Away with the fishes ... ?

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

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

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



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

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

My card recipe is follows:

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

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

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

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

Have a good week.

Hugs, Helen x

Attishoooo

Good morning friends and welcome to Monday. By the time this post goes live, I'll have been up for about 6 hours and will maybe have gone for an "early bird" swim too! The reason behind this? At the time of posting, eldest should be airbourne on her way west ... to New York City on a Geography Field Trip with school. We had to be at school at 4.45am - groans all round! Let's just hope that her flight doesn't get delayed.

Enough of the domestic notices! It's new challenge time at Lexi's Creations and this one is a great excuse to top up your "card boxes" as we'd like to see your creations for a Birthday Celebration.

Our sponsor for this challenge is our very own Lexi from Fairy Dust Crafts who will be letting our lucky winner choose 5 digital images from her store. Fairy Dust Crafts  is "Your one stop shop for Lexi's Digi images and a growing choice of delicious crafting goodies. Here you can find all Lexi's Creations digital images...also available as clear rubber stamps plus other crafting goodies in store now!"

As usual, Lexi has let us all loose in the store again (thanks Lexi) and here is my project featuring one of her cute images, using the current sketch at Bearly Mine Designs:

I'm sorry that this is a scan of my card - forgot to take a photo whilst it was daylight! Also, I've haven't put a sentiment on this card yet as I couldn't find one that said "One today" that I liked ... I shall have to keep looking on that front!

Anyway, my card recipe is follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Snow White, which I cut scored and folded to make a 15cm square card
• Design Papers - are from a kit called Patio Picnic by Summer at Summertime Designs
• Image - this very surprised youngster is called Ellie Blowing Bubbles and she comes from the pen of Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts. Ellie was cut out using the second largest Framelits Scallop Squares Die before being brought to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens (I think some of my pens may be having a protest about not being used for a while as they don't seem to be blending very well!) in the following colours:
• Ellie - CG1, CG2, CG3, PP5, PP6
• Bow - DR1, DR2
• Bubbles - EB1
• Outline - CG1
• Sentiment -  none yet, but it will be for a First Birthday which my twin nieces will be celebrating in December
• Ribbon - white organdie with a Satin Trim from my stash

I hope you'll come over to Lexi's Creations and add to your stash of Birthday Celebration cards along with us and this week's Guest Designers Kate and Silvi - this challenge ends on Saturday 9/11/2013.

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

• Challenge #109 - Monthly Sketch Challenge at Bearly Mine Challenges
• Challenge #38 - Child's Birthday at Little Claire's Challenge

Hope you have a great week.

Hugs, Helen x

PS: I'll bring more photo's later today, I hope!

Boo .......... !!!!!

I hope I didn't scare you, with something from me suddenly appearing in your blog feed! After 3½ months of being AWOL in Blogland, I'm back! How are you all?

Sorry that I disappeared on you all, however life distinctly got in the way of crafting and (to cap it all) Mr. Mojo cleared off on a very long vacation. Anway, I'm back crafting now and I will be bringing you regular blog posts ... fingers crossed!

Here's a little taster; a card which I produced last week for my youngest's birthday. She saw me making an identical card the week before (which I put into a box of cards to be raffled at my friend Karen's 50 Shades of Pink fundraising Grand Ball - I'll blog these another time!) and asked me if she could have one for her birthday. Well, of course I had to oblige (didn't I?), and here is the result:

Sorry the photo isn't too bright - it's another grey and dreary day here, and this was the best I could do!

My card recipe is follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Ivory which I cut, scored and folded to make a 15 x 10.5 cm simple Z-fold card.
  
