Wonderland Cake

Just a quick make today and something new :) :) :) The image used in this cake box is a brand new in the StitchyBear Digital Outlet and was designed by CraftyGirl, isn't it totally awesome :)   I can just see Cake Boss turning out a cake that looks just like this can't you?

The image is called Wonderland Cake and you can purchase it now in the store.

I just had to make this image into part of the decoration on a muffin box.  The muffin box was a challenge in itself, with not liking the kitchen I don't cook much so had to go out and buy a muffin, not just for the photo but to get the dimensions.  I started off making an open top box and used a Sizzix die to create the window which I then used acetate behind.  Next I created the lid.  Inside the box I have made a holder which the cake sits nicely in and stops it falling over when being carried round.

In keeping with the image I found some items to embellish the lid which matched perfectly, a clock charm which I added a chain to, a small glass bottle with a cork top which I put some water and paint into to match my colouring on the digi (the cork was then glued in place so no chance of spillages) and a chipboard rabbit which I painted white.  I was not sure what to use next, do I add flowers or what but in the end raked out a bit of hessian decorative stuff and scrunched it up to make a nest.  The items were then glued inside this.

 The image was coloured with Promakers and Faber Castle Polychromos pencils.  I added the sentiment which I produced digitally and mounted it in the same cards as I used for the box.

Ingredients:-

• Image - Wonderland Cake by CraftyGirl Creations
• Colouring Media - Promarkers and Polychromos pencils
• Dies - Spellbinders Ovals and Scalloped Ovals, Sizzix - 657939
• A4 card stock printed on both sides
• Gold Stickles
• Other items from my stash

I am entering this cake box in the following challenges:-

• Robyn`s Fetish - W - #244 Anything Goes
• That's Crafty! Challenge Blog - 2W, E3, Must be a UK resident - (W2 of 2) Anything Goes - challenge runs till Jan 2
• Sentimental Sundays - W, must include Sentiment - #238 AnyTHING but a CARD
• Allsorts W,3E (W2) Last minute gifts, 2 Weeks this time 
• Alphabet Challenge - 2W, 1E, JFF - (W2 of 2) - W for Whiskers  (whiskers on the cat and the rabbit)
• Chocolate, Coffee & Cards - 2W, 3E -  No. 81 - (W1 of 2) - Party Time
• Docerela Creations- 2W, 1E, Must Stamp, SIO - No. 75 - (W2 of 2) - Anything Goes
• Just Add Ink – W, - No.246 - Gifts - runs for 2 weeks
• Baffies Kreativladen - M -  Gift packaging (ends Jan14)
• Digistamps 4 Joy - 2W, SIO  - #107 Add Glitter
• Divas by Design - 2E - Anything goes (ends Jan14, last challenge)
• Little Red Wagon - #269 Happy Birthday

SPS - Fairy 11

Sweet Pea Stamps

Today is my day to showcase an image from Sweet Pea Stamps and I have chosen to work with the beautiful image Fairy 11 by one of our new artists, Amy Brown which is available from the Sweet Pea Store.

 To begin with I thought I would try something new and printed the image onto design paper, a bit tricky getting it to print in the lightest part of the paper so as to make colouring easiest.  I decided to use Faber Castle Polychrosmos pencils to colour with which are oil base as I wanted a lighter level of colouring and they work wonderfully on all sorts of different paper types too.

Using the border edge on the paper I then backed my base card.  Some dark wine card was used for the scalloped mount.  Gold flower chain was added to one side of the border and I then cut three single sections and used these to embellish the image.  To finish off gold Liquid Pearls were placed in the scallops of the wine mount.  A very simple card and I did plan to add flowers but this card was a case of less is better I think.

