Sugar and Spice

Good afternoon my crafty friends and hope you've had a good week and weekend. Just a swift post from me this afternoon, but firstly I'd like to extend a very warm welcome to Shirley-Anne Barber who is my newest follower - glad to have you aboard and hope you enjoy my creations.

As my regular readers may remember, January has been full of birthdays ... in the Admin Team at the school where I work there have been 8 this month alone!!!!! I've been making hand coloured cards for the special people, but for the others I've been making what I'm calling "Mini Cards" like this one:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Centura Pearl Snow White Silver which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 9.9cm square card. The beauty of this card size is that you can make 3 cards out of one A4 sheet of card, and these cards will go flat in a regular DL sized envelope should you need to post them!
• Papers, Image, Sentiment and Buttons - are all from a Card Companion set on the gorgeously girlie Sugar and Spice Papercraft CD Rom Collection. I resized the sheet in my word processing programme, before printing it out, and I then cut out the elements. All the papers are ready matted and layered with the band of ribbon across them, so they just needed fixing to the card base. The image and buttons come in 2 different sizes so I had to choose which ones to use, cut them out and fix them to the papers layer. I used 2 sentiment tags, which I've tied together with a bow, offset them and then raised up the top right hand corner with a sticky pad to give a bit of dimension to the card.
• Twine - is from my "odds 'n' ends" box, so I can't even tell you where it came from! I just about had enough to thread through the holes I punched in the buttons and sentiment tags so that I was able to tie the bows :o)

There is my quick and easy card, but it looks a whole lot more than just a few sheets of card!!!!!!! Here is a pic of another couple of cards I made using the same CD-Rom - these are from the Frame Card section and I superimposed some sentiments from Paulette at Create with TLC onto sentiment tags from the CD-Rom before cutting them out and mounting them. The only additions to these cards were bling/pearls from my stash:

Some beautiful cards for my office buddies!

I would like to enter my Butterfly Card into the following challenges:

• GDT Call at Crafty Sentiments Designs
• B is for Buttons & Bows at The ABC Challenge
• Challenge #243 - Anything Goes at Sentimental Sundays

Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend and have a lovely crafty week!

Hugs, Helen x

Hoppy Easter!

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

Hello again friends!

I'm back with this fortnight's challenge at Lexi's Creations and this fortnight we're helping you to get ready for the forthcoming Bank Holiday weekend (here in the UK) because we'd like to see your Easter creations. Don't forget that we are a multi-craft blog so your project doesn't just have to be a card!

For this challenge our sponsor 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!" With a sale on too, why not head over and treat yourself?


The lovely Lexi has also let us have pick of Fairy Dust Crafts once again, and here is my project featuring one of her seasonal Easter digis:

These little bunny shaped gift boxes are sooooo cute, and perfect for popping some mini eggs (or a couple of fun size chocs as I forgot to get some eggs .... ooops!) in. Can you imagine the squeals of delights from little ones if they have to go on an Easter Egg Hunt to find the treasure in one of these boxes?


My project recipe is as follows:

• Bunny Gift Box - is normal 80gsm printer paper onto which I've printed my chosen paper. This one is called Hoppy Easter! from Quick Cards Made Easy magazine - you can get the download here. I then followed the instructions in the March 2014 issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine to make the origami bunny ... no glueing required!
• Image - this cute bunny guarding the easter eggs is called Easter Bunny Bella and she comes from the pen of Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts. I decided to make Bella into a tag to adorn my bunny gift box, but I printed out Bella before I made the box - fatal error as the sizes are somewhat incongruous! Never mind ... Bella still looks lovely! I have brought her to life with my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours before fussy cutting her and adding a hole at the top of her head:

• Bella - PP3, PP4, IG1, Colourless Blender, True Black
• Eggs - EB1, CT4, IB2, LV2, CG4
• Grass - CG2, CG3
• Outline - BT1
• Twine - from my stash

I hope you'll come over to Lexi's Creations and see the other lovely projects from my fellow DT members and our guests this time Hazel and Silvi. Don't forget to then come back and share your Easter creations with us - I know we all love visiting your blogs! This challenge will end on Saturday 12th April 2014.

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

• Monthly Challenge #43 - Make a Tag! at Little Claire's
• Week 12 - Animals at Digi Choosday
• Challenge 58 - Animals at Creative Card Crew
• Challenge #88 - Holiday at Addicted to Stamps and More
• Add a Tag at Crafty Little Fairies
• Challenge #58 - Easter or use Bunnies at Simply Create Too

That's it from me for today, but I will be back later in the week ..... can't say more than that for now :o) !!!!!! Have a great day!

