One for the Girls

Hi Folks, it's time for another challenge over at the Crafting with Dragonflies challenge blog. This time the challenge is to make a Girly card. I have chosen to use an image from our sponsor called 'Fairy Fae'. I'm very fond of fairies and butterflies, so I quite enjoyed working with this image. I opted to colour my image with Copics this time, instead of my pencils, and chose a palette of soft blues and greens. I've used a background paper from a Tim Holtz paper stack, which seemed to tie in quite well. I made some handmade flowers and added a blingy swirl, which I made up myself using flat-backed gems from my stash. I die cut some butterflies and added some glitter glue for more sparkle.

Our sponsors this week are:

Delicious Doodles who are offering the winner 4 digis of their choice

A Day for Daisies who are offering the Winner $12 Gift Certificate for the shop

So why not enter the challenge and make a girly card? Hop over to the challenge blog and take a look at what my DT team mates have made this week for your inspiration.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

love to scrap challenge blog Pastel Colours

Make my Monday Handmade Embellishments

The Squirrel and the Fox" Here Come the Girls

No matter which challenges Things with wings

Thanks for stopping by, xx

A bit of Paper Piecing

Hi Folks, it's time for a new challenge over at the Artistic Inspirations challenge blog. I have used an image from our sponsors this week called 'Hug me Angel'. I printed the image several times onto patterned paper, and once onto plain white card. I coloured the face, hands and hair with Copics, and then cut the rest of the image from the various pieces of patterned paper.

I have added a flower and leaves cut from the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals and Tattered Leaves dies. My image had some faux stitching on it, so I've added that to the edge of my leaves, and as a border around the background paper.

Our sponsor this week is QKR and is offering 5 digis of the winner's choice as a prize.

Why not enter the challenge? You can make whatever you like, just follow this week's theme of Paper Piecing/Paper Piercing.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Di's Digi Designs Winged Things

Paper Creators Crafts Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly Paper piecing

Through the craft room door Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Steampunk Script Flowers

Hi Folks, I have another sample to show you today using the Punky Flowers stamp set from Chocolate Baroque. This time, I have used a round canvas as the basis for my project. I have had this canvas lurking in my stash for a long time waiting for a suitable project, and I felt that these fabulous flowers were begging for such a background.

I started by adding some texture to the canvas through a mask, and then painting the background with a selection of acrylic paints. I stamped a portion of a script stamp from the Eccentric Edwardian stamp plate over the flat areas of the canvas using archival ink. I added metallic wax to the raised areas of texture on the canvas.

I covered some grungepaper with pages from a cheap thesaurus, and then coloured the paper with Pan Pastels. I stamped a selection of the punky flowers and some leaves from the Sunny Sunflower stamp set onto the paper. I added extra colour for definition, and cut these out. I dipped the flowers into my Melt Pot to give them a clear coating. I stamped some of the coggy trees onto green pearlescent card and cut them out, and also die cut some cogs from silver pearlescent card. To complete the canvas, I added some coils made from silver coloured wire.

I hope that I have given you some ideas this month incorporating these stamps, and I have really appreciated your comments. They mean a lot to me. Thanks for stopping by, xx

A Mother's Day Project

Hi Folks, it's Time for another challenge over at the Crafting with Dragonflies challenge blog. The theme for this fortnight is a scrapbook page incorporating the topic of 'Mothers'.

Now I wanted to use a picture of my Mum in my scrapbook page, rather than taking the easy route and scrapping a picture of myself and my Daughter. I have lots of photographs of us, but when I was little, my parents didn't own a camera. Photographs were not such a frequent occurrence in our house, and we had to borrow a camera if we wanted to have any photographs taken. How times change, as nowadays, we take pictures without even thinking about it on our camera and our phones whenever we like. I found a photograph of my Mum and I, which I have scanned, as I wanted to keep the original safe. I have rounded the corners in keeping with a circular theme that I have running through the page.

I have used a fairly neutral piece of Basic Grey paper for my background, distressing the edges, and matting it onto charcoal card. I printed my digital image from Bugaboo onto acetate, and added some pink gems. I have used another piece of Basic Grey paper, this time in a pinky tone, drawing around it with a dinner plate, to get part of a circle to place down one edge of my design. I have distressed the edges again. I have used a large swirl stamp from Stamp Camp to embellish two sides of the overall design.

I had a good rummage through my stash to find a chipboard dandelion head which matched the bugaboo image perfectly. I painted this, along with some cheap gold flowers with Fresco Finish paints in cream and rose colours to match my colour scheme. I have added some script stamping to the dandelion head with black archival ink.

I have tucked a memory tag and a little pin underneath the large pink circle for some journalling. To finish my page, I have added a strip of lace, and a mixture of flowers in various textures. I found some crocheted pink flowers, some large cream paper flowers, and some ribbon flowers in various sizes, and added these to the metal painted flowers. I have also tucked some more gems into the arrangement for added bling.