Ingredients:-

• Image - rubber stamp, Fairy 11 by Amy Brown
• Flower paper but I can't remember the company it is from
• Spellbinders Grand Ovals and Scalloped Ovals
• Gold Liquid Pearls
• Gold chain from my stash

I am entering into the following challenges:-

• Fairytale Stampers - 3W, E1, must use stamp / digi stamp - #49 Everything Goes
• Robyn`s Fetish - W - #244 Anything Goes
• Scrappy Hands - M – #29 Squares
• That's Crafty! Challenge Blog - 2W, E3, Must be a UK resident - (W2 of 2) Anything Goes - challenge runs till Jan 2

Thank you for stopping by today and hope you have a happy crafting time ahead of you :) xx

The Dragonfly

A friend stopped by my house yesterday with a plate full of yummy cookies she had been baking so I thought today I would rustle up a wee gift to take round to say thank you.  She knows I can't cook, won't cook so this really was a lovely surprise and so thoughtful :) :) :).

I know she likes green tea so a wee box with some green tea bags in seemed like a good idea.

After a hunt on the net to see if I could find a template of the type of box I had in mind and not finding anything I set to and designed my own.  To begin with I cut two of the handle sections in kraft and glued them together so they are nice and strong.

 Next I made two open top boxes using black card.

 Onto making the panels.  Using craft again I then stamped a dragonfly all over as the image I am going to use has dragonflies in it.  I also stamped the top of the handle sections and also a wee thank you label. Stamping was done with a black embossing ink pen and embossed with clear embossing powder.

Onto colouring the image.  I have used Ching Chou Kuik's 'The Dragonfly'. The image was coloured with Promarkers and finished off with some O2 pearls paint on the dragonflies so they shimmer when the light catches them, gold and copper metallic pens for the leaves and part of the dress and copper Stickles for the centres of the flowers and dots on the dress.

 Media used

And here we have the finished box.  I don't have enough green tea bags to fill it up so there will be a trip to shops to get some more tomorrow before I drop this off :) :)

Ingredients:-

• Image - Ching Chou Kuik's 'The Dragonfly'
• Box design by me
• Colouring media - Promarkers, O2 Pearl Paint, gold and copper metallic pens
• Dies - Spellbinders circles, scalloped circles and Labels 20
• Copper Stickles

I am entering this creation in the following challenges:-

• Allsorts W,3E (W2) Last minute gifts, 2 Weeks this time 
• Challenge Up Your Life 2W,E1,(w2) Kraft Cardstock
• Sweet Stampin W, 2E, must Stamp Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers -  2W ,C10,3E(one must be using sponsor image) - No.59 -  Anything Goes  with Ching-Chou Kuik (challenge runs for 2 more weeks)
• Docerela Creations- 2W, 1E, Must Stamp, SIO - No. 75 - (W2 of 2) - Anything Goes
• C.R.A.F.T. - W, 5E -#291 Anything Goes
• Baffies Kreativladen - M -  Gift packaging (ends Jan14)
• I love Promarkers -Must use Promarkers - #250 Anything Goes  (ends Jan06)
• Nutcrafters - 2W, SIR for 1st prize, any image for 2nd Prize, 1E -  #83 Gift packaging  (ends Jan07)

OSAAT - Through The Years

Hello folks.  We have another challenge at One Stitch At A Time so how about popping over to see all the fabulous creations by the design team.

We have some changes going on with the way we run the challenge, we are now going fortnightly with a prize for the random winner and badge for the Top 3 chosen by the DT.

Challenge #227

Theme 'Anything Goes with Stitching'

The sponsor is StitchyBear Digital Outlet with a 5 image November prize pack. Remember if you use one of the store items you can enter as many times as you want <g>.

For our stitching real or faux challenge this week I am working with Panda Bear Digital Papers using the pack - Through the Years 8.5 by 11 paper pack and am making some bookmarks.

First I designed the bookmarks in Illustrator, placing the papers I have chosen into clipping masks and adding shadows to give a 3D effect.  On the bottom panel of each bookmark I have added quotes which relate to books and reading.  The prepared images were then printed.  I was going to cut each of the individual panels for the bookmarks but then thought, these should be kept as flat as possible so as not to damage the pages in a book when they are being used.

Once cut, the printed bookmarks were glued to card and then I attached ribbon and twine to each. Stitching (faux method) was done with Promarkers and Liquid Pearls were added to the centre strips, again these are softer than pearls or gems so won't damage the pages of a book.

