inky inky

I have been having a little play this morning with my DIs.

 I cut a circle out of a peice of scrap card to create the mask for this card.  I used DIs and created the background straight onto the card blank.  I stamped the Inkylicious stamps onto the circle and added some glamour dust. Finally some flat backed pearls and a sentiment.

Challenges:
Less is More - silhouette

Allsorts - one layer card
Crazy4Challenge - Black, white and WOW (1 other colour)
One Stop card Craft - blue
Cas-ual Friday - sketch  (changed the square to a circle - hope that's OK)

 And I made a tag using my latest winter limited edition DIS ... the snowflakes are debossed and then rock candy crackle paint splodged into the centres and the excess scraped away ... they are all shiny nd cracked ... pity it doesn't show on the photo!!  I used a scrap of card and smeared DI over it and glimmer mist.  I added some glitter glam and gamour dust to finish it off.  It does really sparkle ... but it doesn't show very well on the photo.

 Challenges:
Crafty Catz - snowflakes
2 Sisters - Sparkle
CES - snowflakes

Sweet Stampin DT card

 This week Sweet Stampin' are celebrating ....

so the theme is  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
We have some fab sponsors: 

Crafty Sentiments -


one lucky winner will receive a £10 voucher to spend in their store.

My Creative Classroom -

One lucky winner will receive a free seat to a class of their choice.

  Prairie Fairy



one lucky winner will receive a $10 gift certificate to spend in their store.

Saturated Canary -

one lucky winner will receive 2 digis from their store.

The Craft Room -
one lucky winner will receive a £10 gift voucher to spend in their store.

Tiddly Inks -
one lucky winner will receive a $10 gift certificate to spend in their store.

Thank you so very much to all our fantastic sponsors!

In addition to the sponsor prizes we have some hidden candy for some random comments on not all, but some of the Design Team posts so if you you want to be in with a chance of winning some candy make sure you leave a comment on the DT cards too.

 I coloured this cute image, Lili Claire - party time, from Tiddly Inks in using my promarkers, and matted her onto pale blue cardstock.  The dp is K and Co, and I simply added a layered flower, ribbon and bow, and a Craftwork Cards sentiment.  Very simple, but it is for one of Beth's friends, so didn't want to make it too fussy!!!

Do you stack up - a splash of blue
Tiddly Inks - Anything Goes

Totally Papercrafts Challenge

This week's Totally Papercrafts challenge is Black and White.  Up for grabs this week we have 2 fab sponsors' prizes ...

Crafty Emma

with the chance to win a voucher worth £10 to spend in her store

And a $15 Gift Certificate from our new sponsor Amber Ink.

I have kept this really clean and simple.  The stamp is from Stempleglede and I stamped it in versafine ink.  The stamp and mat are cut out using my deckled rectangle nesties.  I used a kelly Panacini border stamp, again stamped in versafine ... and that is it ... very CAS!!

Challenges:
Divas by design - monochromatic
Crafts and me - Simples
Fabulous Friday - diecuts

Wee and tree ...

Wee and his tree are coloured in using promarkers and having cut him out with my nesies I inked round the edges in berries DI ink.  The cardstock is embossed and debossed using a snowflakes folder and all have had a dusting od DI to help define the layers.  I added pearls and fluffy stuff to the image, some lace and  charm .. all very simple.
 Challenges:
Passion for Promarkers - white on White
I love promarkers -Christmas trees
Dutchdare Card Challenge - all white
Charisma Cardz - lace and pearls
Ohlala Creations - bingo (diecut, lace, metal)
Trully Scrumptious - Xmas - pearls
Oldie but a goodie - Let it snow
Crafts and Me - simples
Creative inspirations - sketch
Whiff of Joy - let it snow

Sugar Bowl #72

Our Sugar Mama Gayle has set the sketch over at the Sugar Bowl challenge this week, and the optional extra is snow and ice.

One lucky winner of this challenge will have their choice of 4 stamps (or 6 stamps, if we reach 100+ entries) either from the new release or any stamps from the Sugar Nellie range at

 Here's the sketch you need to follow ...

 And my card ...

 I used Hello Little Friend and coloured it using my promarkers and flexmarkers.  The dp is Basic Grey Jovial, and the frosty border and corner were created using memory Box dies.  Finally I punched some snowflakes and glamed them up a bit.

Don't forget Sugar Nellie are launching a new set of Simply Sassys at the weekend ... and the Sassy girls are doing a blog hop ... click the pic for details.

 How chuffed am I ... my vintage tag has been shown on Waltzing Mouse's Big Cheese of the week post ...

And this is what was said ....

A glittered up ornament from 2011 Holiday Ornaments is the showpiece of this creation. The holidays are the perfect time to create some tags, and Cathy demonstrates a perfect balance of rich colors and beautiful complimentary patterns on hers. Great inspiration - I see some tag creation in my future.. how about you?

 Thank you so much xx

CRAFT GDT card

I am Guest Designing for the CRAFT challenge during November, and we have a fab challenge for you this week ... Stars in your eyes.

We are sponsored by ...

