Winter Friends

I have yet another Christmas card to show, but first I just wanted to share some news that I have been bursting to tell - from the challenge starting on 13th January I will be joining the Joanna Sheen DT, I'm very excited & honoured to have been invited to join their talented team and can't wait to get started!

Today's card has been made using a very cute stamp from Crafter's Companion, I have made some 'grown up' cards this year, but I'm such a sucker for cute images! I wasn't sure if I'd made these cute chappies too orange, but I think it works with the Kraft card.

Image - 'Giving' - Crafter's Companion coloured with Promarkers
Papers - 'Annabelle's Christmas' paper pack - Wild Rose Studio
'Snow' done using my 'Ice White' Viva pearl pen
Ribbon, Kraft card & candi from stash
Dies used: SB 'Circles' & 'Scalloped Circles', Marianne Designs 'Swedish Ice Star' and border cut using Martha Stewart's PATP 'Layered Arches'

Challenges:

’Anything Goes’ – Divas By Design 

’Christmas’ – Dream Valley 

’Anything Christmas’ – Come & Get It 

’Anything Goes’ – Tammys Scrapin Corner 

It’s Your Choice’ – Penny Black & More @ Allsorts 

’Anything Goes That’s Festive’  – Whimsy Stamps Inspirations 

'Winter Friends' - Crafter's Companion

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Mistletoe Kids

Well, it's a gloomy old day here in Kent, hope it's better where you are! I have another Christmas card today, but firstly I wanted to remind everyone that the Mega Christmas Challenge over at Passion For Promarkers is only half way through and will end January 1st.  

Team 1 are showing their cards today, so please pop over for some inspiration.  There are some wonderful prizes up for grabs and with 2 weeks still to go you have plenty of time to get your entry in! 

There are several challenges this week asking us to make Christmas cards with traditional images or colours and seeing as my last few Christmas cards have all been pink or blue or brown, I thought it was time to make one using good old red and green, this one is for my Mum and Dad. I had a very lucky run of winning prizes back in the Autumn and bought this lovely stamp with an LOTV voucher won at Divas By Design. It's been sitting on my desk for ages waiting to be used! I tend to be inspired by the wonderful creations made using these stamps, but am a bit afraid of using them myself as I'm not sure I can do them justice, lol! But I'm glad I took the plunge with this one, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Image - 'Under The Mistletoe' - LOTV coloured with Promarkers
Papers - Fizzy Moon 'Traditional Christmas' decoupage & paper pad
Kraft card, candi, peel offs & ribbon from stash
Lace - The Ribbon Girl
Gems - Anita's
Dies used: SB 'Circles' & 'Scalloped Circles', Marianne Designs 'Christmas Tree' & 'Swedish Ice Star'
'Star Dust' Stickles
'Bundled Sage' & 'Walnut Stain' distress inks - Tim Holtz (for the edges)

Challenges: 
’Use Some Red’ – Divas By Design 
’Oh Christmas Tree’ – Allsorts 
’Christmas’ – Dream Valley 
’Anything Christmas’ – Come & Get It 
’Traditional Christmas Cards’ – Whoopsi Daisy 
’Holly Or Mistletoe’ – Incy Wincy Designs 
’Traditional Colours’ – Anything Goes 
’Anything Goes’ – Tammy's Scrapin Corner 
’Anything Goes’ – Crafty Bloggers Network 
It’s Your Choice’ – Penny Black & More @ Allsorts 
’Anything Goes That’s Festive’  – Whimsy Stamps Inspirations
'Anything Goes' - Christmas At Sweet Stampin 

Thanks For Looking
Natx

Sledging Fun

Gosh, Christmas is really getting in the way of my crafting! Thank goodness I will have some time off soon to sit and make some cards, perhaps I'll make next year's Christmas cards and get in front of myself for a change, lol! I made this card using one of the stamps I was so lucky to win at the Crafter's Companion Challenge recently. It's a really fun image, oh that I were a bit younger to enjoy sledging, I'd be too afraid of breaking something these days!!!