Ingredients :-

• Digi - Through the Years 8.5 by 11 paper pack  by Panda Bear
• Promarkers
• Liquid Pearls, ribbon etc from my stash

I am entering these bookmarks in the following challenges:-

• That's Crafty! Challenge Blog - 2W, E3, Must be a UK resident - (W2 of 2) Anything Goes - challenge runs till Jan 2
• C.R.A.F.T. - W, 5E -#291 Anything Goes
• Dream it Up - M, SIO - Quick and/or Cute
• Crafting for all Seasons - 2W, 3E - #92 Anything Christmas but a card (3rd week -  4 week challenge) - CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR MY MUM
• Divas by Design - 2E - Anything goes (ends Jan14, last challenge)
• Miriam's Crafting Blog Monthly Challenge - M, 1st Wed., E4 - Handmade gifts
• Wonderful Wednesdays -  SIO -  Always Anything Goes (ends Jan06)
• Crafty Sentiment Designs W, 1E, SIO - Anything Goes
• Going Grey With Scrap-Creations 2W, 2E - Anything Goes - challenge runs the whole December
• Through The Craft Room Door W, 2E - Always Anything Goes

Thank you for stopping by and hope you have some wonderful crafting time ahead of you :) xx

Thanks for looking and hope you have a happy crafting day:)

SPS - Lillith

Sweet Pea Stamps

Today is my day to showcase an image from Sweet Pea Stamps for our Artist Week where the whole DT use images for the same artist which this week is Teresa Sherman.  I have chosen to work with the beautiful image Lillith which is available from the Sweet Pea Store.

I had originally printed this image on a printable mirror paper but when I started colouring it in I really as not happy with the result. Time to try again this afternoon <g>.  Now last night I had a bad night and got all wound up after watching the Science Channel for far to long.  The final straw was a program on how robots are infiltrating our lives so much and the rolls they are expected to fill by, I think it was, 2029 - now that is only 15 years away!!!!!  They estimate the cost of a personal robot in the home will fall in cost to make them readily available to the mass population.  Hey no problem in that but they will also be so prominent in the workforce.  Fine for the 'educated' behind a desk I guess but what about the manual labor force - the first that will more than likely be replaced.  WOW lots of free time to enjoy oneself I hear you say but where does the money come from if you don't have a job because you have been replaced by a robot.  All I could think of was the crime rate would shoot up as idle hands are the devils work!!!!!  OK, I stop now hahahahaha, I could go on but won't.  Needless to say I was not in the best of moods when I got up this morning but still had to do this card.

I then thought I would try something new, instead of colouring the image as usual I placed a gradient overlay over the image before printing.

Next I only used a black oil pastel pencil to colour the hair and add some shading to the face.  Rather interesting and I did have fun.  Those robots were not bugging me now hahahahaha

The background of the card was to be all black - OK maybe I am still thinking about those darned robots :).  Using a gray card base I then ruffled black lace on it.

Time to cut the digi - but I could not find a die I liked so in the end I decided to use a leaf die and create a sort of free flowing frame.  Once I had glued the dies into position I then removed the excess part of the digi.

 More black, this time flowers which were white but I airbrushed with black.

 Using a remnant of the black lace from the background I created a flower and a recycled bit of chocolate box decoration (the glass flower) was glued to the centre.

 Quick and easy for the inside, using a pre cut heart die to create the writing area.

 And here we have the finished card :) :) :)

Ingredients

• Image -  Lillith by Teresa Sherman available from the Sweet Pea Store.
• Black Promarker and black  Faber Castle Polychromos 
• Dies - Crafts Too Leaf Flourish
• Lace, glass gem etc. from my stash

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

• Fairytale Stampers - 3W, E1, must use stamp / digi stamp - #49 Everything Goes
• That Craft Place - 2W, 1E - Anything Goes
• The Corrosive Challenges - 2W, 3E - #214 Anything Goes - Final Challenge for 2014
• Sweet Stampin W, 2E, must Stamp Black & White with a splash of One other colour
• Left of Center Creative Challenges - W - No.59 - Black Christmas
• QKR Stampede – W, 4E, SIO – No. 118 - Lots of Layers

Thank you for stopping by today and hope you have a happy crafting time ahead of you :) xx

OSAAT - Steampunk Girl

Hello folks.  We have another challenge at One Stitch At A Time so how about popping over to see all the fabulous creations by the design team.

