The Crafty Den

Back to regular postings soon!

2012-01-31T09:00:00.000Z

I’m really sorry but I’ve had a hectic few days and haven’t had chance to schedule my posts. I’ll catch up with all my DT posts as soon as I can and share my cards with you. In the meantime check out the new challenges:

cupcake craft challenge – theme is ‘recycle’

stamp with fun challenge – fantastic sketch

passion for promarkers challenge – theme is ‘new beginnings’.

I also have some mini candy that I’ll be sharing with you later this week.

Be back soon I promise x

PFP #133 & Winter Wonderland DT card

2012-01-24T23:02:00.001Z

Good evening dear friends. I’m really sorry for the late post tonight but time has just gotten away from me (plus I was side-tracked on Facebook lol!). I hope you’ve all had a great day and are now having a relaxing night. I’m going to try and have an early night tonight as it’s becoming a regular thing for me to go to bed after 1.30am, even on a school night lol! They are starting to catch up with me and I definitely need my beauty sleep haha!

Anyway enough waffling and onto my card. We have a brand new challenge for you today over at passion for promarkers challenge which has been set by Kimberly and she has chosen “recycle something”. Don’t forget to be eligible for our prize draw you must use your Letraset products i.e. promarkers, flex markers, aqua markers or tria markers. Here is my card:

I used a super cute image from Lili of the Valley and coloured it with a mix of promarkers and flex markers. The papers are echo park from the “be mine” paper pad and the pretty flowers were cut out with a magnolia doo-hickey die. My recycled items are the ribbon which was wrapped around a pair of PJ’s that I had for Christmas and the black tag which was on one of hubby’s t-shirts.

Our sponsor this week is Joanna Sheen and the lucky winner will receive a £10.00 voucher to spend in her online store.

I decided to combine my card with my DT card for Winter Wonderland challenge as unfortunately I didn’t make a card on time for last Friday’s challenge but I thought better late than never. The theme over at WW is “easel card” and we haven’t started our Christmas themed challenges yet so it can be for any occasion. The challenge still has one day left so why not knock up a quick easel card and try your luck – you have to be in it to win it!

Our sponsor over at winter wonderland is Lili of the Valley and they are offering one lucky winner a £10.00 voucher to spend in their online store.

The design teams have created amazing cards so please pop over to both challenge blogs and check them out. We really appreciate the lovely comments you leave for us.

I’m sorry it’s a doubled up post today but I didn’t want to let down my teamies at winter wonderland and wanted to make an easel card, as it seems like ages since I made one. I’m really glad I did as it turned out quite pretty I think.

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

Dream valley challenge – animals (entry #1)

The squirrel and the fox challenge – critters

Lexi’s creations challenge – fancy folds

Little darlings challenge – fave colour (pink)

Moving along with the times challenge – things with wings (entry #2)

Cupcake craftroom challenge – anything goes (entry #2)

St. Luke’s charity cards challenge – recycle something

Flutterby Wednesday challenge – open

Do you stack up? challenge – patterned paper (entry #2)

Critter sketch challenge – use 3 embellishments (ribbon, pearls, flowers)

I hope you will be able to join in with the challenges and I cannot wait to see what you create. Thanks for stopping by today.

Card ingredients:

Image: Lili of the valley – ‘gift wrapped’

Papers: echo park – ‘be mine’ paper pad, pink card from the papermill shop, black card from eBay, white digi stamping card from craftwork cards

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, magnolia doo-hickeys flower die, pearls from the hobby house, personal impressions sentiment stamp, circle nesties, recycled ribbon & tag

PFP challenge 133

2012-01-24T09:00:00.000Z

I’m running a little late with my post for today’s Passion for Promarker challenge. You can check out all the details over at the challenge blog and I’ll be back later this afternoon with my post when I get in from work.

See you soon!

Cupcake craft challenge #176–DT card

2012-01-23T09:00:00.000Z

** THIS IS MY SECOND POST FOR TODAY **

Please scroll down to see my Stamp with Fun DT card

Hello again dear friends, I’m back as promised to share my DT card for this week’s cupcake craft challenge. This week the lovely Maarit has set the theme and she has chosen “all you need is love”, so any occasion where love is the reason i.e. Valentine’s day, wedding, anniversary etc. As I mentioned in my previous post it was my parents anniversary on the weekend and their friends asked me to make a card for them so it was perfect timing for me. Here is my card:

I used a digi from Karen’s Doodles called ‘sweep me off my feet’ and coloured it with a combination of promarkers and flex markers. The papers are SU! and the flowers and corner are from wild orchid crafts. The sentiment was created on the pc. The finished card is 8x8 in size.

Our sponsor this week is Tiddly Inks and one lucky winner will receive a $10.00 voucher to spend in their online store.

The rest of the design team have created amazing samples for your inspiration so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

Corrosive challenge – I (heart) you

Stamptacular challenge – seeing spots (embossed panel)

Cute card Thursday challenge – music and dance

Do you stack up? challenge – patterned paper

Sassy studio designs challenge – use frosty colours

The poodles parlour challenge – Valentine/love

Simply create too challenge – love is in the air

Crafter’s companion challenge – love is in the air

Sentimental Sunday challenge – seeing spots (embossed panel)

Creative craft challenge – the colour blue

I hope you will be able to enter our challenge this week and I cannot wait to see what you create. I would like to welcome my newest follower Brittany *waves hello* – I hope you enjoy your visits and will pop by often.

Update on my sister – she went for her biopsy result last Thursday and thankfully everything was clear. They will follow her up again in 6 weeks time and then she’ll have another MRI scan in 6 months time to check nothing has changed. It is such a weight off our minds and it was such a relief for her.

I hope you have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by.