Image - ‘Winter Wonderland’ – Crafter’s Companion coloured with Promarkers
Papers – from ‘Humphrey’s Corner’ decoupage & paper pad – Crafter’s Companion 
Ribbon – Papermania Capsule Collection
Candi, glitter & Kraft card from stash
Dies used: Martha Stewart’s PATP ‘Layered Arches’, Marianne Designs ‘Swedish Ice Star’, SB’s ‘Circles’ & ‘Scalloped Circles’

Challenges:
’Anything Goes’ – Crafty Bloggers Network
’Winter Friends’ – Crafter’s Companion
’It’s Your Choice’ – Penny Black & More @ Allsorts
’Festive Anything Goes’ – Whimsy Stamps Inspirations 
’Dies & Punches’ – Sweet Stampin
’Christmas’ – Dream Valley
’Anything Goes’ – Christmas At Sweet Stampin
’Christmas With Snowflakes’ – Incy Wincy Designs
’Winter’ – C.R.A.F.T
’It’s Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Christmas’ – Little Miss Muffet

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Mega Christmas Challenge at Passion For Promarkers

This week at PFP we are launching our very special Mega Christmas Challenge which runs for a whole month and ends on January 1st 2013.  The design team has been given a little holiday,  however to make up for the lack of challenges we have some fantastic prizes up for grabs. Our theme for the Mega Christmas challenge is a nice easy one “include the word HAPPY in your sentiment”, so basically we want to see your creations for any type of occasion that include the word “happy”, i.e. Happy Christmas, Happy birthday, Happy anniversary etc.  We are limiting the number of entries you can make to just 3 for this month long challenge. Team 2 are showing their cards this week, so please pop over to their Blogs to see what they've been up to and then on 18th December we will be giving you more inspiration with cards from Team 1. So now for the exciting bit – the prizes!
Letraset are generously offering 3 x Season’s Gift Sets – so that means 3 winners!

Joanna Sheen is generously offering one lucky winner a £10.00 voucher to spend in her online store.

DigiStamp Boutique are generously offering one lucky winner a prize of 6 digi images of their choice from her store.

Bugaboo stamps are generously offering a prize of 7 digis (which we are going to split into 2 prizes)

Michele R Designs are offering one lucky winner a prize of $15.00 worth of digi papers, which are available at Whimsy Designs.

and a brand new sponsor for us - Clearly Besotted Stamps are generously offering a prize of 1 stamp set of the winner's choice.

WOW! What fantastic prizes, what are you waiting for, get those Promarkers out and start creating, we can’t wait to see what you all come up with!

So, onto my DT card. I have chosen to use an image from DSB called ‘Skating Hattie’, she is just adorable and so easy to colour.

Image – ‘Skating Hattie’ – DigiStamp Boutique coloured with Promarkers
Sentiment printed on my pc
Kraft card from my teamie Jen 
Fiskars Snowflake embossing plate
Dies used: Martha Stewart Punch Around The Edge ‘Layered Arches’, Marianne Designs Creatables ‘Swedish Ice Star’ & Christmas Tree, Memory Box ‘Frostyville Border’
Clear dewdrops on snowflakes – The Ribbon Girl
’Frosted Lace’ Stickles for tree, coat & hat trim &  I used a Viva ‘Ice White’ pearl pen for the snow
Ribbon & glitter card from stash

Challenges:
’Snowflakes’ – Cute Card Thursday
’Anything Goes’ – Crafty Bloggers Network
’Christmas Cards’ – Whoopsi Daisy
’Non-Traditional Christmas Colours’ – Incy Wincy Designs
’Anything Christmas’ – Tammy’s Scrapin Corner
’Anything Goes’ – I ♥ Promarkers
’Glitter & Sparkle’ – Divas By Design
’Advent’ – Allsorts
’Ribbons & Snowflakes’ – Sweet Stampin
’Non-Traditional Christmas’ – Dream Valley
’Color Challenge Blue Christmas’ – Come & Get It

Don't forget to check back on the PFP Challenge Blog on the 18th for more inspiration!

Thanks for looking! Natx

Coffee & Cream Christmas

My mojo has up and left for a holiday! I have discovered that there are disadvantages to working for your husband, one of them being that a cold is not a good enough excuse not to go to work :( so by the time I’ve got home in the past few days all I’ve wanted to do is curl up on the sofa and feel sorry for myself! However, I hate not posting at least once a week, so I’ve got a card to show today that I made for J & C Creations a little while ago on the theme of ‘Contemporary Christmas’. I had already made a pink & blue card for their monthly challenge and so decided on a brown & cream colour scheme for this stepper card.