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

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

A Fluffy Cloud

Good morning my crafty friends - I hope you are well on this bright Tuesday morning!

Unfortunately, today is the last post of my residency as a Guest Designer at Top Tip Tuesday. :o( Ladies, thanks sooooooooo much for having me the last 4 weeks - I have had a blast! This fortnight's challenge is Numbers and today brings our mid-challenge reminder. As a recap we're looking for numbers on your projects ... perfect for Birthdays and/or Anniversaries, and we'd love to see how creative you can be!

There are two amazing sponsors lined up for the winners of this challenge. Jodie from Bugaboo Stamps is offering one lucky random winner 7 digis of their choice! And Tammy Lousie from Shape EZ is offering our second winner 2 digital shape templates of their choice! And, as if that wasn't enough, you too could be a future Top Tip Tuesday Guest Designer just by leaving a great tip!


Both of our fabby sponsors gave the DT free rein with our choice of which of their products we would like to showcase. Last week I designed with one of Jodie's great images. As promised, this week, I'm showcasing one of Tammy Louise's beautiful card templates:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - is the Shape EZ Cloud Card template which I've printed at normal onto lightweight cream card and digitally layered the DPs over. Then I cut out the shapes that make up the template, layered them together, popped a few folds in to make the card stand up and ... hey presto, one Cloud Card! The size of this card printed at this size is just 9cm high by 12.5cm wide, but there are resizeable files included in the download so you can make it your own size.
• Design Papers - are all from the set Just a Number by Krystal Hartley and available at Sweete Shoppe Designs. I've used 3 of the papers in this kit, including the fun numbers paper, and printed these directly onto the cloud template.
  
• Image - this great umbrella is by Nana Vic and is the first image in the current Progressive Freebie Challenge over at Crafter's Digital Art Center (there's still time for you to join in too!). This item does not appear to be for sale in Nana Vic's store, although there is plenty of other gorgeousness over there! I brought this gorgeous brolly to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Main Umbrella Fabric - CR1, CR2
• Spots and Umbrella Trim - DG4
• Umbrella Handle - GB8, GB10
• Metalwork - Gold Gel Pen
• Outline - GG1
• Sentiment -  is of course by my favourite designer, Paulette at Create with TLC. If you're not following her blog, why ever not ... she gives away a free (yes, free) piece of word art every day!
• Bow - made from twine from my stash
• Pearls - are from my stash and here is this week's TOP TIP for you: Take a leaf from garden designers and use embellishments in odd numbers, 3 or 5 or 7. This helps to draw the viewer's eye through your design and makes your project more pleasing as it looks more natural.

The Top Tip Tuesday girls have got some great projects and tips for you, so I hope you'll head over and see their Numbers. Don't forget to come back and show us your creations! This challenge ends on Monday 10th June.

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

• Progressive Freebie Challenge (April-June) at Crafter's Digital Art Center
• Day 148 - Micro-Managed at 365 Cards My three teeny tiny elements are 3 small pearls, 1 small bow, 2 very small stars cut through the top layer of DP (just visible to the left of the sentiment strip)

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

Penguin Love

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

Good morning friends! I hope you are well, and if you had time off over the Easter holidays I hope you had fun - just a shame the weather wasn't brilliant! It's back to being beckoned out of bed by the alarm again this morning as my 2 week Easter break from school is over. I'd like to extend a very warm welcome to my 2 newest followers, Jenny and Katie - welcome aboard this crafting journey!

It being Monday morning, it's time for a new challenge at  Incy Wincy Designs and this time our challenge is Feathers or Fur! All you've got to do is feature either a feathery or furry friend on your project!


We've got 2 awesome sponsors lined up for you this week:


Our first sponsor is the wonderful Teri at Delicious Doodles and she is offering our first lucky prize winner 4 "Yummy Digital Images" from her On-line Store.


Our second sponsor is the team at Cedar Chest Designs who are offering our second lucky prize winner a $10 Gift Certificate to their On-line Store.

The DT has been given some images from both sponsors to showcase this week, and here is my card featuring an image you can find at Cedar Chest Designs:

My card recipe is as 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 all by Summer at Summertime Designs and they come from the Winter Wonderland kit. The bottom layer is called Dark Blue Blizzard Paper, the middle layer is called Circle Dots Paper, and the top layer is called Falling Paper. I have digitally matted and layered these papers together using a dark brown outline in my word processing programme, so there will be little bulk to this card. 
• Border - following some very careful measuring (and lots of testing on scrap paper!) I used my Snowflake Punch to create this border. I have used a strip of Dark Blue Paper (from the Winter Wonderland kit) to go behind the border, just to make the snowflakes stand out a bit more.
  