We have some changes going on with the way we run the challenge, we are now going fortnightly with a prize for the random winner and badge for the Top 3 chosen by the DT.

Challenge #226

Theme 'Anything Goes with Glitter'

The sponsor is StitchyBear Digital Outlet with a 5 image December prize pack. Remember if you use one of the store items you can enter as many times as you want <g>.

This week I am working with an image from the artist BBKakes called Steampunk - 3 pc set.  In the pack there is the image, the image in a frame and the steampunk frame on its own, a really great set.

To begin with I lightened the opacity of the framed image to %30 for the no line colouring technique.

Now I have forgotten to takes pics as I was going along so will just have to mention what I did.  I covered the front and back of the book with black card which I had embossed with an Embossalicious clock folder. These were then painted with blue sparkle acrylic paint and attached to the book.  I then sprayed the front and back with Crafters Companion Silver Varnish spray.

Using a Tim Holtz Picture Wheel die on black card I then painted this with the same acrylic paint as also sprayed it with the silver spray

Next I coloured the image with Promarkers and used glitter for the hat and her clothing.

Another Tim Holtz die - Hardware Findings was used for the lock which I coloured with a red gold Promarker Metallic pen and then covered with Tim Holts Crackle Paint.  You can see the effect here.

To finish off I fussy cut the image and glued her to the front of the book, gems were added to the picture wheel and and a few more gems to the bottom corner.  Matching ribbons were tied to the spiral of the book.

Ingredients :_

• Digi - Steampunk - 3 pc set by BBKakes
• Spiral bound hard back book
• Dies - Tim Holts Picture Wheel and Hardware Findings
• Promarkers
• Glitter spray, paint, ribbon gems etc from my stash

I am entering this book in the following challenges:-

• Stempelsonnen Challenge - 2W, 3E, stamp as main focus - No.130 - (W1 of 2) - Anything Goes
• That's Crafty! Challenge Blog - 2W, E3, Must be a UK resident - (W1 of 2) Anything Goes
• House That Stamps Built - 2W, SIO, 2 challenges at the same time starting alternate weeks (theme and sketch*) - Anything but a Card
• Inspiration Destination - F- Always Anything goes
• Miriam's Crafting Blog Monthly Challenge - M, 1st Wed., E4 - Handmade gifts
• Penny's Paper-Crafty - 3E -  #207 Anything but Christmas
• Whimsy Inspiration -Monthly 3rd Wed posting, 3E, SIO  - #78 Anything goes 
• Wonderful Wednesdays -  SIO -  Always Anything Goes

Thanks for looking and hope you have a happy crafting day:)

SPS - Hooty So in Love

Sweet Pea Stamps

Today is my day to showcase an image from Sweet Pea Stamps called Hooty So In Love by Concetta Kilmer.  This image is being used by the whole team for our Variation Week creations.

This image just shouted Valentine to me :) :) :) now that is a celebration I love :)  I just could not resist having a blue and pink owl.

The image was coloured with Spectrum Noir Blendable Crayons.

 Onto making the card.  After having tried several different papers and none giving me the effect I wanted I ended up settling to go with mulberry paper with its beautiful texture.  The papers were only attached in the centre as I wanted the edges to flappy.

 Next I embossed the card blank with the mulberry papers attached.

 To finish off the card I printed my sentiment <g> and mounted it on the same mulberry paper combination.  Spellbinder Grand ovals and Scalloped Ovals were used to mount the image.   Now I know it was not straight, that is deliberate - no relationship is so perfect, it has it's off centre moments but working through them is the 'key' to having strong foundations and 'padlocking' the union <g>. Talking about keys and padlock, the die used for these was Cottage Cuts Lock and Key.