 

Stamp from Penny Black’s clear stamp set ‘Christmas Fashion’ coloured with Promarkers
Snowflakes cut using Marianne Designs Christmas Creatables ‘Swedish Ice Star’
Sentiment cut using Spellbinders ‘Fleur de Lis Rectangles’ die
Stickles ‘Frosted Lace’ Brown card, brads paper & ribbon from stash

 
Challenges:
’Christmas Anything Goes’ – Crafty Bloggers Network
Anything Goes’ – I ♥ Promarkers  
’Non-Traditional Christmas’ – Dream Valley 
’More Than 1 Fold’ – Come & Get It  
’No Square Allowed’ – That Craft Place  
’Fancy Fold’ – Dutch Dare  
’Anything Goes’ – Creative Card Crew  
’Shaped/Fancy Folds’ – Christmas Cards All Year Round

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Christmas Box Card

Today’s card is one that I made for J & C Creations . Having time to craft is a real problem for me and so I don’t tend to do many ‘fiddly’ projects, however being on the design team at J & C I like to try and do something other than a square card all the time, so here is my Christmas Box Card (still square though, lol!) – I’m afraid I went a bit overboard on the photos! 

 

Image - Wild Rose Studio's Annabelle 'Posting Letters' coloured with Promarkers
Papers - Wild Rose Studio 'Annabelle's Christmas' 6x6 pad
Snowflake charm, die cut trees & pearls
Dies used - Spellbinders 'Classic' & 'Scalloped Circles', 'Labels 2' and 'Floral Doily Accent' (corners)
’Frosted Lace’ Stickles
All the above are available from the J & C Creations Website

Ribbon from stash
Fiskars Daisy Border punch

Challenges:
’Christmas Anything Goes’ – Crafty Bloggers Network
’Traditional Christmas Colouring’ – Whimsy Stamps Inspirations
’Hip To Be Square’ – Incy Wincy Designs
’Anything Goes’ – Creative Card Crew
’It’s A Gift’ – Allsorts
’Cold & Frosty’ – Joanna Sheen
’Anything Goes’ – Dream Valley
’It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas’ – The Crafty Pad
’Snow People’ – Sweet Stampin
'Use 2 Or More Patterned Papers' - Divas By Design

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Krafty Colouring

Today sees the start of another Challenge at Passion for Promarkers and this week we are being sponsored by Joanna Sheen who is offering a fantastic £10 voucher to the winner.

The theme this week is Colouring On Kraft and I must admit this one had me stumped! I had only just found out what Kraft was and had never coloured on it before, but my PFP teamie Jen came to the rescue. She sent me some sheets of Kraft card and a little sample card that she had used her Promarkers on, so THANK YOU Jen!!! I decided to keep it simple as it was a new thing for me and I was reasonably pleased with the finished card, although the edge of the bib came out too dark!

Image - ‘Koetie With Bird’ by Nellie Snellen from J & C Creations coloured with Promarkers
Paper - ‘Back to Basics II’ – Dovecraft
Clear dewdrops – The Ribbon Girl
Ribbon from stash
Dies used: SB ‘Circles’, ‘Scalloped Circles’ & ‘Floral Doily Accents’ (border) & Cheery Lynn ‘Deco B' (corner)

Challenges:
’Die Cuts & Punches’ - Whoopsi Daisy 
‘Hip To Be Square’ – Incy Wincy Designs
’Anything Goes’ – Divas By Design
'Anything Goes' - Creative Card Crew
'Anything Goes' - Dream Valley


Thanks for looking!
Natx

Floral Delight

Today is the start of another challenge at J & C Creations Challenge & this month the theme is ‘Floral Delights’. Denise & Jenny are offering another fantastic £20 voucher to the prize winner which will be only too easy to spend in the online shop as it is packed with all sorts of lovely crafty stuff! 

 

So, onto my card – no cute image for this card, so a little out of my comfort zone, but these stamps & dies work so well together, it really wasn’t a very hard card to make!