Ingredients:

Image: Karen’s Doodles – ‘sweep me off my feet’

Papers: SU! – ‘paper designer series stack – subtles collection’, white card from craftwork cards, SU not quite navy cardstock

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, flowers and metal corner from wild orchid crafts, pearls from the hobby house, sentiment created on pc, oval nesties, go create circle and scallop circle dies, A4 paper crimper from crafter on FB, cuttlebug ‘swiss dots’ embossing folder

Stamp with fun #145–DT card

2012-01-23T06:00:00.000Z

Good morning dear friends. I trust you had a good weekend. The weather here was quite good, we saw a bit of sunshine even though it was still chilly. We were celebrating my parents 45th wedding anniversary on Saturday and all went out for a lovely family meal in the evening. It was wonderful to spend time with my parents, sister and her family and we seemed to laugh all night!!

I’m here this morning to share my DT card for this week’s stamp with fun challenge. Our theme this week is “cute vintage”, although I did misread the theme slightly and just made a vintage card, but I thought I’d share it anyway. Here is my card:

I made this for my aunt’s 100th birthday a few week’s ago and as I didn’t have an actual photograph of her when she was young I used Google to find a royalty free image to use on my card. I lightly coloured her headband and flowers with flex markers to match my papers and added stickles to the flowers. I inked all the edges for a distressed/aged look and added some lace and a decorative metal corner.

The rest of the design team have created gorgeous cards as always, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

Pile it on challenge – add lace

Sentimental Sunday challenge – die cuts (oval nesties)

Let’s craft and create challenge – butterflies

My mum’s craft shop challenge – fave colour combo (pink/green)

Colour create challenge – pink & green

CRAFT challenge – use numbers

Moving along with the times challenge – things with wings

2 sisters challenge – embossing (white panel is embossed)

Craft your days away challenge – distressing

Joanna Sheen challenge – celebrations

I hope you can join in with our challenge this week and I look forward to seeing what you create. I’ll be back later with my DT card for this week’s cupcake craft challenge but until then have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Card ingredients:

Image: royalty free image from internet

Papers: floral paper from papermania pack (can’t remember name sorry), green paper from SU designer stack, white card from craftwork cards

Tools: flex markers, oval nesties, metal corner & lace from wild orchid crafts, butterflies bought from crafter on FB, pearls from the hobby house, sentiment created on pc, stickles, cuttlebug “script” embossing folder

Charisma cardz #2–DT card

2012-01-19T09:00:00.000Z

Good morning dear friends. I hope you’ve had a good week so far, although I can’t believe it’s Thursday already!! I have so much to do this week and I don’t seem to have achieved very much – story of my life at the moment lol!

I’m here this morning to share my DT card for this week’s charisma cardz challenge and Nina has chosen “clean and simple” as her theme this week. Here is my card:

I have used a super cute image from Stamp Fairy called ‘Lenny – thank you’ that I luckily got as a freebie a little while ago. I coloured him with promarkers and added a pink glittery bubble sticker to his nose for an extra bit of interest. I paper pierced around the image and then simply matted and layered onto plain cardstock. Very clean and simple (and I’m not entirely sure if it’s not too clean and simple lol!). I’m sorry about the poor pics – I tried all ways to get clearer ones but to no avail!

Our sponsor this week is Stamp Fairy and I have to be honest I’m not sure what the prize is……..but if you pop over to the challenge blog there will be full details there!

The rest of the design team have created amazing samples once again this week, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

Cardmadfairy’s digi days challenge – thank you

Reddy teddy go challenge – in the pink (hope I’ve used enough pink!)

Pile it on challenge – fuzzy friends

Crafty cardmakers challenge – no floral embellishments

Divas by design challenge – new beginnings and/or thanks

Dream valley challenge – anything goes

Anything goes challenge – anything goes

Papertake challenge – bows, buttons, bling or blooms (I have a bloom on my image)

I love promarkers challenge – anything goes

I hope you can enter our challenge this week and I look forward to seeing your CAS creations. Have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by today.

Card ingredients:

Image: stamp fairy – ‘Lenny – thank you’ freebie

Papers – none, black card from eBay, pink card from the papermill shop, craftwork cards white digi stamping card

Tools: promarkers, papermania adhesive stones, glittery bubble sticker from QVC (a long time ago), pricking tool for piercing holes

Cupcake craft challenge #175–DT card

2012-01-17T00:21:00.001Z

Good evening dear friends. I apologise for my late post today but we had a new computer on the weekend and unfortunately I still don’t have half of what I need on it yet, so it’s going to be slow going for a little while until I re-discover and download everything I’m used to.

I’m here with my card for this week’s cupcake craft challenge and this week the lovely Louise has set the theme and she has chosen “born on a winter’s day” so that means we'd like to see your wintery themed birthday cards. Here is my card:

I used a super image from wee stamps called “winter fairy” and I coloured her with promarkers and flex markers. I added flower soft to all her fluffy bits and also to the ground for snow. The papers are SU from the ‘designer paper patterns stack – subtles collection’ and the card is ‘not quite navy’ and ‘crumb cake’, both again by SU.

Our sponsor this week is My Mum’s Craft Shop and one lucky winner will receive a £10.00 voucher to spend in their online store.

The rest of the design team have created amazing samples as always, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate all the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

Moving along with the times challenge – spots and stripes

Paper pretties challenge – blue, white and silver

Simon says stamp challenge – spots and/or stripes

Phindy’s challenge – tic tac toe(ribbon/pearls/flowers)

Totally papercrafts challenge – spots and stripes

2 sisters challenge – metal

Catch the bug challenge – birthday

Mark’s finest papers challenge – use a border punch

One stop craft challenge – spots & ribbon (I’ve used spotty ribbon hope it’s ok)

Sentimental Sunday challenge – ribbon & sentiment

I hope you can join in with our challenge this week and can’t wait to see what you create. I haven’t felt very well all weekend so I’m completely behind with all my DT cards but hopefully I’ll catch up over the next few days so I’ll be a bit late with my cards this week. I really appreciate your lovely comments and look forward to receiving them. Have a great evening and thanks so much for stopping by today.

