Shape Up

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

Ooops! This should have been scheduled to post, but guess which dimwit hit "save" instead of publish? Sorry folks! :o)

Good morning friends and welcome to another week. I'm sorry for the lack of posts at the beginning of last week and flurry of posts at the end. I was "hit" by mega computer problems. Hopefully it's all sorted out now, unlike the weekend weather here in the south of England ... I don't think I could have been more wet if I had gone swimming!!! :o)

Anyway, it's time to introduce this week's challenge Incy Wincy Designs. This time we are looking for your cards that aren't square or rectangular, they have to be A Shaped Card. 

This week our sponsor is the fabby team from Bugaboo Stamps, who are offering our lucky winner 7 digis of their choice. With plenty of choices from cute to hilarious (and all points in between) that's a great prize to win! The DT have been lucky enough to be able to choose a Bugaboo Digi to showcase this week (thanks Jodie and team!) and here is my card for you this week:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Black (love the sheen and slight sparkle!) which I have cut, scored and folded to make a circular side stepper card. Not quite sure of the dimensions, but my circle template was an upturned cereal bowl ... yes, I'm still frugally crafting :o) !!!!!
• Image - is  Heels - Daisy by Bugaboo. I love the simplicity of this very girly shoe which I have brought to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:


• Shoe - BP1, BP2, BP6, CG4, Silver Gel Pen
• Pearls (from my stash) - BP6
• Outline - GG1
• Sentiment - is by the lovely Annette at Netty's Cards and it is perfect as this card was for my niece's 18th Birthday. You too can get a copy of this sentiment by visiting Annette's blog. Just be sure to tell her that I sent you please!
• Ribbon - from my stash

Do head over to the Incy Wincy Designs blog, and check out the amazing inspiration from my team-mates and this month's Guest Designer Jackie. Then come back and show us your Shaped Cards - you've got until Sunday 24th March 2013 to link your creations up.

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

• Fortnightly Challenge 57 - Shaped Cards at Forever Friends
• Monthly Challenge #31 - Cards with Folds at Little Claire's

I'll be back in a little bit with another DT card. In the meantime, have a good Monday!

Hugs, Helen x

Happy Easter!

I'm back with another very swift post, this time for Lexi's Creations where our current challenge is Easter. 

This week's sponsor is Priyanka from My Heart Pieces who is offering a prize of 3 digis to our lucky winner and the lovely Lexi from  Fairy Dust Crafts has kindly allowed the DT their choice of image from her store.

Here is my card, showcasing the gorgeous "Easter Egg Lillie":

Once again, I'll return and post my card recipe. Do come and join in the fun at Lexi's Creations and get a card or two made in time for Easter! This challenge ends on Saturday 16th March.

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

• Challenge #22 - Easter at Broken Box Stock

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

F is for ...

.... flowers, and quite a few of them!

Good morning my crafty friends and welcome to another challenge at Incy Wincy Designs.  This week we want to see   Something beginning with F..... (but that doesn't end in the word "off" please!)

Our sponsor this week is the lovely Megan from Dilly Beans Digi Stamps. Make sure you head over to her blog and check out her awesome digis! She also has "Collage Sheets" where she's made a themed coloured digi sheet, and there's a Dilly Beans Challenge Blog too! Megan is offering this week's lucky winner 3 digital images from the store. She also kindly allowed the DT girls their choice of image (thanks Megan!), and with so many totally gorgeous digis there, it was really hard to choose just one.