Ingredients

• Image -  Hooty So In Love by Concetta Kilmer available from the Sweet Pea Stamps store
• Spectrum Noir Blendable Crayons
• Dies - Spellbinders Grand Ovals and Scalloped Ovals, Cottage Cuts Lock and Key
• Gold twine and mulberry paper from my stash

I am entering this card in the following challenges:-

• Kit and Clowder- M (First Saturday of the month) Animals
• Penny's Paper-Crafty - 3E -  #207 Anything but Christmas
• Wonderful Wednesdays -  SIO -  Always Anything Goes
• Just Inspirational Challenges W, 3E – Anything With Wings
• Through The Craft Room Door W, 2E - Always Anything Goes

Thank you for stopping by and hope you have a happy crafting day ahead of you :) :)

Christmas Pixie

Time for another challenge over at

IKEsWORLD

Challenge 28
Merry Creepmas

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, just remember, you must use and IKEsART image to be eligible for the prize.  Why not pop on over to the store too :), Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)

When I saw the theme for this challenge my mind was really blank - yep, I am not a 'today's Christmas' lover, far to greedy and commercial, I find 'dark' creations really difficult to do and so what is this - a combination of them both.  Time to ponder my next move.  Right, need some help, Google Creepmas.  OH! Cool, Creepmas is a rebellion against the stores starting to sell the seasonal items so early - YAY, I can link to that hahahahaha.  For this creation I used the digi Christmas Pixie, isn't se adorable and although a bit of cuteness about her there is a look that is a bit peeved off lol.  Perfect :).  Now my head is spinning with ideas on how to get the Creepmas in and all I can think of is black - all black, a celebration of doom and gloom against commercialism heheheehehehehe.  I have seen on a lot of altered items folks that seem to paint over a background which had 3d items on it.  Not having anything suitable but wanting to try this I designed my text and cut with my die cutter 'I'm dreaming of a dark CREEPMAS'.  I cut the text twice out of card so I could place one set on top of the other to make them stand out more.  The card is actually black but I lightened the pic so you can see the text.

Next to stick one set of letters on top of the other set.  To transfer them to the card blank I have used vinyl - the stuff for covering books.  Habit here, as I do a fair bit of glass etching and this is how I transfer my designs to the glass.

Paint, oooooo, paint, fun and mucky.  I covered the card blank with black acrylic paint, 

Time to work on the digi.  To begin with I went round the outside edges with a black Promarker.  I so enjoyed playing with the black paint I thought I would do the background of the digi too so as to get that wonderful dark colour which my markers or crayons don't give me.

The background was stippled, not sure if this will work but I am going to try a shaker card, again something I have not done before and am hoping the glitter will sit on the wee ridges.  Have to find out later if that will work.

Promarkers and Flex Markers used to colour the digi plus I used a Spectrum Noir white pencil for the highlights.

Out with a plastic sheet and time to make a what I hope will be a shaker box, making this up as I go along so all experimentation today :) :) :)

Not bad time to add the glitter.  Oh, rubbish, not good so I chucked that out and instead used some black and silver Flower Soft, thats better.  My initial plan was to make the box and seal it with silicone adhesive so I could fill it with baby oil and glitter to get the lovely slow snow falling look but time to let it dry etc. was not on my side.  I am off on my hols soon and need to get all my DT creations done and blog post written before I go and I only have a week left to get it all sorted.  Anyway, here you see the finished card.  I placed the digi in the shaker box, attaching it to the back side.  To tidy up the edges a bit of red ribbon and I rather like how this ended up creating a frame too.  To finish off a wee red matching ribbon.