Card ingredients:

Image: wee stamps – ‘winter fairy’ digi

Papers: SU – ‘designer paper patterns stack – subtles collection’, not quite navy & crumb cake cardstock

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, decorative corner & flowers from wild orchid crafts, SU scallop border punch, ribbon from fantastic ribbons, personal impressions sentiment stamp, pearls from the hobby house, circle nesties

Charisma cardz #1–DT card

2012-01-12T22:39:00.001Z

Good evening dear friends. I’m a little bit later than usual posting my DT card for this week’s charisma cardz challenge. Last night just seemed to pass me by and I didn’t achieve very much! However better late than never as it’s a very special challenge for us over at charisma this week as it’s our 3rd birthday and to celebrate we have amazing prizes up for grabs. Our theme is super easy – “birthday” and you will get an extra entry if you use the number 3 on your creation. Here is my card:

I made this card for a friend at work. She and her twin sister (who’s name is Dreana) were celebrating their 50th birthday on New Year’s Eve and she wanted a card that depicted her sister’s favourite past-time……………..cleaning!!! She must need psychiatric help lol! Anyway I discovered this fantastic image at Bugaboo stamps and it also came with a brilliant sentiment (housework sucks!) but as the birthday girl doesn’t think housework sucks I’ll have to save that for another card lol! I coloured the image with promarkers and flex markers and the papers are a mixture – the pink background paper is SU from the ‘designer series paper patterns stack – subtles collection’ and the shocking pink patterned paper is echo park from the ‘be mine’ paper pad. A few punched flowers and pearls and hey presto and pretty fun card! The finished card is A5 in size.

Now onto our fantastic prizes this week:

DigiStamp Boutique is offering one lucky winner 6 digi images of their choice from her online store.

Pink Cat Studio are offering one lucky winner 5 Digi's of their choice.

Meljen’s Designs are offering one lucky winner this week 4 digis from their online store

The Stamping Boutique are offering 5 digis of the winners choice.

Crafty Emma’s Store has given us a £10 voucher (exc p&p) for one lucky winner this week.

Joanna Sheen is generously offering a £10 voucher

Crafty ribbons has donated a lovely selection of Cherry Ribbons for a lucky winner this week.

Wow wonderful prizes – I just wish I could win something myself lol! The rest of the design team have created amazing samples once again this week, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate all the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

Corrosive challenge – ring in the new year (my image is new)

The crazy challenge – lace and/or pearls

Heart song inspirations challenge – border punches and/or torn edges

Totally stampalicious challenge – humour

Card makin’ mamas challenge – something new (my image)

Fairy tale challenge – something new (my image)

Fussy and fancy challenge – happy birthday or animal print

A gem of a challenge – photo inspiration

Crafty calendar challenge – new news (my image)

Lollipop crafts challenge – anything new goes

I hope you can enter our challenge and I can’t wait to see what you create. Don’t forget you can combine your entry with a maximum of 10 challenges including ours and we have a limit of 3 entries per challenge. I hope you have had a brilliant week so far. I would like to welcome my newest follower Victoria *waves hello* – thanks for joining me and I hope you will visit me often. I really appreciate all my followers and without you my blog would be a lonely little place (and I would have to talk to myself lol!).

I would like to thank everyone who left kind comments regarding my sister – she had to stay overnight after her investigative procedure but she is home now and feeling ok, if a bit tired . She will have to go back next week for the result of her biopsy and fingers, toes and everything else crossed that it will be good news. I will let you know next week how she gets on.

Ok, so that’s it from me today – I can’t believe it’s Friday already tomorrow – where has the week gone? Although I do have something to look forward to this weekend as myself and hubby have been invited to a friend’s surprise 60th birthday party so it will be a rare treat for me to go out (I know I’m sad haha!). Have a great evening and enjoy your last day at work or play. Thanks for stopping by today.

Card ingredients:

Image – bugaboo stamps – ‘JJ vacuum’

Papers: echo park – ‘be mine’ paper pack, SU - ‘designer series paper patterns stack – subtles collection’, black card from eBay, white digi stamping card from craftwork cards

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, ek success retro flower punch, pearls from the hobby house, SU scallop border punch, Rectangle nesties, sentiments created on the pc, me & my big ideas alphabet stickers, sakura stardust pen

Passion for promarkers #131–DT card

2012-01-10T09:00:00.000Z

Good morning dear friends. I hope Monday was good for you. I don’t think I mentioned yesterday but my sister went in for some exploratory surgery on her throat yesterday and although we’ll have to wait for the result at least she wasn’t ill after the anaesthetic as she normally is. They have kept her overnight but hopefully she should come home tomorrow. After all she’s been through I’m keeping everything crossed for a good result.

I’m here this morning with my DT card for this week’s passion for promarkers challenge. This week Gro has set the theme and she has chosen a brilliant challenge – “inspired by a song” (please can you mention in your post what song inspired your card). Don’t forget you must use your promarkers, flex markers, aqua markers or tria markers to be eligible for our prize draw. Here is my card which was inspired by “Rockstar” by Nickelback:

I have used a cool image from Pollycraft called ‘Luna Bitterfrost – Guitars Rock” and coloured her with promarkers and flex markers. The pretty papers are my mind’s eye from the ‘a happy heart’ paper pad and the plain cardstock is SU pink pirouette. I made this card for my niece’s 18th birthday but she isn’t a very girly girl so didn’t add any fluffy embellishments just a couple of gems. The finished card is A5 in size.

Our sponsor this week is Letraset and one lucky winner will receive one of their Promarker Stamping Kits.

The rest of the design team have created amazing samples as always, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate all the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

The pink elephant challenge – hearts (she has a heart on her t-shirt) – if not appropriate please delete my entry

Moving along with the times challenge – step back in time (retro/music related)

Some odd girl challenge – bling it up

Alphabet challenge – x for x-tra special (18th birthday card for niece)

Crafty Ann’s challenge – let’s think hot (colours)

CES challenge – anything goes

Sweet stampin’ challenge – spots and dots (my paper)

Stampavie and more challenge – hearts (on her t-shirt) again disregard me if not appropriate

Let’s craft and create challenge – anything goes

Aud sentiments challenge – use your scraps

I hope you can join in with our challenge and I look forward to seeing what songs inspire you. Have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by today.