Stamp - ‘Daisy Patch Bouquet’ by Heartfelt Creations coloured with Promarkers
Dies used: Spellbinders Heartfelt Creations ‘Daisy Patch’ & SB ‘Circles’, ‘Scalloped Circles’ & ‘Fleur De Lis Rectangles’ & Cheery Lynn ‘Exotic Butterflies’ small
Papers – Docrafts Me To You ‘Spring Chic’
Gems – Anita’s
Clear Dewdrops - The Ribbon Girl
Kraft card & ribbon from stash
Available at J & C Creations Website

Challenges:
’Any Die Will Do’ – Penny Black & More @ Allsorts
’My Favourite Things’ – Dutch Dare (dies, butterflies & my new favourite - Kraft card!)
’Anything Goes’ – Dream Valley
Sketch – Cute Card Thursday
'Anything Goes' - Tammy's Scrapin Corner
'More Than 1 Punch and/or Die Cut' - Crafty Cardmakers
'Anything Goes' - Sweet Stampin

Thanks for looking!
Natx

In The Garden

Gosh Tuesdays seem to come around so quickly now that I’m on the Passion For Promarkers DT! This week the theme is In The Garden and we are being sponsored by Letraset. They are offering a fantastic prize of a New Promarker Collector’s Set, wow, wish I could enter!!

Team 2 are doing the honours this week, so please pop along to their Blogs to see what they have been up to. I haven’t used any Penny Black critter stamps for a while (thought I was getting a bit twitchy, lol) so I decide to use this cute image, just what I’d like to imagine going on down at the bottom of my garden!

Image - ‘Surprise’ – Penny Black coloured with Promarkers
Paper – The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady free with Cardmaking & Papercraft Magazine
Lace – The Ribbon Girl
Gems – Anitas
Leaf charm won on the Joanna Sheen Blog Hop
Peach card, ribbons & wooden ladybird from stash
Dies used – Spellbinders ‘Floral Ovals’, Cheery Lynn’s ‘Fancy Flourish’ & small ‘Exotic Butterflies’

 
I kept the cut outs from smaller SB die & glued tiny gems on to make some flower heads. I was quite pleased with the lighting on my photo, but I should have arranged the background better!

Challenges:
’Anything Goes’ – Anything Goes
’Cute’ – I ♥ Promarkers
’Birthday’ – C.R.A.F.T
’Tic Tac Toe’ – That Craft Place (ribbon/lace/dies)
’Anything Goes’ – The Crafty Pad
’Any Die Will Do’ – Penny Black & More @ Allsorts

Thanks for looking
Natx

Moving Day

Gosh I'm really on a roll at the moment, my mojo is having a field day! This card is for a lady who is leaving her job after 17 years & is moving to Norfolk, not sure if I could cope with that much change in one go, lol! I just love LOTV stamps & this one is just so sweet & really makes me smile, so I hope the card has the same effect on her!

Image – ‘Moving Day’ – LOTV coloured with Promarkers
Sentiment – LOTV
Pink card – Coredinations Tim Holtz Ranger Collection
Papers – Craft Creations
Lace, flowers & hat pin – The Ribbon Girl
Ribbon & pearls from stash
Dies used: Cheery Lynn ‘Fancy Flourish’ & ‘Deco B’ corner

Challenges:
’Anything Goes’ – Anything Goes
’Cute’ – I Love Promarkers
’Tic Tac Toe’ – That Craft Place (ribbon/lace/dies)
'Anything Goes' - The Crafty Pad

Thanks for looking
Natx!

Cute Christmas

Wow, 2 cards in 1 day & my housework is up to date, what ever is the world coming to?! This is a card I made for the J & C Creations Blog on the theme of ‘Cute Christmas’. I decided to make a tent card & I liked the result apart from sticking the reindeer on the wrong side (his antlers are in danger of falling through the aperture!) Someone pointed out that I could have used acetate & then stuck his wayward antlers down, why didn’t I think of that?!