I used this cutie pie, Delia, from Sugar Nellie, and coloured her using distress inks for a change.  The dp is MME Penny Lane, and I used a couple of scraps of it for the top part of the card ... it's bad enough cutting this paper, let alone throwing even the tiniest scraps away.  I added some gingham ribbon, flowers and flat backed pearls to finish, and a sentiment from Craftwork cards

 Challenges:
Sketch Saturday - sketch
CES - roses and ribbons
Craft your days away - embellishment bingo - flowers, pearls, ribbon
Magical Monday - use scraps
Ladybug Crafts Ink - fairies
ABC challenge - D is for Dazzle

SMASH!!

So its Wednesday and time for What's on your Workdesk, led by the amazing Julia ... (grab yourself a cuppa ... going to be a long post this one!! I have Smash stash from K and Co ... been itching to get my hands on this since I found it on you tube ... and now I have it in my hot little hands!!It has taken over my crafting space ... and suddenly I am tidier ... not that i am overly messy!

Now I confess to having dabbled with Scrapbooking, but to be honest I am a slap, stick and paste kind of person ... just like those scrapbooks we all kept as children, roughly cut articles and photos with captions.  I struggle with layouts and embellishments, as as a cardmaker primarily, all my pages end up looking like cards!!! The fab thing about SMASH is I can do the kind of scrapbooking I feel comfortable with!!!
So this is what I got ...

The Eco green smash book and a mini folio book (more on that later!), pockets. tabs. clips, labels, jotting pads ... lots of yumminess ready to play with. I have decided that I am going to dedicate this book (yes I will be ordering more LOL!!) to crafting.
Here's my intro page ...

And now for the pages I have started so far ...

Stamping onto the page, doodling, sticking in tag, tape, a glassen butterfly, died flowers, filmstrip and a crackle painted grungeboard heart. The tag was made for the page but the flowers and heart are all bits I have kept from play sessions ... not perhaps good enough for a card ... but fab for a SMASH book!

I love this tag, made it using rusty hinge, vintage photo and aged mahogany DIs, a TH flourish mask and a smattering of tattered leather glimmer mist.  I painted over the masked area with glitter glam from Tattered Angels ... LOVE this stuff!!

I just want to stroke that died flower!!
As well having a slight obsession with the Man himself, I also LOVE my glimmer mists, and Tattered Angels screens ... so need a page for them!

Its very much work in progress - tag created using a screen and mists, spritzed flowers, and plays with mixing colours ...Again these bits and bobs are all from play sessions, and trial gos before doing the real thing ... very rarely get it right 1st time LOL!!

Isn't that flower fab ... I pressed the cardstock into the waste from spraying the flowers, so I got the petal mask, and its been glitter glamed. A technique I am going to do again.

And another page .. pretty much finished .. I have blocked out some of my doodling as it is very personal.  Love this Sassy, Amelia, and stamped her directly onto the page and added the inspirational quote from Amelia Earhart that I love. Also added a couple of sentiment stamps that have meaning to me.
Got a gingham page and a colour page and a my style page all with bits and bobs ready to smash in ...
And the mini folio book is going in my handbag .. so I can record days out, trips, just 'those' times with the girls as and when they happen ... don't need to try to remember what they said ... got my book to hand!
Hope you're not too bored ... have a fab Wednesday!

Christmas Garland

 A quick-ish Christmas card ...

 I used Christmas Garland from Sugar nellie and coloured it using promarkers and flexmarkers, before adding lots of sparkle..  The dp is from DCWV Linen Closet, and I used the same dp, just debossed some snowflakes onto one of the peices.  I stitched the dp ... not easy with a kitten trying to climb on my knee!! and added some lace, ribbon and a snowflake charm.  The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

Challenges:
Dream Valley- stitching
Craft your Passion - let it snow
Cupcake Craft challenge - two's company
Incy Wincy - Tic Tac Toe - sewing, metal, ribbons
Stamps fun = Creativity - recipe - 1 dp, glitter, lace
Pink Elephant - embossing
Shabby tearoom - shabby pastel Christmas

Amelia

 I have been have been cracking on with DT cards and Christmas cards as I am going to be working silly hours in the run up to Christmas ... but i had to have a play, so I went a bit to town with inks, techniques and mess!!!

 I love this Simply Sassy, I think if I had to have a favourite it would be Amelia.  I stamped her twice, colouring her in just warm greys, and then in autumnal colours.  I used the cracked glass technique on the warm grey image, having distressed the edges, and cut out 3 sections of the other image using my nestie saquare, and matted them onto chippy squares. I then placed them on the base image when it had been cracked and distressed.

  I  made the dp for the card using distress inks, glimmer mists and masks.  For the background one I wanted to have a sort of circle as per the sketch i was following, so I used a fab mask called chicken wire.  I used distress inks to build up the depth of colour, dried it off and then added walnust gold glimer mist.  The watch/compass mask is from Tattered Angels and I sprayed over it using tuscan sunrise, brick and tattered leather.  I cut the middle out of the watch/compass mask and used that to punch the butterflies (waste not want not!!!), and added a gold organza ribbon.  Lace and raffia add texture, and a few pearls.  I stamped a TH journalling tag using a TH sentiment, scrunched and inked it.

 Challenges:
Saturated Canary - autumn colours
2 Sisters - anything goes
Daring Cardmakers - inspired by jewllery (antique gold and fob watches)
Paperplay- cracked glass
Addicted to stamps - lace and pearls
One Stop Craft - ribbons and lace
Cupcake Inspirations - colours and gemometric shapes taken from the cake
Pink Ink Sketches - sketch
Stamptacular Sunday - punch it