Card ingredients:

Image: Pollycraft – ‘Luna Bitterfrost – Guitars Rock’

Papers: My mind’s eye – ‘a happy heart’ paper pad, SU pink pirouette cardstock

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, gems were a birthday pressie, sentiment created on pc, oval nesties, SU small circle punch

Cupcake craft challenge #174–DT card

2012-01-09T09:00:00.000Z

** THIS IS MY SECOND POST FOR TODAY **

Please scroll down to see my Stamp with Fun DT card

Hello again friends, I’m back as promised with my DT card for this week’s cupcake craft challenge and Liza has set the theme and she has chosen “something new”. You could make a new baby, new home, new job card or just use new stash that Santa brought for you (but if you do please can you let us know what new items you’ve used). I decided to make a new baby card as I don’t have any in stock and I love making baby cards! Here is my card:

I used a super cute image from Lori Boyd designs and coloured him with promarkers. I used my favourite paper for baby cards – gingham – and both papers are from wild rose studio ‘gorgeous ginghams’ paper stack. The blue card is from the papermill shop and the white card is digi stamping card from craftwork cards (which I fed through my paper crimper for added texture). The layout again is super simple, as its for a boy, I just added a few buttons and gems to finish. I have to say that this card is much nicer IRL and I’m really pleased with the finished result.

We have two sponsors this week, firstly we have Sew Sweet who are offering one lucky winner a £10.00 voucher to spend in their online store.

Our second sponsor is squiggle stamps who are offering one lucky winner 3 digi images from their online store.

The rest of the design team have created amazing samples as always, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

Addicted to stamps challenge – January blues

The squirrel & the fox challenge – something new (2nd entry)

Fab ‘n’ funky challenge – something new

My mum’s craft shop challenge – something new

Cute card Thursday challenge – what’s new

Simon says stamp challenge – new something

Card makin’ mamas challenge – something new

One stop craft challenge – BINGO (pearls/gems, die-cuts/punches, buttons)

Sketch Saturday challenge – sketch

Crafty calendar challenge – new news

I hope you will be able to join in with our challenge this week and I look forward to visiting your blogs and seeing your wonderful creations. Have a wonderful day, whether it’s at work or at home, and thank you so much for stopping by today.

Card ingredients:

Image: Lori Boyd designs – ‘baby Levi’

Papers: wild rose studio – ‘gorgeous ginghams’ paper stack, plain card from the papermill shop, white digi stamping card from craftwork cards

Tools: promarkers, square nesties, dovecraft back to basics II buttons, SU basic rhinestones, personal impressions sentiment stamp, paper crimper

Stamp with fun #143–DT card

2012-01-09T06:00:00.000Z

Good morning dear friends. Another Monday and the dreaded start of the working week lol! I really need to win the lottery so that I can craft all day (which I think is every crafter’s dream). One good thing about Monday is that I have 2 DT cards to share with you and the first one is for the stamp with fun challenge. Our theme this week is “calendar” so we want to see all your gorgeous calendar creations for 2012. I was asked by a friend in work to make a desk-top easel style calendar for her daughter and this is what I made:

As I was in a bit of a rush I used a pre-coloured die cut image from Lili of the Valley but I did colour the flower and the dots on her dress with a flex marker so that she matched the paper. It was a fairly basic layout as time was an issue but my friend was happy so that’s the main thing. The papers are a mixture – the brown striped paper is echo park from the dots & stripes ‘candy shoppe collection’ and the pink paper is echo park from the ‘be mine collection’ (I think!).

The rest of the design team have made gorgeous creations, as always, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate the lovely comments you leave for us.

I would like to enter my calendar easel-card into the following challenges:

OSAAT challenge – use 3 embellishments (pearls, flowers and punched border)

Lili’s little fairies challenge – new beginnings (new year)

Paper play challenge – Happy new year (calendar)

Crafty catz challenge – a new beginning (new year)

Paper cutz challenge – new year card/project

Craft your days away challenge – new beginnings (new year)

By the cute and girly challenge – new beginnings (new year)

Cupcake craftroom challenge – anything goes

The squirrel & the fox challenge – something new (new year)

Paper sundaes challenge – saturated colours (2nd entry)

I hope you will be able to join in with our challenge this week and I look forward to seeing what you create. I’ll be back in a little while with my DT card for this week’s cupcake craft challenge but until then have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by.

Card ingredients:

Image: Lili of the Valley – die cut image from the ‘girly afternoons’ sheet

Papers: echo park – ‘dots & stripes candy shoppe collection’ and echo park – ‘be mine collection’, SU crumb cake cardstock, white digi stamping card from craftwork cards

Tools: flex marker in watermelon, ek success retro flower punch, MS border punch, pearls from the hobby house, Anita’s calendar pad

Bee crafty challenge #58–DT card

2012-01-08T18:36:00.001Z

Happy Sunday dear friends. Where do the weekends go? I can’t believe it’s already gone 6pm and I haven’t achieved anything yet today lol! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful weekend – I have to say the weather here is South Wales has been pretty good, we’ve even seen some sunshine (shhhh don’t want to scare it away)!

I’m a bad DT member again this month as I’m only now sharing my DT card for this month’s Bee Crafty challenge – but hey at least it’s only the 8th this month (*hangs head in shame*). We have an easy theme this month – we want to see celebratory cards or crafts, this could be to mark the New Year, or be for a birthday, special event etc... just make 'celebration' the theme and we are especially keen to see balloons. Here is my card:

I have used a super cute image called “fluffy bunny birthday” and I coloured him with promarkers and flex markers and also added diamond glaze to his balloon for a bit of shine. The papers are my minds eye “everyday flair” and the edges were distressed and inked with a cats eye chalk ink pad.

The prize as always is 2 digi images from the bee crafty shop and the challenge ends at the end of the month.