• Design Paper - is from a set called Candy Hearts by Goblinmarket.
• Image -  is Nail Polish by Melissa at MelJens Designs and I chose this image following a win earlier in the year at Tuesday Morning Sketches - shame on me that I haven't used it until now!!! I flipped this digital image in my word processing package before cutting it using my new toy (I've treated myself to a Big Shot!!!!) and my second largest Framelits Oval Die. I've used the "Out of the Box" technique just to add a bit of interest to the design, and then brought the image to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Nail Varnish - PL1, PL2
• Bottle and Lid - IG1, IG2
• Charm & "Sparkles" - Silver Gel Pen
• Gem - from my stash
• Sentiment - comes from a set called You're So Sweet (which was a magazine freebie last year), which I stamped onto an additional die cut oval using Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black. I fixed this oval into the middle of the bottom layer of the card, before superimposing my main image over it.

There you have it ... easing myself back into Blogland gently! 

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

• Day 295 - This and That Stamping at 365 Cards
• Challenge # 237 - Anything Goes with the Option of a Sketch at Creative Inspirations
• Anything Goes at Ladybug Crafts Ink
• Challenge #185 - Think Pink at Craft your Passion Challenges
• Colour Pink at That Craft Place
• Challenge #55 - Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness at The Squirrel and The Fox

Hope you have a great day ... I'm off for a quick run and studio class, followed by crafting this afternoon!

Hugs, Helen x

Edwardian Elegance

Good morning friends and welcome to another Monday. So, the longest day has been and gone, the nights are drawing in (!) and the weather is more November than June! Apart from that, all's good here!!! Hope you and yours are well.

It's new challenge time at Incy Wincy Designs again, and this week's challenge is Tic-Tac-Toe or Bingo! Here's your board, courtesy of the lovely Nikki and the challenge is 3 in a line, any row, column or diagonal (just make sure you tell us in your post which line you're claiming please!):

As usual, we've got some great sponsors lined up for you this week.

Firstly Iva Nova Chest are offering this gorgeous "Blue" goody bag to one lucky winner. Aren't those ribbons and flowers just gorgeous?

Our second sponsors are the team at The Paper Shelter who are offering our second lucky winner a $20 Gift Certificate to their store. 

The Paper Shelter team have also very kindly given the DT some of their images and papers to showcase this week, and here is my creation. I'm claiming the right hand column of Frame, Lace, Use Metal:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card -  is Centura Pearl in Ivory which I cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card.
• Image on Paper - is the Composition Page from In the 20s by The Paper Shelter. This image is all pre-coloured, but this cutie does come in a black and white line drawing so you can colour her yourself or a "stand alone" coloured version so you add her to your choice of papers.
  
• Frame - is the Paper Page from the In the 20s Stamp set. I've carefully cut out the green part, which left me with a swirly frame. To get a 3-D effect, I used a couple of layers of thick cardboard strips around the edge of the papers.
• Lace - from my stash and stiched to make a rosette with a little red frosted bead in the middle from Sanctuary Beads
• Posh Pin - is home made, using a header pin and frosted brown beads from Sanctuary Beads. The large brown and medium teal coloured beads came from a "pick & mix" pot by Hobbycraft

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and look at the other gorgeous creations by my team mates and Linda, who has been our fabby Guest Designer all through June. Then don't forget to come back and play Tic-Tac-Toe or Bingo with us!

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

• Pile It On #25 - Vintage or Shabby Chic at Pile It On
• Challenge #46 - Use Something Metal at The Squirrel and The Fox
• Challenge #45 - Steampunk or Vintage at Sparkles Monthly Challenge

Have a great day! Hugs, Helen x

A Quick Card

Hello friends and hope you're well this afternoon! A very swift post from me.

After the heat of yesterday, today is somewhat cooler here. It keeps threatening to rain, but not the thunderstorms we were forecast!

I made this card in about 20 minutes this morning - I was up early, so filled in my extra time usefully .... !!!!!

OK - I know it's very, very, very CAS - but I like it!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - pre-folded Kraft card base in A5
  
• Images - this cute little bird was a freebie in May from The Alley Way Stamps. I set 3 birds into 3 corners of a square format and then I paper-pieced the birds' bodies with these 3 gorgeous, different coloured, spotty papers from the 14 Days of Valentines kit by Summer at Summertime Designs. I drew over their tail feathers in gold gel pen before tool distressing the edges of the square. I finished the square by doodling round the edges with my gold gel pen. I've never been happy with my doodling before, but this doesn't look tooooooo bad!
• Sentiment - is also a freebie from The Alley Way Stamps and goes with the bird image. I've simply put this into the fourth corner of the square before printing.