I enjoyed making this page, as I am not a frequent scrapbooker. My Mum has asked if she can have the page, and I hope that she likes it, as she hasn't seen it yet. She used to make most of my clothes when I was little, and I do remember that this particular dress was pinky orange in colour. I even had shoes to match. It was the 1960's!

Our sponsor this week is Bugaboo, and they are offering the winner 7 digis as a prize.

Please hop over to the challenge blog and take a look at what my Team mates have been making. The winners of the first challenge will be announced next week.

I am entering my project into the following challenges:

Avenue 613 create a scrapbook page

Creative Inspirations Paint Inspired by Mother's Day

Two Sisters Challenge Blog Mother's Day

My Sheri Crafts Flower Power

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Zentangle Fairy

Hi Folks, I have a project with a difference for you today, which I'm also posting on my other blog

I'm using the new stamp set from Chocolate Baroque called Punky Flowers, but this time, I wanted to incorporate them into a piece of Zentangle Inspired Art. I am a huge admirer of this kind of work, but rarely get the time to dabble in any tangling myself these days. I recently purchased a new Zentangle book called 'The Art of Zentangle', which is a collaberation by four women, one of whom, Norma J. Burnell, draws the most beautiful fairies. The book actually has a very easy step by step piece included, and I used this to help me plan my project. I had never drawn most of the tangles before, but slow work and planning as to where the stamps needed to go paid off. I will certainly draw more of these fairies, as I found the whole process very relaxing, and want to create some more now!

I have given her green eyes, as my Daughter has green eyes. Normally my fairies have brown hair, just like my Daughter as well, but I wanted to keep my tangles black and white, which seemed to add to the design, rather than take anything away.

I hope that this has given you another idea for these lovely stamps, don't forget to keep popping over to the Design Team Blog to see what my team mates have been up to. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Flowers and Lace

Hi Folks, it's time for another challenge over at the Artistic Inspirations Challenge blog. The theme for this week is Flowers and Lace, so why don't you have a rummage through your stash and have a go at making a project for the challenge?

I have used an image from our sponsor this week, Eureka Stamps called Garden Square. I must have been in a cheery mood when I created this card, as I have gone for very bright colours! I have coloured the digital image with my Polychromos pencils, and then used a lovely backing paper from the DCWV Mariposa stack. This is a beautiful selection of papers that I am shamefully hoarding, so it's about time I started to use them. I have used a pretty piece of ribbon, some flowers and glittery domes from my stash along with a piece of lace to tie in with this week's theme.

Eureka stamps are offering 5 digis of the winner's choice.

Please hop over to the blog to see what my team mates have made, and have a go at making something for the challenge. It can be anything that you like, a card, tag, box, altered item, mixed media project, etc, as long as you incorporate Flowers and Lace.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Challenges for Everybody Anything Goes

Pink Gem Challenge Blog Things with Wings

Crafty Calendar Challenge Blooms and Blossoms

Left of Center Challenges Use a Digi Image

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Punky Butterflies

Hi Folks, here's another sample using those fabulous Punky Flowers from Chocolate Baroque. I've been using the Dylusions sprays to make my backgrounds again, this time I used some zingy pinks and yellows. I stamped some of the large flowers onto the large background with Distress Inks, and then swiped the edge with some pink to give it a darker border.

I stamped a focal flower onto the circle, and bleached the flowers so that I could colour them with my Polychromos pencils. I added some stamped coils along the bottom of the circle in gold and silver embossing powder. I made two butterflies using petals from the same focal flower, and added metal corners for their bodies, and coiled wire for their antennae. The sentiment comes from the Butterfly Dreams stamp set.

Watch out for my next sample, it's a bit different! Thanks for stopping by, xx

A quick reminder

Hi Folks, I'm just popping in to remind you that you still have time to enter our very first challenge over at Crafting with Dragonflies as the challenge ends on Sunday 12th May. So, dust of your dragonfly stamps, or look out your digital images. If you don't have any, there is a freebie on the challenge blog that you can grab and use, which Hilde, our Team Leader drew herself. All you need to do, is make a card with a dragonfly as the focal image, and upload a picture to the blog before Sunday. The blog is based in Australia, so they are ahead of us by nine hours!

I hope that you are all enjoying this lovely weather, and I'll be back with a project to show you very soon. Thanks for stopping by, xx

More Punky Flowers

Hi Folks, here's another sample using the new Punky Flowers stamp set from Chocolate Baroque. I've made a background using Distress Inks and a couple of Crafter's Workshop templates. For the first one, I stippled Black Soot Distress Ink through the template, and for the second one, I just used the same background colours to create a shadow effect.

I then cut a large circle and using the same colours of Distress Ink, I made another background, using the wrinkle free distress technique, adding some metallic Distress Stain to the background. I stamped and embossed some cogs and coils around the outside of the circle to create a border.