The rest of the design team have created amazing samples so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

Paper sundaes challenge – saturated colours

Quirky crafts challenge – food glorious food

Southern girls challenge – show us your sparkle

Crafty Ann’s challenge – let’s think hot (colours)

Fussy and fancy challenge – happy birthday or use animal print

Simply create too challenge – layers, layers and more layers

Secret crafter Saturday challenge – let them eat cake

CES challenge – anything goes

Catch the bug challenge – anything goes (1st entry)

Papertake challenge – anything goes

I hope you can join in with our challenge this month and I look forward to seeing what you create. I would like to welcome my newest followers – Bridget, Karen and Samara – *waves hello* – thanks so much for following me and I hope you like what you see and will visit me often.

I’ll be back tomorrow with my DT cards for the cupcake craft challenge and stamp with fun challenge but until then have a wonderful evening and enjoy the last bit of your weekend.

Card ingredients:

Image: Bee Crafty – ‘fluffy bunny birthday

Papers: my mind’s eye – ‘everyday flair’ paper pad, white digi stamping cardstock from craftwork cards

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, SU white flowers, ek success retro flower punch, gems from stash, personal impressions sentiment stamp, nesties labels 8, cat’s eye chalk ink pad, scissors for distressing edges

Winter wonderland challenge–DT card

2012-01-06T09:00:00.000Z

Good morning dear friends. Hasn’t the weather been really shocking this week and I hope you haven’t experienced the awful damage I’ve seen on the TV. It’s been very windy and wet here but thankfully we haven’t had any problems with flooding or any damage. I hope you all keep warm, dry and safe.

I’m here this morning to share my DT card for this week’s Winter Wonderland challenge and the lovely Marianne has set the theme and she has chosen “let’s go shopping “ and she would like to see images that are shopping or holding shopping bags etc. . Our challenge does not have to be for Christmas, although you can if you like, as we don’t start our Christmas only challenges until February. I really struggled with this challenge as I seem to have misplaced my mojo this week so if anyone has any spare please send it my way lol! Anyway here is my card:

I used a super cute image from Lori Boyd designs called ‘back to school Lucy’ but I removed her pile of books! I coloured her using promarkers and flex markers and cut her out with an oval nestie. The papers are a magazine freebie from quite a while ago and the card (which is really turquoise IRL) is stampin’ up. The ribbon isn’t quite so dark IRL either but hey-ho my wonderful photography skills at work again!!

We have some new DT members joining us from this week and joining Team Marianne we have Bridget and Karen and joining Team Kate we have Debbie and Lisa. Welcome girls, I cannot wait to see your wonderful creations.

Our sponsor this week is Crafter’s Companion and the lucky winner will receive a £10.00 voucher to spend in the online store.

The rest of the DT (including the newbies Bridget and Karen) have created amazing cards for your inspiration so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

OSAAT challenge – use a digi

Crafty boots challenge – celebration

Critter sketch challenge – celebration

Tip top Tuesday challenge – anything goes

Pile it on challenge – anything goes

Sentimental Sunday challenge – anything goes

The pink elephant challenge – anything goes

Pollycraft challenge – punch it

Crafts and me challenge – anything goes

I hope you will be able to join in with our challenge this week and I look forward to visiting your blogs and seeing your gorgeous creations. I would like to welcome my newest follower Lisa Jane *waves hello* – thanks for joining me and I hope you will visit me often. Have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by today.

Card ingredients:

Image: Lori Boyd Designs – ‘back to school Lucy’

Papers: patterned paper – magazine freebie, plain card Stampin’ Up!

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, martha stewart punch, nesties, wild orchid crafts flowers and corner, personal impressions sentiment stamp, pearls from the hobby house

Passion for promarkers #130–DT card

2012-01-03T09:00:00.000Z

Good morning dear friends. I hope you had a great weekend and have recovered from any self inflicted illnesses lol! We had a quiet New Year’s Eve and the whole family just chilled out, which was nice though. I haven’t crafted for so long and I have to say it is taken a toll on both my motivation and my mojo, but I’m sure I’ll soon get into the swing of things.

I’m back this morning as it’s time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers challenge and it seems like forever since we had a new challenge as we had our month long Mega Christmas challenge last month. I have to say it was wonderful to see all your amazing creations and I really enjoyed visiting your blogs. I have the honour of setting the challenge this week and I have chosen “thank you” as our theme, as I’m sure like me you still have a few cards to make to thank relatives and friends for their Christmas gifts.

I made a very simple card for this week’s challenge although I have to say I’m really pleased with the finished result. Here is my card:

I used a super cute digi from Saturated Canary digis which is aptly called “thank you” and coloured her with promarkers and flex markers. I bought some Martha Stewart PATP punches out of my Christmas money and used just the border punch on this card. The sentiment is from a clear stamp set by personal impressions and I meant to add some pearls but forgot to lol, but as I say I’m really pleased with it anyway!

Our sponsor this week is Letraset and they are offering one lucky winner a prize of a Promarker Stamping kit.

The rest of the design team have created amazing samples as always, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate all the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

Addicted to stamps challenge – something new (digi and punch)

OSAAT challenge – use a digi

The squirrel & the fox challenge – something new (digi and punch)

Pollycraft challenge - punch it

Ladybug crafts ink challenge – use your new stash (digi and punch)

Papertake challenge – anything goes + option something new

Paper sundaes challenge – something old, something new (old paper/ribbon, new digi/punch)

Party time Tuesday challenge – something new (digi and punch)

Scrap creations challenge – something old, something new (old paper/ribbon, new digi/punch)

Pile it on challenge – anything goes

I hope you will be able to join in with our challenge this week and I look forward to seeing what you create. I would like to welcome my newest follower Anne Christine *waves hello* – thanks for joining my happy band of followers and I hope you like my creations. I still haven’t posted my card for this month’s bee crafty challenge so I may be back later with that card too. Until then have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by.