• Image - this cute image is called Penguin with Heartstrings and it is by April, one of the artists at Cedar Chest Designs. I brought my little feathered friend to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Penguin - EB1, True Black, Colourless Blender, OR1
• Hat & Scarf - BT7, BT9, EB7, EB8
• Hearts & String - Silver Gel Pen
• Outline - BT1
• Sentiments - is by Paulette at Create with TLC and this piece of word art was included in the December 2012 "Club". I've superimposed this onto a tag from the Winter Wonderland kit before punching the hole through and attaching some Twine from my stash.

I do hope you'll head over to Incy Wincy Designs during this week and see the other creations featuring Feathers or Fur which have been made my my Teamies and this week's Guest Designer Valou. Don't forget to come back and show us your creations; you've got until Sunday 21st April 2013 to join in.

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

• Challenge 202 - Christmas at C.R.A.F.T. Challenge
• Two Weeks Challenge #2 - Punch Me! at Little Blue Button Stamps
• Red and Green Must Not Be Seen at Winter Wonderland
• Challenge #150 - Tag You're It at Sentimental Sundays
• Week 202 - The First Letter of Your Name at Allsorts Challenge Blog ... H (Helen) for Hearts and Hat
• Challenge #158 - Adorable Animals at Craft Your Passion

Hugs, Helen x

Goal crazy!

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

Hello again friends. This will be a swift second post from me as we're heading out to catch a train to London as it's the Easter holidays still for us!

It's time for a new challenge at  Incy Wincy Designs and this time our challenge wants to get Out of the Box! No, we don't want you to make a box or anything like that .... we're looking for your projects that feature the "Out of the Box" Technique. Still none the wiser? Don't worry - head on over to SplitCoast Stampers and check out this Tutorial which explains this very easy but visually stunning technique.

Our sponsors for htis challenge are the team at Milk N Coffee who are giving this week's lucky winner 5 Digital Images from their shop. And  with over 180 items in the shop, there is such a choice of "Cute Digis for Cute Creations"! 

The DT has been given some of these lovely digis to showcase this week and here is my card for you:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Snow White which I cut, scored and folded to make a 10.5cm square card.
• Design Paper - is from the Men's CD of the Popcorn the Bear Platinum Triple CD-Rom Collection . This football paper is perfect for the image don't you think?
• Image - this fun image is by the artists at Milk N Coffee and is called Soccer Boy. Now because we're using the "Out of the Box" technique, part of the image has to be outside the shape of your die. No die cutting machine? No problem ... I haven't got one either!!!!! I used the smallest rosette from the "nest" on the Ultimate Pro Embossing Board Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats to de-boss the shape around my football fanatic. This way I could see as was using the tool where I needed to stop embossing and then start again around the top of his hair. Then when I cut out the shape, I just fussy cut around the hair spikes which left these "Out of the Box"! I brought this sporty lad to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:

• Flesh - FS2, FS6
• Hair - GB3, GB4
• Football Strip - EB1, Colourless Blender, CR10, CR11
• Boots - True Black, OR1, FL3 
• Football - True Black, IG1
• Grass - CG1, CG2
• Sky - Craf-T chalk in Blue
• Outline - GG1
• Sentiments - is by my favourite artist for sentiments, Paulette at Create with TLC. This was a freebie on her blog last month.  I've used my normal hole punch for stationery (before realising is was slightly too large for the job!) to make holes in the side of the oval "tag" before threading some Twine from my stash through them.

We've got another new team member joining us from this week, so I hope you'll come on over to Incy Wincy Designs and give Avril a very warm welcome. Also check out the other great creations from the rest of the Design Team our Guest Designer Valou. Then don't forget to come back and show us your creations that feature the "Out of the Box" Technique. You've got until Sunday 14th April to join in.

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

• Challenge #98 - Girls and Boys Come Out to Play at Top Tip Tuesday  My TOP TIP for you is how to make your design come "Out of the Box" if you don't have a die cutting machine. If you have an embossing board you can used that as I described above, but if you don't you could use a Cookie Cutter and draw round that. If you use a digital image, you could use your Word Processing package to make a shape and superimpose your image onto that so part of the image is outside the shape. If you stamp, you could use an object from your home to draw a shape around your image. Why not experiment and see what you can come up with - just don't forget to leave part of the image outside the shape before cutting out!
• Twine Love Recipe Swap at Catered Crop
• ICC #104 - For a Child at Inky Impressions Challenges
• Challenge 77 - For a Child at Aud Sentiments
• For the Guys at Gingerloft Challenge - I'm hoping that a card for a boy counts!?

I hope you have a great week!