Then I stumbled across this simple digi (which screamed "Choose Me!" at me) and here is my really clean & simple inspiration for you this week:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - is plain white heavyweight card (from my stash and I'm afraid the wrapper has long since disappeared, so I can't tell where it came from - sorry!), which I have cut, scored and folded to make a DL sized card
• Image - is #344 - Daisy Squares by Megan from Dilly Beans Digi Stamps and it really lends itself to a CAS style of card. I think this image will be so versatile, not just for Birthday cards but also for Thinking of You, Get Well and Sympathy cards. I have brought these flowers to life using my Versamark Pen and Craf-T chalks (which I applied and blended using a cotton bud, and re-blended using the Versamark Pen to get a soft pastel image) and one Spectrum Noir Pen in the following colours:


• Top Left Flower - Ruddy Red, Orange, Yellow Orange
• Top Right Flower - Orange, Yellow Orange, Yellow
• Bottom Left Flower - Magenta, Pink, Flesh
• Bottom Right Flower - Violet, Orchid, Magenta
• Sky - Spectrum Noir Pen in TB1
• Background - Dark Green
• 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 it up using a Papermania Capsule Collection Pigment Ink Pad in Red Hot, and once I had stamped it on the card I coated the sentiment in Holographic Embossing Powder before heating it. Check out that gorgeous sparkle in this photo below!

It's not very often that a card comes together exactly how I imagined it would, but this one did!

Do head over to the Incy Wincy Designs blog, and make sure that my teamies and this month's Guest Designer Jackie have things beginning with the letter F. Then come back and show us your projects - you've got until Sunday 17th March 2013 to link your creations up.

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

• March Challenge - Anything Goes at Chalk 'n' Stock

Hope you have great week!

Hugs, Helen x

Care 2 Stamp

Good Morning Friends and I hope you are well.

It being Monday morning, it's time for a new challenge at Incy Wincy Designs,  and this week we've got a Sketch for you. Of course, you can flip or rotate the sketch - just make sure that we can see that you're following this layout.

We've got a fabby sponsor for you this week - the lovely Kim from Care 2 Stamp who is giving one lucky winner a $15 Gift Certificate to her store. Kim also kindly provided some stamps for the DT to work with and here is my inspiration for you:

As you can see, I've both flipped and rotated the sketch to get my layout and I've taken a slight liberty as I'm counting the floral spray at the bottom of my DP as the flowers on the sketch. I've also left my card sentiment free, as I don't know to whom this card will be going!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Ivory, which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card
• Design Papers - are from a calendar by PinkPaislee Designs called London Market Rare Finds and Curiosities which was a freebie earlier this year in a magazine.
• Image - is Amy by Care 2 Stamp, and I have brought this little cutie to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:

• Hair - TN5,TN7, TN8
• Skin - FS2, FS3, FS6
• Top - BT2, BT4
• Gilet - EB2
• Shorts - TB2, TB4
• Tights - BT1, BT2
• Boots - EB1, EB7, PP1,PP3,PP4, PP5
• Flower Pot - TN3, TN4, TN5, TN8
• Flowers - Roses: CR8, CR10, CR11; Small Flowers: PP4, PP5; Large Flower: EB1, PP3; Foliage: DG2
• Balloon - CR11
• Background - EB1, EB2

Do come over to the Incy Wincy Designs blog and see how the rest of the DT and this month's wonderful Guest Designer Jackie have used the Sketch. Then come back and show us your take on it! You've got until Sunday 10th March 2013 to link your creations up.

Hope you have a good week!

Hugs, Helen x

Thinking of You

Good Evening All,

This is another non-DT post from me ... and I'm using up some stash too! It's the beginning of March, and I'm still managing (in some form or another) to keep up with my resolution ... :oD

Here's a card I've made, having been inspired by a Freebie sentiment:

• Base Card - a pre-made A6 card blank in cream
• Design Papers - are from a set by Erica Zane called Grow and you can get this mini pack from Sweet Shoppe Designs. I've used Papers 2, 3 and 4 from the pack for this card.
• Image -a cover freebie cling stamp from Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine. It came from a set called "The Floral Collection". I inked it up using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad and brought the flowers and leaves to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:


• Flowers - GB1, GB3, GB4, GB5
• Leaves - BT2, BT4, BT5, BT9
• Sprays - Versamark Pen and Gold Embossing Powder
• Outline - GG1
• Sentiment - is called "Thinking of You"  and it was a freebie at Beccy's Place last week. I love the wording of the Irish Blessing behind the main part of the sentiment and it is very reminiscent of a version that I have sung on many occasions at Guide events ... yes, another favourite vesper!