Card ingredients:

Image: Saturated canary digis – ‘thank you’

Papers: Papermania – ‘capsule collection – cranberry & apple’, SU real red cardstock, white digi cardstock from craftwork cards

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, SU red ribbon, MS vintage lace PATP border punch, personal impressions sentiment stamp

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T11:07:00.001Z

I would like to wish all my friends and followers a very Happy New Year and best wishes for a happy and healthy 2012.

I’m sorry I’ve been MIA for a few weeks but things will hopefully get back to “normal” now all the festivities are over (insert sad face). I’ll be back later with my card for the brand new challenge over at bee crafty challenge.

Have a wonderful day.

Passion for promarkers #129–midway reminder & DT card

2011-12-20T09:00:00.000Z

Good morning dear friends. I’m here this morning as we are midway through our Mega Christmas challenge over at passion for promarkers challenge and it is the turn of team 1 to offer some more inspiration. I am lucky enough to be on both team 1 and team 2 so I can share another card with you today. As you know the theme is “celebrations” and the challenge will run until 3rd January 2012. We have some amazing prizes up for grabs which you can read all about in my original post here. Don’t forget you must use your promarkers, flex markers, aqua markers or tria markers to be eligible for one of our fantastic prizes and obviously follow the very simple theme. Here is my card:

My son asked me to make an 18th birthday card for his friend, and as he plays guitar in a band with my son I had to use this fantastic image from Kenny K called ‘rock dude’. I coloured the image with promarkers and flex markers and cut out the image using my neglected rectangle nesties. I embossed one half of the card with a perfect musical note embossing folder and added some twine and pearls. Again another fuss free card as if my son’s friend is anything like my son, then this will be perfect. Most boys this age will just glance at it anyway lol!

The rest of design team 1 have created amazing samples so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

Here comes the boys challenge – rock n roll

Kenny K’s krafty girlz challenge – anything goes

Cute card Thursday challenge – stripes

Dutch dare challenge – tic-tac-toe (pearls, distressing, embossing) 2nd entry

Simply create too challenge – embossing

Totally papercrafts challenge – time to party

Secret crafter Saturday challenge – new year/celebration (18th)

Paper sundaes challenge – celebrate

Paper playtime challenge – anything goes + sentiment

Stamps & fun = creativity challenge – your favourite material (paper!!)

Stampavie and more challenge – use red

I hope you can join in with our challenge, but don’t forget you can only enter this challenge a maximum of 3 times. I look forward to visiting your blogs and seeing all your wonderful creations. Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by today.

Card ingredients:

Image: Kenny K – ‘rock dude’

Papers: sorry can’t remember!, SU real red cardstock

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, pearls from the hobby house, rectangle and circle nesties, sentiment created on pc, twine from stash, crafts too music notes embossing folder

Cupcake craft challenge #172–DT card

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000Z

** THIS IS MY SECOND POST FOR TODAY **

Please scroll down to see my Stamp with Fun DT card

Hello again friends, I’m back as promised with my DT card for this week’s cupcake craft challenge. This week our lovely boss lady Faye has set the theme and she has chosen to give us a fantastic sketch to use. I really enjoyed using the sketch and will definitely be using it again. Here is my card:

and here is the sketch:

I used an image from DigiStamp Boutique called ‘Stan with beer’ and coloured him with promarkers and flex markers and I added some diamond glaze to the froth on his pint of beer. The papers are wild rose studio from the ‘for men’ paper pack and I used my very last scraps of elzybells kraft card (sob!!). I kept the layout really simple as the card is for my uncle and only added a punched star and button. I have to say that I’m quite pleased with the finished card, even though it’s fuss free – makes a nice change sometimes doesn’t it?

Our challenge will last until 24th December but the DT will then have the following 2 weeks off to spend with our families therefore as a special treat this week we have 3 sponsors this week. Firstly we have tickled pink stamps who are offering a prize of either one rubber stamp or two digi's of winner's choice, our second sponsor is Crafty Emma’s store and they are offering a £10 gift voucher and our third sponsor is Digital Delights who are offering 3 images of winner’s choice.

Don’t forget we also have our ‘icing on the cupcake’ sponsor and for December that is Polka Doodles and 2 lucky winners will receive the Pretty Sweet CD.

The rest of the design team have created amazing samples as always, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate all the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

Corrosive challenge – anything except Christmas

The crafty pad challenge – anything but Christmas

Cute card Thursday challenge – stripes (on his shirt??)

Little miss muffet challenge – buttons and ribbons (hope it’s ok that I only have 1 of each)

Frosted designs challenge – ribbon

Really reasonable ribbon challenge – anything goes + ribbon

Totally papercrafts challenge – time to party

CES challenge – party, party, party

Totally gorjuss challenge – for someone special

Paper sundaes challenge – celebrate

I hope you will be able to join in with our challenge this week, don’t forget it ends on 24th December and then our next challenge will begin on 9th January 2012. I would like to welcome my newest follower Karen Letchworth who left me the most kindest, loveliest comment – it was much appreciated hun and I hope you continue to like my creations.

I have to try and get organised tonight – I still haven’t written my cards, although at least I do have some to write this year and I’ve not wrapped any presents yet!! Nothing like being last minute is there lol! I hope you have a wonderful day and thank you so much for stopping by.

Card ingredients:

Image: DigiStamp Boutique – ‘Stan with beer’

Papers: wild rose studio – ‘for men’ paper pack, elzybells kraft card

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, dovecraft star punch, ribbon and button from stash, ‘happy birthday’ stamp by personal impressions, ‘uncle’ stamp by clear & simple stamps, diamond glaze

Stamp with fun #142–DT card

2011-12-19T06:00:00.000Z

Good morning dear friends. I hope you’ve had a good weekend and if you’ve been unlucky enough to see some of the “white stuff” I hope that it hasn’t caused you too many problems. It hasn’t been too bad here, we had some snowfall on Wednesday but thankfully it didn’t stick, although I did have a scary moment driving home from work when I completely lost control on the slippery surface – thankfully there were no cars near me at the time and I came out unscathed. I was definitely a bit shaken up though and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we don’t have any more!!