Stamp - from Penny Black's clear stamp set 'Christmas Outdoors' coloured with Promarkers
Sentiment - from Penny Black's clear stamp set 'The Wonder'
Card coloured using Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - 'Weathered Wood'
Dies used - Spellbinders 'Classic Circles' & 'Scalloped Circles', Marianne Designs Christmas Creatables 'Swedish Ice Star'
Ribbon, brads, papers & glitter from stash

Challenges:
’Cute Christmas’ – Penny Black Saturday
’Anything Goes’ – Anything Goes
’Fancy Folds’ – Creative Card Crew
’Feeling Festive’ – Divas By Design
’Cute’ – I ♥ Promarkers
’Christmas Is Coming’ – The Crafty Pad 

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Believe

I don’t often venture outside my comfort zone, partly through fear! but mainly because of time. I would love to spend more time at my craft desk just playing, but when I don’t have too much time to spare I need to see a finished card at the end! However I knew that I had the perfect stamp for the theme of ‘Sihouettes’ at Joanna Sheen, but I also knew I had no suitable papers for what I had in mind. So I made some time (stayed up later!) and had a play with my Tim Holtz distress ink pads & a water spritzer and this is the result. The ‘frame’ was made using a Martha Stewart Punch Around The Page corner punch after I saw a You Tube video. I was going to snip off all the triangle bits, but decided that I quite liked them.

Shaped card blank – Craftwork Cards
Image - ‘Fairy Impressions’ – Personal Impressions
Background & tickets made using Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads: ‘Spiced Marmalade’, ‘Fired Brick’ & ‘Bundled Sage’, I used a black Promarker on the very edges of the card
Black ribbon – Hobbycraft
Orange Ribbon – part of a prize won on the Joanna Sheen Blog Hop
Gems – Anitas
Brad & charm from stash, coloured with a Promarker
Hunkydory Diamond Sparkles ‘Angel Whispers’ for the wings & wand
Butterflies cut using Cheery Lynn’s ‘Exotic Butterflies’ small die
Frame made using Martha Stewart’s Punch Around The Page corner punch ‘Layered Arches’

Challenges:
’Silhouettes’ – Joanna Sheen
’Tic Tac Toe’ – That Craft Place (gems/charms/dies or gems/sentiment/ribbon)
’Punch It Out’ – Whoopsi Daisy
’Anything Goes’ – Anything Goes
’Anything Goes’ – Tammy's Scrapin Corner
’Fairies & Angels’ – Cute Card Thursday
’Glitter & Bling’ – Dream Valley 

Thanks for looking!
Natx

Christmas Star

Today’s ‘card’ is not a card, it’s more of a Christmas decoration. I saw the tutorial on Jayne’s Blog some time ago and decided to give it a whirl. It’s one of those projects that look very complicated, but actually once I got going it was very easy & Jayne’s instructions helped a lot! The star was actually made for J & C Creations Blog where our creations had to be ‘Contemporary’ , a theme I struggle with, but I was pleased with the result. The picture’s not great, the snowflakes on the paper are actually silver and you can’t see the liquid pearls around the image, but you get the gist!

 

Image – from Penny Black’s clear stamp set ‘Christmas Fashion’ (coloured with Promarkers) & 
Dies used: Spellbinders ‘Classic Circle’ & ‘Scalloped Circle’ available from J & C Creations Website
12” x 12” double sided patterned card or heavy duty paper
Ribbon from stash
Hunkydory’s Diamond Sparkles ‘Angel Whispers’ glitter
Viva Pearl Pen ‘Ice White’

Challenges:
’Christmas Is Coming’ – I ♥ Promarkers
’Punch It Out’- Whoopsi Daisy
’Anything Goes’ – Tammy’s Scrapin Corner
’Fancy Folds’ Creative Card Crew
'Anything Goes' - Anything Goes

Horace With Flowers

Today is the start of a new challenge over at Passion For Promarkers. The theme this week is PETS and we are being sponsored by Pink Gem Designs who are offering the challenge winner the choice of 4 digi images from their online shop.

 I am using one of their images - ‘Horace With Flowers’, I’m such a sucker for cute furry friends! I have used some of the lovely ribbon that I was lucky to have won at Joanna Sheen & the card was finished off with a sweet brad from the local £1 shop!