Hugs, Helen x

Pretty in Pink

Evening All,

Just a swift post from me as I'm very behind with my card making and blogging due to computer "gremlins" delaying me!!!!! Anyway I'm here now with this week's card for Whoopsi Daisy, and our theme for you this week is Button or Bow - use one of these on your card.

Our lucky winner's prize is (as usual) one sheet of images from the Whoopsi Daisy Store, unless you've used a Whoopsi Daisy Image for your project in which case you can choose two sheets of images.





Here is my card for you using one of Linnie's pretty digis available from her store:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Snow White which I cut, scored and folded to make a 12cm square card.
• Design Papers, Tag, Button & Bulldog Clip Embellishments -  are a Card Companion set from the Strawberry Kisses CD-Rom. I'd forgotten how good these sets are until I was reminded by my lovely blogging friend Julie who has been using matching card companion sets from other CD Roms. Thanks for the reminder Julie!
• Image - This lovely girl is from  Sheet 430 and she is just one of the gorgeous digis drawn by Linne at Whoopsi Daisy. I brought this sweetie to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens.
• Sentiment - is a cover freebie cling stamp from Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine. It came from a set of "Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" stamps. I inked this using Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black.
• Twine - from my stash

I hope you'll come over to Whoopsi Daisy, check out the gorgeous samples by my DT colleagues and join in this week's fun!

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

• Challenge #145 - 3 Embellisments that start with the letter 'B' at Sentimental Sundays - I've used a Button, Bow and a Bulldog clip!

Hugs, Helen x

Lighting up a New Home

Welcome to Monday morning friends and time for a new challenge at Incy Wincy Designs. Before I get to that I would like to welcome my newest follower Annette. Annette makes some really delicious cards, and currently has a Candy Challenge over at her blog.





 
Back to the matter in hand and this week's challenge. This week we're playing Bingo (Tic-Tac-Toe) and using the board below, we're going for a row, column or diagonal of 3.

We've got two lovely sponsors for you  again this week who are both offering amazing prizes.


Our first sponsor is Iva Nova Chest who are offering our first lucky winner this beautiful goodie bag featuring flowers, ribbon and bling in shades of purple.



Our second sponsor is our very own Incy Wincy Teamie Nikki, from Limited Runs Digital Stamps. Nikki is offering our second lucky winner a prize of 3 digis from her store, and she has kindly provided the Design Team with some gorgeous images to showcase this week.




So here is my project for you, featuring the middle row of Punch, Metal Pins and Anything but a Card - a Candle Gift for someone moving into a New Home:

My project recipe is as follows:

• Candle - small unscented block candle in white from Ikea
• Image - This sweet little bird house is called Birdhouse #2 by Nikki at Limited Runs Digital Stamps. I printed the image first onto some thin card before then carefully taping a piece of white tissue paper over the top of the printed image, and then used my Spectrum Noir Pens to bring this little nest box to life.
• Sentiment - computer generated
• Borders - from the Paintbox Poppets Papercrafting CD-Rom. I cut & pasted the borders from the PDF file, and transferred them into my word processing package so that I could lay them out with the sentiment. I carefully cut around the borders and then used a new Heart Border Punch to decorate the border. You can see this design in the picture
• Posh Pins - homemade using silver header pins and beads from a selection pot.
• Twine - from stash and tied into a multi-layered bow using the bow maker on my Ultimate Pro. 
•  Putting the image onto the candle - Once the images were dry, I carefully cut around them and then placed each one onto the candle holding it in place with a piece of Greaseproof Paper. Unfortunately, I didn't get my placing quite right, as the ends of the borders are not at the same level! :o(    I then used my hairdryer to heat this 'sandwich' up and make the image melt into the candle … just be very careful that you don’t burn yourself at the same time. There is a great tutorial on SplitCoast Stampers with a video showing you how to do this!

I think that small candles like these would make great gifts for Teachers or Classroom Helpers, or even as a quick Hostess Gift if you're invited to a party at short notice. 

Do check out the Incy Wincy Designs blog and see the other gorgeous Bingo / Tic-Tac-Toe  projects from my talented team-mates and this month's Guest Designer Sandra.  Don't forget to come back and show us your projects, and make sure you tell us which line you're claiming for Bingo! This challenge finishes on Sunday 20th January 2013.

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

• Week 189 - Dies and Punches at Allsorts Challenges
•  January Challenge - Anything But a Card at Crafter's Companion Monthly Challenge

Hope you have a great and crafty week!

Hugs, Helen x

PS: Not sure what's happening with Blogger this week - just realised that what I thought had posted in English, has actually posted in Arabic or Cyrillic!!!! Have changed it now and apologies to anyone who couldn't read my post!