Dream Valley 76 Vintage

Our challenge at Dream Valley today is a Vintage one. I have gone with what I hope looks vintage without using old black and white photos as that is not a style I am overly keen on.

We are sponsored by The Paper Shelter with a fab prize of $20 to spend in their store.

I used some papers I have had stored on my harddrive but have no idea where they came from, but they just looked like they would go together! The diecuts are from Tattered Lace on the left hand side and Die Namics on the right hand side. I have frantaged around the edges of both the background and the image.

I am entering this into the following:-

2 Sisters – #173 Embossing
Craftitude – #59 Anything Goes
Crafty Girls Challenge – #12 Anything Goes
Delightful Challenges – Add A Flourish
DigiStamps4Joy – #86 Dies or Punches
Feeling Crafty Challenge – Feb: Dies and/or punches
One Crazy Stamper – Feb: Anything Goes
Sister Act Card Challenge – #45 Anything Goes
The Crafters Cafe – #51 Vintage or Shabby Chic
The Stamping Boutique – #5 Use a Punch or Die Cut

CCM 110 Come Fly With Me

The challenge from Crafty Cardmakers this fortnight is Come Fly with Me. That could be bird images, or bird related images, such as bird cages/houses, a bird bath maybe, as your main focal image. You could even decorate an MDF birdhouse or as I did, create my own bird cage.

This post is picture heavy, sorry. I just couldn’t get a decent photograph no matter what I tried. Not to blow my own trumpet but this little bird cage is really pretty and I couldn’t get a single photograph to do it justice.

This started out with four diecuts from the Tim Holtz Birdcage die, cut from grungepaper.

I went over the diecuts with Seedless Preserve and Peacock Feather distress inks. Sadly those colours are just not showing up here, but you can see them in real life, although they are quite pale.
 
Then I ran the diecuts through a baroque embossing folder and gilded them with Pebeo Gilding Wax, which is probably why the DIs aren’t showing up in the pictures.
Except the bird of course! Although it might have made his feathers show, that’s something to bear in mind if I do another one. You can see the DIs on the bird though, but there I used Seedless Preserve, Dusky Concord, Stormy Sky and Walnut stain for his perch.

I glued it together around the edges and then set about hanging those dangly gems, my fingers were aching by the end, as I had to first remove them from the wire stems they were on and then add tiny jump rings to each of them and thread larger jump rings through to secure to the holes surrounding the bottom.
 
I had cut two of the bird, so I sandwiched him back to back and inserted a chain between his body and wrapped around the perch. Getting that bird to dangle in the midde of the cage so he had free movement, ie, beak or tail not jammed between one of the bars was a major headache. If I got him not to get stuck in the bars he was at an odd angle, but eventually I managed to sort it.
I finished off the top of the cage with 4 gorgeous turquoise gems, and then glued some tiny flowers randomly down the bars.
The chain by the way, is long enough to hang from something in my window, but of course you cannot take a photograph into the light so I had to double it over to hang on the stand just for the pictures, that’s why the chain looks a little scruffy.
Before I gilded it, and after I stuck all those gems in, I made the mistake of spraying it with spray and sparkle to make it look more like metal, which didn’t work, but coated all the gems in glitter. I would have changed them but they made my hands ache too much when I put them on in the first place!
I am entering this into the following:-
2 Sisters Challenge - #173 Embossing (please see above, diecuts were embossed)
Brown Sugar – #81 Use a Die Cut or Punch
Crafty Creations – #256 For the Birds
Dreamtime Designs – #3 New Technique (Never made a birdcage before!)
Ecclectic Ellapu – Anything But A Card
Feeling Crafty – #25 Dies and/or Punches
Quick Quotes – #36 Ink It Up
Stamping Sensations – Feb: Wings, Fantasy and Fiction
The Crafting Cafe – Feb: Embossing (please see above, diecuts were embossed)
The Kraftyhands Challenge – Feb: Spring Flowers

Lexi’s Creations 110 Monochromatic

Our challenge over at Lexi’s Creations this time is Monochromatic. So as long as your project is all one colour or shades of that colour, you will qualify.

I printed out a bunch of papers from Nitwit called Time for Tea. There are some gorgeous ones in there with purple as the main colour but other lovely colours too, but of course, I wanted my papers to fit the monochrome theme.

Following a sketch from Sketchy Colours (see below in the challenge list) I mattend and layered all the layers. Woohoo I finally found a use for my Circle Cutter! Although I found a drawback with it. You can’t cut circles if the cutter isn’t weighing the paper down unless you tape the paper to the glass mat, as it spins the paper and cuts all wobbly.