Image - ‘Horace With Flowers’ – Pink Gem Designs coloured with Promarkers
Paw print paper & brown card from my local craft shop
Red card – Coredinations Tim Holtz & Ranger Distress Collection
Dies/punches used: Spellbinders ‘Classic Ovals’, ‘Floral Ovals’ & ‘Labels 2’, Cheery Lynn ‘Fancy Flourish’ & a Fiskars corner punch
’Top Dog’ brad from the £1 shop

Challenges: 
’Anything Goes’ – I ♥ Promarkers
’Use Metal’ – C.R.A.F.T
'Use An Animal' - The Crafty Pad

Thanks for looking!
Natx

 

Popcorn

Today’s card features a favourite bear of mine – Popcorn. Unfortunately, he does not get inked up very often as I have a bit of a problem colouring him! I’m reasonably happy with this effort, however I still think he’s gone a bit overboard with the fake tan & has come out a bit too orangey!!

Image – From Crafter’s Companion ‘Popcorn Birthdays’ coloured with Promarkers & chalks for background
Sentiment – LOTV
Embossing done using a Fiskars plate
Dies/punches used: Spellbinders 'Classic Circles' & 'Scalloped Circles' & Fiskars corner punch
Gems, card & ribbon from stash
Hunkydory Diamond Sparkles ‘Angel Whispers’ on balloons

Challenges:
’Birthdays’ – Crafter’s Companion
’Pink Brown & Cream’ – Ready-Teddy-Go
'Anything Goes' - I ♥ Promarkers

 Thanks for looking!
Natx

A Little Bird

I have been a bit reluctant to craft just recently & decided that my working space needed looking at & a jolly good sort out might me going again. It certainly worked, after spending most of Friday moving things around I managed to create some space & no longer feel 'penned in'! So today I have been crafting away and have finished several projects. Here is the first one featuring this sweet stamp from Crafter's Companion. I certainly have been on a lucky streak recently & have won lots of goodies in different challenges. I won this stamp along with some more yummy bits from Crafter's Companion on the Crafty Blogger's Network. At first I was a bit unsure of colouring her up as the stamp is quite large, but once I got going she was a dream to colour. 

Image - 'A Little Bird' - Crafter's Companion coloured with Promarkers & chalk for background

Yellow gingham paper - 'Spring Chic' - Docrafts Me To You

Roses - WOC sprayed with 'Pearl' Glimer Mist

Dies used - Cheery Lynn 'Fancy Flourish'

Lace & daisy ribbon from stash

Blue paper & daisy ribbon coloured with Promarkers to match

Challenges:

'Birthdays' - Crafter's Companion

'Birds' - Creative Card Crew

'Birthday Cards' - Whoopsi Daisy

'Anything Goes' - Tammy's Scrapin Corner

'Anything Goes' - I Love Promarkers

Thanks for looking!

Natx

Best Friends

Well, after all my whingeing yesterday, you'll be glad to hear that I'm much happier with today's card! As soon as I saw this image from LOTV, I knew I just had to have it, it's just soooo sweet! Trouble was I'd been trying to watch the pennies, so you can imagine my delight when I won an LOTV voucher at Divas By Design! Into my basket it went, along with a couple of others & here is my first card using it. After my mistake with all the white on my last card, I used some distress ink around the card edge, image & sentiment & I am really happy with the result. I didn't have any flowers resembling poinsettias & so I printed out an image from Google, coloured it with promarkers, layered it up & added some tiny yellow beads. For the berries I punched out some tiny circles, coloured them with a red Promarker & added some glossy accents. I also coloured the silver snowflake with a gold Promarker (they do come in handy!). I'm even happy with the photo, wonders will never cease!!

Image - 'Teddy With Penguin' - LOTV coloured with Promarkers
Sentiment - Docrafts Daisy & Dandelion
'Fosted Lace' Stickles on snow & penguin's hat

Papers & ribbon from stash
Snowflake charm - The Hobby House from J & C Creations

Dies/punches used: Spellbinders 'Classic Ovals' & 'Floral Ovals', Memory Box 'Frostyville Border' & Cheery Lynn 'Deco Corner' & a Woodware holly leaf punch

Challenges:

'Classic Christmas' - Lili's Little Fairies

'Friendship' - Tammy's Scrapin Corner
'Birds'- Creative Card Crew
'Anything Goes' - Divas By Design
'Animals' - Anything Goes

'Animal Magic' - Penny Black & More @ Allsorts

Thanks for looking!
Nat

Christmas Shopping

Today is the start of a new challenge over at J & C Creations & the theme this month is 'Contemporary Christmas'. The prize is a very generous £20 voucher to spend in their on-line shop & you have a whole month to come up with an entry, so what are you waiting for?!