I’m here this morning with my DT card for this week’s stamp with fun challenge and this will be our last challenge until 9th January 2012 so that the DT can have a nice break with their families. We have a brilliant sketch by Andrea-Emmi41 to work with and here is my card:

and here is the sketch:

I have used a super image from DigiStamp Boutique called ‘Louie & teddy’ and coloured it with promarkers and flex markers. The papers are all from my scraps box and the sentiment is by verve stamps from the clear stamp set called ‘family phrases’. I created the birth details on my pc and added some baker’s twine and pearls as finishing touches.

The rest of the design team have created amazing samples so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out.

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

Delightful challenge – anything goes

Dutch dare challenge – tic-tac-toe (pearls, distressing, embossing)

Meljen’s challenge – no rectangle cards

Shelly’s images challenge – show us what you got

Southern girls challenge – let’s celebrate

Phindy’s place challenge – use your scraps

Simply create too challenge – embossing

Allsorts challenge – blue & brown

Secret crafter Saturday challenge – new year/celebration

Totally gorjuss challenge – for someone special

Crafter’s companion challenge – new beginnings

Ready teddy go challenge – anything goes

Corrosive challenge – anything except Christmas

The crafty pad challenge – anything but Christmas

OSAAT challenge – anything goes

I hope you will be able to join in with our challenge and don’t forget our next challenge after this one won’t be until 9th January 2012. I will be back later with my DT card for this week’s cupcake craft challenge so I hope you will call back later. Until then have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by.

Card ingredients:

Image: DigiStamp Boutique – ‘Louie & teddy’

Papers: left over scrap from previous projects, SU crumb cake cardstock, blue bazzill bling cardstock (used dull side)

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, baker’s twine, pearls from the hobby house, verve stamps – ‘family phrases’ sentiment set, baby details created on the pc, circle nesties, scissors to distress edges

Winter wonderland challenge–DT card

2011-12-13T09:00:00.000Z

Good morning dear friends. As there is no passion for promarkers challenge card today I thought I would do a catch-up post and share my card for last week’s winter wonderland challenge. A huge apology to my fellow DT girlies, I meant to post it Friday evening but then I completely forgot – oops. However better late than never and there is still time to enter our challenge (phew!). Our theme is “let it snow” so I know there will be lots of lovely entries for us to drool over. Here is my card:

I have used a super cute image from saturated canary digis called ‘a winter ragamuffin’ and I coloured her with promarkers and flex markers. The gorgeous papers are echo park from the ‘season’s greetings’ pad and I dug out my neglected MS double loops border punch.

Our sponsor this week is Delicious Doodles and one lucky winner will receive 3 digi images from their online store.

The rest of the DT have created gorgeous samples for your inspiration, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

Addicted to stamps challenge – snowflakes

Cupcake inspirations challenge – inspiration photo

Dream valley challenge – Christmas (2nd entry)

OSAAT challenge – use a digi

Quirky crafts challenge – snow

The squirrel & the fox challenge – Christmas (2nd entry)

Stamptacular challenge – Christmas glitz

Crafty boots challenge – Christmas

The cutie pie challenge – use a sentiment

Heart song inspirations challenge – snowflakes and/or doilies

Lollipop crafts challenge – happy holidays

The pink elephant challenge – snowflakes and sparkle

Pollycraft challenge – Christmas fun

Crafty purple frog challenge – it’s cold outside

Hanna & friends challenge – winter cards

Paper play challenge – snowman

Card makin’ mamas challenge – Christmas (2nd entry)

Crafty Ann’s challenge – Christmas BINGO (glitter, snow, red)

Craft your days away challenge – snowmen

Totally gorjuss challenge – let it snow

I hope you will have time to enter our challenge - the linky closes on Thursday at 5pm so still time to get involved. I’ll be back later with my second catch up card for the bee crafty challenge (this time I’m 12 days late with my card – oh dear! I blame the time of year for everything at the moment lol!) Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Card ingredients:

Image: saturated canary – ‘a winter ragamuffin’

Papers: echo park – ‘season’s greeting’, SU real red cardstock

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, circle nesties, MS double loops punch, dovecraft snowflake punch, heart button from stash, sizzix sizzlit architectural accent #1, sentiment from pink petticoat, stickles

Cupcake craft challenge #172–DT card

2011-12-12T09:00:00.000Z

** THIS IS MY SECOND POST FOR TODAY**

Please scroll down to see my Stamp with Fun DT card

Hello again dear friends. I’m back to share my card for this week’s cupcake craft challenge. This week the lovely Jane has set the theme and she has chosen “don’t look at the light” which means she wants to see all your glitter, bling and sparkly things on your cards and creations. I made a Christmas card for my niece and the DT were lucky enough to be given a digi image by our sponsor. Here is my card:

The fun image is from Saturated Canary digis and is called ‘Maddie’ and I coloured her with promarkers and flex markers. It’s difficult to tell but I added stickles to her pom-poms and also the ruffles on her dress. I threaded ribbon through the lace and die cut some snowflakes for decoration and I went a bit mad with the gems lol!

As I mentioned our sponsor this week is Saturated Canary digis and one lucky winner will receive 2 digi images of their choice from her wonderful etsy store.

Don’t forget we also have our ‘icing on the cupcake’ sponsor who for December is Polka Doodles and two lucky winners will receive a copy of the Pretty Sweet CD.

The rest of the design team have created amazing samples for your inspiration, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate all the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

Addicted to stamps challenge – snowflakes

Dream valley challenge – Christmas

OSAAT challenge – use a digi

Pile it on challenge – bling it on

The squirrel & the fox challenge – Christmas

Stamptacular challenge – Christmas glitz

Crafts and me challenge – winter (snow/snowflakes)

Crafty creations challenge – Christmas card with sentiment

Crafty sentiments challenge – snowflakes

Cute card Thursday challenge – anything goes

Moving along with the times challenge – last minute Christmas

Sassy studio designs challenge – Christmas using non traditional colours

Card makin’ mamas challenge – Christmas

Frosted designs challenge – glitter

Stamping for the weekend challenge – Christmas

2 sisters challenge – Christmas

Our creative corner challenge – ruffles (she has ruffles on her dress!)