My image is from Milk Coffee and is called Tiffany goes on Holiday. I coloured her with my copics. The frame around her is from Joy Crafts, and the flowers and bow are all from the new Sue Wilson dies. I added a few pearls just to finish off.

I am entering this into the following:-

4 Crafty Chicks – #181 Use Pearls
A Gem of a Challenge – #113 Spots and Stripes
Addicted to Stamps and More – #82 Make Your Mark
Digi Design Challenge – Tic, Tac, Toe (Diagonal left to right, Digi, Diecuts, flowers)
Hiding In My Craftroom – #137 Designer Paper x3 (I’ve taken my lead from the DT and presume that more than three papers are ok!)
Lisa Somerville Bloggers Challenge – Two or More Patterned Papers
Little Claire Monthly – #42 Monotone
Open Minded Crafting – #4 Monochrome
Sketchy Colours #198 – Sketch 
Stampin’ for the Weekend – Flower Power

ABC F Flowers

Sorry this is so late, weather here in the UK is atrocious and the internet is playing up.

Anyhow this time at ABC we want to see your creations with flowers. We are sponsored by Stamp and Create with a fabulous prize of $25 to spend in their store.

My papers are from Wild Rose called Annabel’s Meadow, and I have made a patchwork of them, edging each one with pink perfection wow embossing powder, as I have also done to the Marianne Tiny Hearts doily die. My flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, which are also available at the Stamp and Create store. The green leaves are from a Sizzix die.

My image is from All Dressed Up from the Three Little Party Girls digi set, which they very kindly send as a triple image and each of the girls separately, so if you can only just manage to print but not alter your images (erase bits, shrink, enlarge etc) then these are the images for you because they give you choice.

I have coloured her with my copics. The little dazzle stone in her hair came from Chloe’s Crafts.

I am entering this into the following:-

2 Sisters Challenge - #173 Embossing
Addicted to Stamps – #76 Pink and White
Card Makin Mamas – #80 Make It Sparkle
Digi Design Challenge – Tic, Tac, Toe (Diagonal left to right, Digi, Diecuts, flowers)
Emergency Crafters – Pink or Red
Hiding In My Craftroom – #137 Designer Paper x3 (I’ve taken my lead from the DT and presume that more than three papers are ok!)
Kitty Bee Designs – Aloha Friday #17 Red or Pink
Lacy Sunshine – #27 Lots of Layers
The Crafting Cafe – Feb: Embossing
The Kraftyhands Challenge – Feb: Spring Flowers
Two Sisters Challenge – #173 Embossing
Wags N Whiskers – #122 Bingo (Top Line Pink, Die Cuts, Glitter)

Digital Delights’ Guest Designer

I was thrilled recently to win a challenge at Delightful Challenges and am honoured to have a guest designer spot for them this week.

I chose Splish Splash Suzie to work with, and thought I would do a ‘different’ take on a Valentine’s card.

This is for someone very special, but not in a romantic way, so red and roses were not really appropriate.

I paper pieced most of Suzie with the same papers I used in the main body of the card, which are all from Nitwits. The rest of suzie is coloured with copics. I also used glossy accents to make her umbrella wet looking and her welly boots too.

The diecut over the top of her is from Marianne designs, the clouds are from Memory Box, and the gorgeous flourish under the flowers is from Tattered Lace. I made the sentiment on my pc. The crochet flowers were in my stash, as were the two little charms and the ribbons they are hanging from. I didn’t have any green paper/card to match the patterned papers so I coloured some up with one of the colours I used in her coat.

I am entering this into the following:-

Bunny Zoe – Feb: Hearts/Love
Digi Design Challenge – Love/Valentine
Just For Fun – Love is in the Air
Make My Monday – Love is in the Air
Open Minded Crafting Challenge – #3 Show Some Love
OSAAT – #199 With Love
Stamp and Create – Feb: Love is in the Air
That Craft Place – Valentine-Love
The Crazy Challenge – #164 Love is in the Air
The Cupboard Trilogy – #19 Love
The Squirrel and The Fox – #63 Love

Dream Valley 75–Tag You’re It

This time at Dream Valley we want to see your tags. You can create just a tag, as I have done, or your project can be something else as long as it has a tag on it.

We are sponsored by Lacy Sunshine with a choice of three digis for the winner. I have used a gorgeous Lacy Sunshine image myself called ‘Rory Love Letters’.

I coloured Rory in with my copics, and then accented her hair, and the bag of love letters with glamour dust.

My tag is from the Julie Nutting Tag Pad, and started off as a plain buff coloured tag with script all over it.

I first went over the whole think with my brand new Luminarte Silks in some blue and green shades, and a gorgeous yellow.