'Contemporary' is a theme  I struggle with as I do like my traditional greens & reds & this card is one that I'm not sure I like! Firstly there is too much white, I didn't realise how big the image was & with the white on the paper, well I think it's a bit much. Hopefully you can't see in the picture, but I've stuck the paper upside down on the card base & sideways on the front flap, what was I doing!?! Lastly I stuck on 2 lovely big pale blue gems, decided I needed another snowflake & could only find a square gem to match! Oh, & I think the ribbon & pearls are too bright for the rest of the card & the picture is out of focus, apart from all that I was happy, lol! 

Products from J & C Creations

Image - 'Dashing Through Snow' - Penny Black coloured with alcohol markers

Snowflakes cut with Marianne Designs 'Swedish Ice Star' die

'Fosted Lace' Stickles used to highlight the snow

Blue card

Tim Holtz 'Stormy Skies' distress ink pad used on punched border edge

Other products

Paper - Crafty Ferret

Ribbon, pearls, gems from stash

Border cut using Fiskars daisy punch

Thanks for looking

Natx

'Shabby in Pink or Blue' DT card for PFP

Well today's the day that I officially start at Passion for Promarkers. I'm very excited to be part of the team, the girls have been very friendly & welcoming, but it doesn't stop me from being a bit nervous! This week's theme had me a bit baffled, when I put 'shabby' into Google images it came up with lots of furniture, lol. Anyway, Denise pointed me in the right direction and here is my first DT card!

The image  is called 'Louis with Teddy', isn't he just the cutest? He came from Digi Stamp Boutique who are sponsoring us this week. The theme is 

'Shabby in Pink or Blue' 

The fabulous prize is 6 digi images from their store, so pop in to PFP for some fantastic inspiration from the DT and join in the fun!

I committed the cardinal sin of colouring my image before choosing my papers & found that I didn't have anything to match! But that's the great thing about Promarkers - you can make your own background papers!! This is also the first time I have tried distressing the papers, it's always seemed a bit barbaric to me to' rough up' pretty papers, but once I got going it was quite therapeutic! 

Image - 'Louie & Teddy' - DSB coloured with Promarkers (of course!)
Sentiment - LOTV
Papers & doily coloured with Promarkers
Buttons - J & C Creations
Thread in buttons - DMC white skein
Gems - Anitas
Lace - WOC
Ribbon from stash
Dies used - Spellbinders 'Labels 2', 'Classic Circles' & 'Scalloped Circles', Cheery Lynn 'French Pastry' doily
Embossing folders used - Cuttlebug's 'Swiss Dots' & 'Argyle'

Challenges:

'Anything Goes' - Crafty Bloggers Network

'Animals' - Anything Goes

'Lotsa Ribbon' - Cute Card Thursday

'Make Your Own Background' - That Craft Place

'Use Some Texture' - Divas By Design
'Anything Goes' - Incy Wincy Designs

Can I just say a big thank you for all your lovely comments about my JS DT entry, both on my blog and on the JS blog. Unfortunately I did not make the team and wasn't going to say any more as I felt a bit of a failure! However I was glad to have made it to the final 12 and will be going a month's GD spot early in the new year so it's not all bad news, lol!

Thanks for looking
Natx

Cycling Hedgie

As I said in my last post, I have some catching up to do, so here is my second card in 2 days! I made this one for J & C Creations & it features another Penny Black hedgehog which I have coloured with Promarkers.