Not the easiest of cards to photography with all the shiny black going on but I hope you can see what is going on :)

Ingredients:-

• Digi - Christmas Pixie available from IKEsART 
• Promarkers, Flex Markers and white Spectrum Noir crayon
• Text die cut letters by me
• Black acrylic paint
• Plastic sheet for the shaker box
• Flower Soft, white glitter and ribbon from my stash

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

• Craft Your Passion - W, E3 - Non-Traditional Christmas
• Crafty Cardmakers - 2W, C15 - (Week 1) Christmas
• Fitztown Challenge - W, F, SIO, must use something digital - Christmas + Digital Elements
• Get Creative Challenges - 2W, 3E - (Week 2) Christmas
• Love to Create - W, 3E - Non-Traditional Holiday Colors
• Squigglefly - W, SIO - Emboss or Die Cut
• The Crazy Challenge - 2W, 4E - (Week 1) Christmas
• Punk you Girl M, P1, E5, Dark, Gothic or Steampunk Creepmas

SPS - Blog Hop

Good day gorgeous peeps.  Just something a little different today :) :) :) Sweet Pea Stamps are having a Blog Hop where we have all created something Christmassy but without using a Christmas image - quite a hard task and great to get the old grey matter working lol.

For my creation I have used 'Dream of Iris' by Ching Chou Kuik available in both rubber and digi.  I just love this image.  I know the Iris flower is not related to Christmas in any way but the dreamy expression on this lady's face just made me think of all the kids dreaming about what goodies would be wrapped under the Christmas tree.

I am in Kenya at the moment visiting friends and a long way from my craft room.  I knew I would be itching to make something so packed a small box to bring with me to hold what I thought would be essential items lol so I thought I would share with you my mobile craft room :) :) :)

Right back to the card - here is a close up of the coloured image, I used Faber Castle Polychromos crayons.

Before coming to Kenya I did do a search for craft superstores - well you never know :)  When I lived here 30 years ago there was no such thing but to my surprise I found one this time.  Not a big shop by any means but they had a few rubber stamps and other bits and bobs and some lovely paper from Thailand which I treated myself to.  Two of the sheets have been used in this creation.

 After fussy cutting the digi (an not having any foam pads to mount it with in my box) I made small pegs from spiralled strips of paper - that worked just fine.

 Next, using a coffee jar lid and a jam jar lid for templates I drew two circles and mounted them together to make my tag.  I added some wee flowers I brought with me and the pearls in the centres of each flower have been coloured with my gold pen lol.

And here we have the finished creation.  I used some of the leaves from one of the papers and cut them out to make my sudo die cuts, added some black lace from my mobile craft room

We hope you will join in with our blog hop :) and if you would like to try out Sweet Pea Stamp images we have a discount coupon for you too :)

Please visit each of our talented team members' blogs and leave a little love - a comment on every hop post will enter you into a drawing for a $20 gift code to the Sweet Pea Stamps store! As an added bit of fun share the hop on Facebook tagging Sweet Pea Stamps for a chance for a $10 gift code to the Sweet Pea Stamps store! Winners will be chosen around the first of next week.

Sweet Pea Stamps blog http://sweetpearubberstamps.blogspot.com/
Ria http://dragonmagicscrapkaarten.blogspot.nl/
Suzi http://www.suzannebakermckenzie.blogspot.com
Holley http://holleybarnhartsblog.blogspot.com
Aletha http://ajsdesigns.blogspot.com/
Tera http://stampqueen.blogspot.com
Milo http://milolilja.net
Denise  http://thruthelookingglass-glassgraffitix2.blogspot.com/
Sande http://sandensupinat.blogspot.fi
Jane http://craftyanimal.blogspot.com    (you are here)
Nataliya http://lovecraftsforever.blogspot.com

Thank you for stopping by and hope you have a great day.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

• Come and Get It - W, Unlimited - Merry Christmas (Entire Month of Dec)
• Glitter n Sparkle - W - #114 Modern Christmas Colors
• Robyn`s Fetish - W - #241 Christmas Cards
• That Craft Place - 2W, 1E - Christmas
• Noor! Designs UK M, P1 Merry Christmas
• The Craft Garden -M, P1 , E3 CHRISTMAS
• Di's Digis Designs 3E 2W SIO - (W1) CHRISTMAS!
• Open-Minded Challenges - 2W, 3E  (W1) Unusual Christmas
• Cut it Up- 2W, 1E, Must have Die Cuts - No. 59 - (W2 of 2) - Non Traditional Christmas Card (hope my hand cut elements from my DP class as die cuts :) )
• Delicious Doodles - W,1E, SIO – No. 113 - Non-traditional Christmas