Then I used a Memory Box stencil of plain butterfly outlines to add some brighter green, and then on top of that I used the MB filigree butterfly stencil which matches the plain one and went over with blue and pink silks, with orange for the foliage.

What I love about the silks is the fact that they are completely transparent, so although you get to see gorgeous colour, you can still see what’s underneath.

The flowers are all from my stash with various different Marianne diecuts. The ribbons were also from my stash.

I matted the whole thing onto gold bark mirri card.

I think Rory would look good on a Valentine’s Gift, after all who says love should all be red and pink!

I am entering this into the following:-

Come and Get It Challenges – Make It Girly
Craft-Dee BowZ – Feb: Anything Goes with a Handmade Bow
Crafty My Life All Crafts Challenge – Feb/March: Anything Goes but no Card
Doodle Pantry Digital Challenge – #43 Any Digi Goes
Kraftyhands Challenge – Feb: Spring Flowers
OSAAT – #199 With Love (Rory has a bag of love letters)
Really Reasonable Ribbon’s Ramblings – #88 Anything but a Card with Ribbon
Sparkles Monthly Challenge – #52 Show us your new Stash (Silks)
Stampin For the Weekend – Anything But a Card
Suzie Bee’s Bloomin’ Challenge – #15 Anything Goes

CCM 109 This is a Man’s World

Our challenge today at Crafty Cardmakers is for you to create something male themed. So something suitable for a man or a boy.

We are sponsored by Flourish with a Bling with a $15 voucher for their fabulous store, and also by The Stamping Boutique with three images of the winner’s choice, unless the winner has used a Stamping Boutique image in which case they get four images.

I have used one of our second sponsor’s images called Noah’s Ark, for a little boy I know called appropriately Noah!

I printed the image onto watercolour card three times. The first formed the background, and the second two were so I could colour and decoupage.

The rainbow and the large waves were first coloured with promarkers and then I went over them with Ice from Luminarte. It is part of their Silks range and gives a shimmering mica finish with a sparkly glaze. You can just see it on the righthand side of the picture above. Like all shimmery things they never photograph well and are always much more obvious in the flesh. The water beneath the image is also coloured blue but it’s apparently too pale to show up here!

The animals were all coloured normal animal colours, apart from the front elephant who is Sky Blue with violet dots for his body and stripes for his ear. They have been decoupaged with foam pads.

The sentiment comes from a SWALK stamp set, and I used it deliberately because of the differently coloured elephant and because Noah is a special little boy who really is one in a million as he is a little different from other little boys and he is encouraged by his family to be proud of his differences and not embarrassed by them, and I hope this will remind him just how special he is. This is to go in Noah’s Bedroom on the wall after I have made a frame for it.

Doodle Pantry – #43 Any Digi Goes
Fairy Tale Challenge – #86 More than Two Colours
Lacy Sunshine – #26 Use A Sentiment
Little Red Wagon – #222 Child’s Play
OSAAT – #198 Anything Goes
Paula HolifieldCrafts – Man Up
Send a Smile 4 Kids – For The Boys
Stampin for the Weekend – Anything but a Card
Stampin’ Royalty – #212 Anything But a Card
Stempelsonne – #107 Animals

ABC E for Embellish

Our challenge this time at ABC is E for Embellish. We would like to see three of more different embellishments on your creation, for example Buttons, brads, flowers, dies, ribbon, lace, etc. We are sponsored by Kenny K with three digis for the winner and also by Bunny Zoe with a £10 gift certificate.

I used my brand new paper pad from Bo Bonny called Zip-A-Dee-Doodle for my card. I got it for a bargain price in a sale!

I cut two different patterned sheets diagonally in half and then spliced them together on my scalloped card blank. From a third sheet I cut a square and matted it on top. A fourth sheet went into making the diecut mat behind my Sarah Kay ‘Precious Moments’ image, which I coloured with copics. The lovely little flowers are from my stash as are the feathers, leaf pins and the butterfly I got on a bookmark. I bought a few on ebay for silly money (pennies) and took all the gorgeous adornments off to use in my crafting.

I’m entering this into the following:-

Brown Sugar – #79 Feathers
Cards Galore Encore Challenge – #2 Add a gem, glitter, candi or bling
Chromatic Craze – #7 Colour Challenge
Crafty Hazelnut’s Patterned Paper – February: Anything Goes
Delicious Doodles – Diecuts and/or punches
Ecclectic Ellapu – Texture
Hiding In My Craftroom – #135 I’m Blue Without You
OSAAT – #198 Anything Goes
Sparkles Monthly Challenge – #52 Show us your new stash (the paper)
The Squirell and the Fox – #62 Use Embellishments