I stamped and coloured some bulb flowers on shrink plastic, before shrinking them. I cut out a bell jar, using a Tim Holtz die. The clear top was cut from Clearly for Art, so that I could mould the shape slightly. I stamped and coloured two bats from the Steampunk Butterfly stamp set, and added some heart buttons for their bodies.

This is such a versatile stamp set, and it really had the Design Team thinking overtime. Keep popping over to the Design Team blog to see what my team mates have been up to. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Under the Sea

Hi Folks, I have a project showcasing the new Punky Flowers stamp plate from Chocolate Baroque

The stamp plate is a mixture of lovely flowers with coils and cogs, big floral designs, and some Art Deco style flowers thrown in as well. It's a great stamp plate.

I created a background using Dylusions sprays and water, taking some of the colour away with kitchen paper, and layering the colour until I was happy with the effect. I added a texture stamp to add to the watery feel of the background. I stamped the flowers and a seaweed stamp along the bottom of the paper, and bleached the flowers so that I could colour them with pencils. I added a decoupaged mermaid, also coloured with pencils. I have used Inktense pencils for this projects, and they give a lovely vibrant feel to the piece. I added a word from the Artistic Expressions stamp set, it's a great set to use when you want to add a large focal word to a project, and I love the different fonts in the set. I added some silver embossing powder, and blue glitter glass to a couple of the corners, and my card was finished.

I'll be back in a few days with another project to show you, but keep popping over to the Design Team Blog where my Team mates will be posting lots of inspiration for you as well. Thanks for stopping by, xx

The secret's out!

All over Twitter the buzz has been about #3UP and #PATWITS since Ally Pally, are you none the wiser? Am I talking in some kind of secret code? For the last couple of weeks, there has been a secret on Twitter a lot of mumblings and goings on, a game afoot, and crafting behind closed doors. Certain crafters were sent three items to create a project, and this week on the PaperArtsy blog they are being revealed. Each night, three crafters are showing their creations, and tonight, I am up with my project. I hope you'll pop over and take a look.

I forgot to photograph my items before I set to altering them, I was so keen! However, I received a papier mache hanging chunky board, a wood scallop square frame, and a set of metal wings. I started by painting the board with Fresco Finish paints, starting with Vanilla at the top, and graduating to Claret at the bottom, with a bit of Stone in the middle. I added some texture with a Crafter's workshop stencil, Grunge Paste and Puff Paint, and heated this up with my heat gun to make it puff up nicely.

I added lots of different colours of Treasure Gold to the texture and some to the edge of the board as well.


I stamped a script stamp from one of the new Sara Naumann plates ESN05 onto the background with archival ink, and then used Snowflake Fresco Finish to add another stamp over the top. I covered the little frame with Little Black Dress, Crackle Glaze, and then Vanilla, to get a nice crackle effect, but knocked the colour back with a watery wash of Claret and Beach Hut, which I also added to the background on the board.

I stamped the girl from ID02, and the Guy from ID03, and coloured them with water based markers. I used Fresco Finish for their faces though, mixing RustyRose with Vintage Lace, and watering it down. I chopped the metal wings in half, painting them with Fresco Finish paints, and then stamping them with a mini script stamp.

I really enjoyed taking part in this challenge, and it's been fun seeing the buzz around Twitter these past couple of weeks. Thanks Leandra and Gillian for allowing me to take part. Do take a look over on the PaperArtsy blog at the other projects this week.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

New Challenge Blog Finally Begins!

Hi Folks, well the day has finally arrived, and the new challenge blog Crafting with Dragonflies launches today. Based in Australia, but with an international Design Team, this friendly challenge blog is run by a lovely lady called Hilde. I count myself very lucky to be on the Design Team, and have a card to show you today. I am using a freebie provided by Hilde herself, and you can get this lovely design by hopping over to the challenge blog.

I coloured a piece of watercolour paper with Distress Inks, using the wrinkle free distress method before printing the digital image onto the background. I also printed the image again onto a spare piece of watercolour paper. I coloured both images with pencils, and then stuck the second image over the first with the wings sticking up slightly.

I stamped over the background with a fabulous texture stamp from Chocolate Baroque to add to the watery feel of the background. I chose a co-ordinating piece of background paper from the Prima Firefly range. I have used a Jo Capper-Sandon dragonfly sentiment, which I love. My flowers and leaves are Crealie dies.

Please hop over to the challenge blog and take a look around. You can see what my lovely Design Team mates have been making. There are links to our Facebook page, and you can follow us on Twitter as well. We would love to see you, and would really appreciate your support.

There are lots of prizes for our first fortnightly challenge, so it is well worth entering a card with a dragonfly image.

First prize is a Magnolia Tilda stamp plus

Eureka Stamps 5 digis of the winner's choice

Sassy Studio Designs 4 digis of the winner's choice

Crafts and Me: 3 digi stamps

Emerald Fairy: 2 digi stamps

Thanks for stopping by, xx