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

• AC157 - Sketch Challenge at Annabelle Stamps - I've rotated the sketch through 180°
• Challenge 55 - Blue and Yellow at Little Miss Muffet
• Inspiration Challenge Group - Photo Inspiration at Crafter's Digital Art Center
• Challenge #50 - Un-Inked Stamp at Use It Tuesday - not only has my image stamp never been inked up before, it's also been sat in my craft drawer since spring 2012 when it was a magazine cover gift, so I'm using my stash too! The card blank I've used was in a pack that I bought nearly 2 years ago, when I first started making cards.

Hope you've had a good weekend.

Hugs, Helen x

Fluttering around

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

Hello again friends! As you're reading this, I'll be back at work dealing with the absences, accidents and illnesses at our local high school. I'm hoping that the students will be rested after their half term break, and I'll get an easy day today!

Anyway, it's time to introduce this week's challenge Incy Wincy Designs. This time we are asking you to showcase a project which thinks outside the box, as our challenge topic is Anything But A Card. 

This week our sponsor is Melissa from Meljen's Designs, who is offering our lucky winner 4 non-coloured digis of their choice. That is a super prize, and I can guarantee you'll be hard pressed to choose just 4 images! The DT were given the choice of which four digis we would like to showcase this week - I can't begin to tell you how many e-mails were flying around before we settled on the four images we're using! :o)

Without further ado here is my project, a door hanger, for your inspiration:

My door hanger recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Snow White, which is made from one panel of A4 tri-fold. I found the centre of my panel, judged how high I wanted my door handle 'hole' to be and then embossed the smallest circle shape from the "nest" on the Ultimate Pro Embossing Board Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats which I then cut out. I used the corner punch on my Clevercut to round the corners.
• Design Papers - are from a set by Summer at Summertime Designs called "Energy".  Once again, I have digitally put the layout together. The base layer is called Butterflies and the top layer is called Plaid. Because these papers are digitally put together, the corner punch on my Clevercut could only round the corners on the base layer of paper! I also didn't put a border around the layers to give a faux mat, and I think (in hindsight) these papers need that definition.
• Image - is Daisy Butterflies by Melissa from Meljen's Designs. I love the whimsy of this image and it would look just at home on a girl's birthday card. I tool distressed the edges of this layer. I then brought this scene to life using my Versamark Pen and Craf-T chalks (which I applied and blended using a cotton bud, and re-blended using the Versamark Pen to get a soft pastel image) and Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:



• Butterflies - CR8, CR10, CR11, CT3, Silver Gel Pen
• Flowers - CT4, GB4
• Hearts - Craf-T chalks in Magenta and Pink
• Dots - CG4
• Outline - TB2
• Sky - Craf-T chalk in Light Blue
• Sentiment - is computer generated using my word processing package and layering this digitally over the papers.

Do head over to the Incy Wincy Designs blog, and check out the Anything But a Card creations from my teamies and this month's Guest Designer Trudy - sadly, this is team-mate Bettina's last week, so please go over to her blog and leave some love for all the fab inspiration she has shared with us all. Don't forget to come back and show us your projects - you've got until Sunday 3rd March 2013 to link your creations up.

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

• Challenge #48 - In the Garden at Ruby's Rainbow
• Challenge #159 - Flower Power at Fab 'n' Funky Challenges
• February Monthly Challenge - Anything Goes at Chalk 'n' Stock
• Challenge #143 - Flowers, Flowers and more Flowers at Sentimental Sundays
• Challenge #24 - Flowers for Spring at Delicious Doodles
• Challenge #15 - Anything But A Card at Hotshot Craft

Whatever you're doing this week, I hope you have a good one!

Hugs, Helen x