Told you this one was quick and simple!

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

• Be Inspired Challenge #30 - Photo Inspiration at The Alley Way Stamps
• Day 169 - White Space at 365 Cards I'm hoping that blank Kraft card counts for this challenge!
• 9th Challenge - Take Flight - Rhedd and Rosie Challenge
• June Challenge - Wings at Bunny Zoe's Crafts
• Challenge #67 - Anything with Wings at Tammy's Scrapin' Corner
• Distressing at Divas by Design

Hope you have a great rest of the afternoon and evening!

Hugs, Helen x

Don't let go!

Good morning all! Hope you are fine and well on this Tuesday morning. The weather isn't quite living up to the weatherman's promise, but we can live in hope!

I didn't quite manage to get this post written last night, so here is a slightly belated second inspiration post for this week's challenge at Incy Wincy Designs. Just to recap, our challenge is for you to Make a Pocket Card, and there are plenty of tutorials if you go to SplitCoast Stampers and type Pocket Card into the Search Resources box on the Tutorials page.

We've got 2 amazing sponsors for you again this week! Firstly, we're welcoming back Janet and the team from Pink Gem Designs who are offering one lucky winner a great prize.



And we're also very pleased to welcome a new sponsor this week - Tamara and her team from The Stamping Chef, and they are offering our second lucky winner a $10 gift Certificate to their store. And here's a bit about them:
The Stamping Chef was born in November 2012, after I (Tamara) decided to switch from the scrapbook community to the crafter side of designing. Drawing is my passion, and my style is fun, cute and doodlish..I think =D.  I love to see images come to life when they're colored by amazing crafters. Creating digital images can be a tedious process, but I love each and every step of it. I have a lovely bunch of ladies standing next to me, creating, giving me advice, and help me everywhere they can. I'm so totally new in this great adventure, but I love it! It's so totally different than I'm used to. I hope I can provide you with loads of cute, happy, funny images you can work with.


Today, I'm showcasing one of the beautiful images from Pink Gem Designs and I have made a Criss Cross Card, which is a twist on a pocket card:

My card recipe is follows:

• Base Card - is 160gsm card in white which I cut, scored and folded following this tutorial to make the criss cross card base.
  
• Design Paper - is from a collection called Emma's Garden, which was a magazine freebie last year (I think!). To make sure the flowers go the same way, I cut two rectangles and ensured that I cut the diagonals so that I had a left side and a right side!
• Card Band - is made from a strip of 160gsm card in white onto which I've stuck another floral paper from the Emma's Garden paper collection. 
• Image - this cutie holding on tightly to her balloon is Chloe with Balloon and she is by Janet at Pink Gem Designs. I have used the pre-coloured version here, but your purchase also includes the line drawing so you can colour her yourself. I've fussy cut Chloe, and then fixed her to the Card Band with foam pads so it looks like she's sitting on the bottom of the band.
• Insert Tag - has been digitally designed in my word processing programme using a stripy paper from the Emma's Garden paper collection onto which I've superimposed a rounded corner rectangle in white, which gives a large area for writing the message to the recipient. I shrunk Chloe with Balloon to quite a small size, and inserted her on top of the white rectangle, again making it look like she's perched on it! I rounded the corners of the paper, before sticking it to another rectangle of 160gsm white card, which also had the corners rounded.
• Sentiment -  is by Debbie at The Crafty Pad Designs and is called Happy Birthday Plain Sentiment (available from Card Making Downloads). This was superimposed digitally onto the Insert Tag before I printed it out.
  

That's it for now ... I hope I've inspired you to try Making a Pocket Card. But before you do, please come over to Incy Wincy Designs and look at the gorgeous creations which my team mates and Linda (our Guest Designer for June) have made to futher inspire you. This challenge ends on Sunday 23rd June 2013.

