy coated, Kawaii Kitten & Ziggy Stardust, all of which had a major influence in the work that she is creating today. Lizzy employs many different mediums when she creates, anything from mixed media painting to sewing with many different textiles, the end result always being the same; a whimsical dream world filled with big eyed beauties, creepy little cuties and quirky monsters of all shapes and sizes.



For my first inspiration piece for this challenge, I'm using an image by Fabrika Fantasy, but before I get to my project why don't you settle down with a cup of tea as I've got a story and a short tutorial to share with you!


Those of you who are regular readers know that a lot of projects here at "Casa Mia" develop from situations that I find myself in ... usually with a little voice on my shoulder! This project stems from a trip we took as a family to London in the fallow period between Christmas and New Year, when we did a bit of shopping, saw the Christmas lights etc. Whilst exiting several stores, I set the security alarms off! At one of the stores I was questioned by the security guard who also searched my rucsac. Had I bought anything? Only a yo-yo. Had I got any makeup with me? Er no, I don't wear much makeup. What's in this bag? Our packed tea! Papa Mia was outside the store and remembered that I had a library book from school that I was reviewing for our librarian ... was that it? I took the book from my bag and threw it out through the security barriers to Papa Mia and sure enough the alarms went off! Mystery over, happy security guard, and I spent the rest of the day with the book in my jacket pocket so I didn't have to empty my bag any more. Now comes the really funny part of the story. I was retelling the events to our librarian telling her she was in so much trouble and she was wondering what had happened to the little index card from the front of the book as that protected the alarm tag. "Oh that," said I, "well that was my bookmark!". So I figured that I needed a bookmark!


I used to have a really great little bookmark that was double sided and magnetic, so it stuck in my book. However, that is no longer anywhere to be found ... so I've made myself a new attaching bookmark, and this is how it's made:


Materials:
1 piece of cardstock - the width and length is up to you, but you need to be able to fold it in half so allow double the length of the front portion plus 3mm for the fold (my piece of cardstock is 6cm wide and 25cm long)
Cutting and scoring tools - I have used my Crafter's Companion Ultimate Pro together with The Boxer Board
Bone Folder
2 thin magnets


How to Score and Fold






Using the Ultimate Pro Boxer Board butt the short edge of your cardstock up against the top of the board and score your first fold. My design is 5.5cm x 11.7cm so I'm leaving a 3mm border all round my image. This means that my first fold will be at 12.3cm, which isn't one of the score marks on the board, so I've very lightly pencilled in a mark at 12.3cm on each long side of my cardstock and have lined these marks up against the same score line to get my fold line.


Make a second score line 2mm back from your first line.


Fold and burnish these two fold lines - getting the second fold is a bit fiddly, but you should end up with something like this in the middle of your bookmark:




Decorate your bookmark as you like, although remember it does need to fit into a book so flat embellishments would be best, unless you don't mind your bookmark poking out of your book in which case you can put bulkier embellishments at the top of your bookmark!




To finish your bookmark, take one of your thin magnets and stick it on the inside of your bookmark towards the bottom edge (the opposite end to your fold) in a central position.




Now for the clever bit! To ensure that your second magnet attaches in exactly the right place on the reverse of your bookmark, stick it on top of the magnet you've just attached ....




... and fold your bookmark over, and press the cardstock down to attach it to the magnet.


And here is my completed bookmark:



My card recipe is as follows:

  • Bookmark base - Centura Pearl Snow White Silver cut, scored and folded as per my tutorial above
  • Front of Bookmark - Image is the pre-coloured version of Wise Dragon by Fabrika Fantasy. Using my word processing package, I've merged the image with a sentiment from Paulette at Create with TLC. This was a freebie on her blog last month and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was utterly perfect for this project! Once my merged design was printed, I cut it to the right size and then lightly distressed the edges using Walnut Stain Distress Ink
  • Reverse of Bookmark - the backing paper is Slovenia Dragons Paper by Marisa Lerin at Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking ... I nearly fell off my chair when I found it - it's perfect for this project! I created my Ex Libris nameplate using my word processing package and this was die cut using the middle sized Die'sire Essentials Rectangles die. The edges of my paper and name plate have been lightly distressed using Walnut Stain Distress Ink
  • Magnets - are 12.5mm in diameter, 1mm high and are self adhesive. Mine came from eBay (although I can't remember the seller now as we've had them a while) but search for craft magnets and you should find them!

I hope you like my tutorial, but if you need any more inspiration head over to Incy Wincy Designs and see how my clever team mates have Personalise(d) It! Then come back and join in the fun by sharing your creations with us! This challenge closes on Saturday 5th March and we'll be back with our next challenge on Monday 7th March 2016.

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


Stay tuned, as I'll be back soon with a project featuring an image from our second sponsor.


In the meantime, take care!

Hugs, Helenx