The sweet stop challenge – sketch

Crafty calendar challenge – cold & frosty

Little Claire’s challenge – a family Christmas

I hope you will be able to enter our challenge this week and I look forward to visiting your blogs and seeing what you create. Have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by today.

Card ingredients:

Image: saturated canary digis – ‘Maddie’

Papers: dovecraft – ‘Christmas fancy’ paper pack, black card from eBay

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, lace from wild orchid crafts, ribbon recycled from old top, die-namics snowflake dies, SU basic rhinestones, sentiment created on the pc, stickles

Stamp with fun #141–DT project

2011-12-12T06:00:00.000Z

Good morning dear crafters. I hope you all had a good weekend and I trust the weather calmed down for most of you. It was lovely here on Saturday but the heavens opened yesterday. I am so behind with my Christmas preparations – I still haven’t trimmed up and I’ve yet to write any cards – but it will all work out in the end as it always does!!

I’m here this morning with my DT project for this week’s stamp with fun challenge. Our theme this week is “packaging/gift wrapping” and you can make anything you like, it doesn’t have to be for Christmas but it is perfect for any last minute Christmas gifts you may have to make. As luck would have it I brought home an empty biscuit tin from work last week so it was an ideal opportunity to repurpose it. Here is my decorated tin:

front view

top view

back view

close up of image

I decided not to make a Christmas tin but instead made a girly tin as my niece’s birthday is coming up in a week’s time so I thought I could fill it with something yummy for her. I used a neglected stamp from sugar nellie stamps called ‘gorjuss sitting’ and coloured her with promarkers and flex markers. The pretty paper is cosmo cricket (which is double sided and I used both sides) and the beautiful broderie anglaise lace is from wild orchid crafts.

The rest of the design team have created wonderful samples again this week, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out. We really appreciate all the lovely comments you leave for us.

I would like to enter my altered tin in the following challenges:

Corrosive challenge – anything except Christmas

Stampin’ sisters in Christ challenge – make a birthday card/project

Divas by design challenge – anything goes (2nd entry)

Flutterby Wednesday challenge – open theme

Cute card Thursday challenge – anything goes

Do you stack up? challenge – something old (my stamp and paper)

Meljen’s challenge – use green

The sugar bowl challenge – sketch & option do something unusual

Fairy tale challenge – gift box or gift i.e. bag

Totally papercrafts challenge – anything but Christmas

Allsorts challenge – it takes two – use 2 colours (pink & green)

Penny black and more challenge – happy birthday (2nd entry)

I will be back later with my DT card for this week’s cupcake craft challenge so until then I hope you have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by.

Ingredients:

Image: sugar nellie stamps – “gorjuss sitting”

Papers: cosmo cricket – ‘twist & shout” (I think!)

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, circle nesties, magnolia doohickeys flower die, MS butterfly punch, pearls from the hobby house, stickles, lace from wild orchid crafts, twine from the pretty little ribbon shop

Charisma cardz #48–DT project

2011-12-09T19:56:00.001Z

Good evening dear friends. I hope you are all ok and have survived this cold and wintery week. A special shout out to all my friends in the North of England and Scotland – I hope you’re all ok and managing to keep warm and safe in all the dreadful weather you’ve been having over the last few days.

I’m having a bit of week this week – I’m behind on posting most of my DT cards so I’m going to have a catch up session today and I’m starting with my DT project for this week’s charisma cardz challenge (which was due yesterday oops!). Our theme this week has been set by Jenni and she has chosen “no cards”. I’m sure you can come up with lots of brilliant ideas, such as tags, bags, boxes etc and for my project I decided to decorate a plain gift bag:

Here is a side view

and a close up of the image

I used an image from DigiStamp Boutique from the “Rudolph” set which is on offer for December. There are two super cute images in the set and they are available at the brilliant price of just £1.50 for both, until January, so grab a bargain now while you can. I coloured the image with my promarkers and flex markers and the papers are scraps from my stash.

We have lots of sponsors this week – firstly we have Bunny Zoe crafts and they are offering one lucky winner a £10.00 voucher to spend in their online store.

Our second sponsor is Whiff of Joy who are offering one lucky winner a stamp of their choice!

Our third sponsor is The Stamping Boutique and they are are offering 5 digis of the winners choice!

We also have a surprise prize which is chosen from all the entries added to our Facebook page.

I would like to enter my gift bag into the following challenges:

Come and get it challenge – anything Christmas

Cutie Sunday challenge – Christmas presents (I’m going to fill my bag with sweeties)

Incy wincy designs challenge – non traditional Christmas colours

Karen’s doodles challenge – recipe 3 different embellies, 2 papers, 1 image (eyelets, pearls, ribbon)

Lexi’s creations challenge – one for the lads

Lollipop crafts challenge – dark red, chocolate and cream

Creative card crew challenge – tis the season

Papertake challenge – anything goes

Scrap creations challenge – make it a present

ABC Christmas challenge – Y is for yippee (anything Christmas goes)

The paper variety challenge – inspired by a song (Rudolph the red nosed reindeer)

The pixie cottage challenge – last minute cards and gifts

Cute card Thursday challenge – anything goes

Do you stack up? challenge – something old (my papers)

Moving along with the times challenge – last minute Christmas

Crafty catz challenge – anything goes

Fairy tale challenge – make a gift box or bag

Stamping for the weekend challenge – Christmas

Challenge up your life challenge – packaging/wrapping

I’ll be back later with my DT card for this week’s winter wonderland challenge so I hope you will pop back later and check it out. Have a great evening and thanks for stopping by.

Ingredients:

Image: DigiStamp Boutique – ‘”Rudolph” set

Papers: scraps from stash, kraft card from Elzybells (only tiny bits left now!)

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, SU sentiment and ribbon across papers, fancy ribbon from fantastic ribbons, crop-a-dile to create holes and eyelets, nesties labels 8, pearls from the hobby house