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

• Challenge #46 - One for the Kids at The Cutie Pie Challenge
• Challenge #12 - Fold It! at Quirky Crafts - 2nd Entry
• P for Pretty in Pink at ABC Challenges
• DSC #40 - Photo Inspiration at Digitally Sweet Challenges I've been inspired by the girly pink colours in the photo. The insert to my project is all digitally layered up - hope this counts, if not please feel free to delete my project.
• Challenge #187 - Let's Go Pink at Crafty Catz

Hope you have a great day - catch you soon!

Hugs, Helen x

For Me?

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

Hello again friends! It's another busy day here at Casa di Mamma Mia ... 

This morning sees the start of our new challenge time at Incy Wincy Designs and this week we've been asked to Make a Pocket Card. Now before you say "Yikes!" (I already did that!!!!!!!!!!), our Team Leader Chris very helpfully pointed us in the direct of the Tutorials section of SplitCoast Stampers - if you type Pocket Card into the Search Resources box, about 9 different Pocket Card tutorials will be shown and you can "fill your boots"!!!!!

Don't switch off at this point, as entering our challenge could be very worth your while ... we've got 2 amazing sponsors for you again this week! Firstly, we're welcoming back Janet and the team from Pink Gem Designs who are offering one lucky winner a great prize.


We're very pleased to welcome another new sponsor this week - Tamara and her team from The Stamping Chef, and they are offering our second lucky winner a $10 gift Certificate to their store. And here's a bit about them:
The Stamping Chef was born in November 2012, after I (Tamara) decided to switch from the scrapbook community to the crafter side of designing. Drawing is my passion, and my style is fun, cute and doodlish..I think =D.  I love to see images come to life when they're colored by amazing crafters. Creating digital images can be a tedious process, but I love each and every step of it. I have a lovely bunch of ladies standing next to me, creating, giving me advice, and help me everywhere they can. I'm so totally new in this great adventure, but I love it! It's so totally different than I'm used to. I hope I can provide you with loads of cute, happy, funny images you can work with.  


Mr Indicisive came to visit again this week, and I just couldn't choose between which of our wonderful sponsors' images to use ... so I made two cards again! Good job Mr Mojo's in residence still :o)!!!!! Here's my Double Pocket Card featuring a gorgeous image from The Stamping Chef:

My card recipe is follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Ivory which I cut, scored and folded to make a rectangular card which is a little larger than the double pocket card which was made from 160gsm card in white, cut and folded following this tutorial.
  
• Design Papers - are from a mini scrapbooking kit called You Bring the Sunshine by Eva Kipler. I got this kit from Sweete Shoppe Designs, but they don't appear to stock it any more :o(
• Image - this little sleepyhead (and her rabbit) is called Good Morning Mimi and she comes from the pen of Tamara at The Stamping Chef. I brought this pair to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Skin - FS2, FS3, FS6
• Hair - GB1, GB2, GB3
• Hair Ribbons - CG3, CG4
• Nightshirt - CG2, CG3, TB9
• Rabbit - BG2, BG3, GB5
• Outline - GG1
• Sentiment -  is another freebie by my very generous blogging buddy Annette. If you head over there, please let her know that you came from my blog! I coloured the flowers using my Spectrum Noir Pen in shade GB3
• Insert Tag - has been digitally designed in my word processing programme using the gingham paper from the You Bring the Sunshine kit. I also used the frame from the same kit, which I digitally engineered to become a scalloped border ... what do you think? I then used a matching shade of yellow in my programme to outline the tag shape.

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs to check out the other gorgeous creations by my team mates and Linda, who is our Guest Designer for June. Don't forget to then come back and show us your Pocket Card creations. This challenge ends on Sunday 23rd June 2013.

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

• Challenge #12 - Fold It! at Quirky Crafts
• For the Girls at Send A Smile 4 Kids
• Girly Girl at Creative Corner Challenges
• Challenge #168 - Use a Digi at One Stitch At A Time

Have a great evening!

Hugs, Helen x