Products available from J & C Creations
Image - from Penny Black's clear stamp set 'Hedgie Friends'
Background papers - Craft Creations
Paper flowers - Prima
Pearls - The Hobby House
Spellbinders 'Classic Circles' & 'Scalloped Circles'

Other Products
Paper used for 'Flourish' - Papermania Capsule Collection
Sentiment - LOTV
Lace & roses - WOC
Doily (from stash) coloured with chalks
Cheery Lynn 'Fancy Flourish' & Fiskars corner punch

Challenges:
'Animal Magic' - Penny Black & More @ Allsorts
sketch - Penny Black Saturday
'Anything Goes' - Crafty Bloggers Network
'Animals' - Anything Goes
'Use Some Texture' - Divas By Design
'Sport' - CRAFT
'Hostess Choice Pick 3' - Come & Get It (green, circles, scallops)
'Anything Goes' - Whimsy Stamps

That's it for the weekend, I'll be back on Tuesday with my first DT card for Passion for Promarkers!

Thanks for looking

Natx

World Card Making Day Special Challenge

Sorry I've not been around the last few days, it's been a really busy time for me at home & work. On the up side, I received lots of crafting goodies for my Birthday and will have to try them out, so I should be making up for lost time!  I made today's card for a special challenge over at  J & C Creations Designs to Inspire Blog, who are celebrating  World Card Making Day, they are offering one lucky winner this  fantastic prize.

To be in with a chance of winning this great prize they would like to see your cards Celebrating Friendship, to find out more about the challenge pop over to the J & C Creations Designs to Inspire Blog by Clicking HERE, where you will also find some cards to inspire you by the rest of the Design Team.

 My card features my favourite PB critters, the cute hedgehogs, but there is a huge range of other cute characters & all sorts of other crafting goodies on the J & C website.

Image - 'Hedgehog Visit' - Penny Black coloured with Promarkers
Purple card - Coredinations Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Collection
Dotty Paper - 'Back to Basics II' - Dovecraft
Dies used: Spellbinders 'Classic Circles', 'Scalloped Circles' & 'Fleur de Lis Rectangles' & Memory Box 'Ringed Buckle'
Roses - J & C Creations
Gems - Anitas
 Ribbon from stash

Challenges:

'Anything Goes' - Crafty Bloggers Network

'Animals' - Anything Goes
'Purple' - Creative Card Crew

Thanks for looking!
Natx

'In the Garden' - card for Joanna Sheen DT Call

Firstly I'd like to say welcome to my new followers, thank you for joining me and sorry everyone, but this post goes on a bit! 

Today's card is a special one as it is my entry for the DT call at the Joanna Sheen Challenge Blog. I found out a couple of weeks ago that I had been chosen as one of the 12 finalists for the DT call where there are 3 places up for grabs. It was a lovely surprise followed by a lot of angst over what to make, until we were all emailed some decoupage from the cd 'From the Heart of the Garden' by Jane Shasky to see what we could come up with, so that made it a bit easier! I usually go for cute images, so this was a change from my norm and I have to admit I might well get the cd as the images and papers are lovely.

All 12 finalists' cards have been posted on the Joanna Sheen Challenge Blog and any comments left there will be taken into consideration when Paula and her team are selecting the lucky new DT members. I really would not want the job of deciding who to choose, all the creations are beautiful and a lot of work & care has gone into them!

I must admit that it made a nice change to do some decoupage even though it wasn't die cut, so I had to dust off my decoupage scissors! This is the first time at trying a box card and I was pretty pleased with the result although my photos don't show it off very well as it looks a bit flat! I have been assigned the job of making a retirement card for a lady at work who loves gardening, so this was perfect for her and just in case you were wondering, we are going to give her more than the packet of seeds, lol!

Image & papers - 'From the Heart of the Garden' cd by Jane Shasky
Green card - Coredinations Tim Holtz & Ranger Distress Collection 'Bundled Sage'
Ribbon, charm & pearls - J & C Creations
Dies/punches  used - Spellbinders 'Floral Ovals', 'Floral Doily Accent', Fiskars Daisy border punch and corner punch, Cheery Lynn 'Exotic Butterflies Small'
Gems & doily from stash
I have inked some of the edges with a Tim Holtz Ditress Ink Pad 'Bundled Sage'

Challenges:
'Anything Other Than A Card' - Come & Get It
'Anything Goes' - Whimsy Stamps
'Lovely Layers' - Divas By Design
'A Different Shape' - Cute Card Thursday
'Anything But Square' - Little Miss Muffet
'Celebrations' - Dream Valley