Challenge #49 Add Some Sparkle

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #49
Add Some Sparkle

This fortnights challenge has been chosen my Maggie and what a super choice for us over the Christmas period for our challenge and for us to get another Christmas card made lol.

Oh dear, not good.  I tend to make my creations quite a while in advance of challenges so if I need a break then it is never a problem, commitments are covered and I can have a couple of weeks off with no problems. Alas this has just hit me really hard as I have just placed the card image on this blog post and it is the card I made for my Mum who passed to the next world a couple of months ago.  I know she would have loved this card, she was my greatest admirer but now I think I will have to put it in a memory box along with her birthday card with I used in a challenge a few months ago even though her birthday is not until July next year.

OK enough - have to move on.  I used green hammer card and foil embossed the arches then embossed the card with a frame embossing folder the used a Sheena Douglas gold glitter pen to pick up some of the embossed areas.  Next I spatted some gold paint onto the card to give it a bit of a distressed look.  Time to put the base to one side and move onto the holly and bow.  For the bow I stamped a pre designed bow stamp with wee holly on it by Sue Wilson I think using the same green card and a gold stamp pad.  I then cut the bow out, sprayed it with water on the back and shaped it using a pencil before gluing the sections together, these were then put to one side to dry.  Next was the holly using a Sheena Douglas die, the die does have a matching stamp but I don't have that.  Using white card and then a selection of green inks I coloured the sections on both the front and back so they were quite wet.  These were then scrunched up then un-scrunched and shaped and put to one side to dry for a day or two.  When totally dry and holding their shape properly I was ready to move on.  Firstly I sprayed all the holly leaves with several layers of Crafter's Companion Spray and Shine, a lovely light weight varnish which gives a fabulous shine. The green card base was matted onto gold mirror card, the holly was then glued in place with silicon glue then the bow was added and finally to finish off the holly I used red flat backed pearls for the berries.  A simple sentiment tag was cut and the text added using gold peel off stickers.  I made four of this card to give to family members and have to admit, I had a ball, it was a lovely card to make with several techniques.  My sparkle which would normally be with glitter :) this time was with the gold mirror card and the Spray and Shine, not quite sparkle but the effect is similar when the elements catch the light which is what I was aiming for.

Challenges entered:-

• Crafty Calendar M,3E December -  It's Christmas Time
• Crafty Friends Challenge 2W, 3E,  - #98 - Christmas (W2 of 2)
• Hiding in my Craft Room W,1E - #382 -  o TBA
• Inkspirational 2W,C10  #175 - Anything Christmas Goes (W2 of 2)
• Winter Wonderland - M, 3E, must be Christmas – DEC   ANYTHING CHRISTMAS GOES
• Aud Sentiments Challenge 2W,E5  #219 Anything Goes + A Sentiment (W1 of 2)
• Moving along with the Times 2W,3E #86 Anything Christmas (W1 of 2)
• Through the Purple Haze M 1st Thurs, E3, C10 Dec- 'tis The Season
• Crafty Gals Corner  2W, E2, #180 - Anything Christmas (W1 of 2)

Hunky Potter

IKEsWORLD

Challenge 115
Christmas Time

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)

My youngest daughter is HP mad, even at the age of 36 she can't get enough - of HP that is hahaha.  She is also not into frills or lace or I suspect the types of cards I like making but I know she loves the effort that goes into them.  Anyway this year I went pleading to Ike to help me out with an HP based image so I could use it on Nicole's Christmas card this year and WOW, Ike, you smashed the idea with the wonderful HUNKY POTTER image.  I think this is one card my daughter is really going to love although her other half won't as she is into VW's :) :) Thanks Ike for helping me out, you know how much I appreciate what you do xxx

I created the card by first using a starry sky background to which I then placed the Hunky Potter image removing the white background. I also removed some text which Ike had on the image as I wanted the area left blank.  I then used the same starry sky to create the sentiment tag and added the text personalising it for Nicole and Meesh.  The colouring was done with Prismacolour pencils and Promarkers with the addition of gold and bronze pens here and there.  Once all the colouring was done I cut the sections out and matted both the coloured image and the sentiment topper onto silver card ready for adding to my card blank.  The sentiment topper was added with foam tape for extra dimension.

Ingredients:-

• image - HUNKY POTTER by IKEsART
• colouring medium - Prismacolour pencils, Promarkers and digital background

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

• Dream Valley Challenges - 2W, 3E, C10 - #192 CHRISTMAS
• Crafting With An Attitude M,1st Thurs,3E Always Anything Goes
• A Gem of a Challenge  2W   - #232 - Anything Goes (W2 of 2)
• Allsorts  W,3E  - #496 - Fairies, Fantasy & Magical
• Inkspirational 2W,C10  #175 - Anything Christmas Goes (W1 of 2)
• The Fairy and The Unicorn M, 1st Sat, E3, Mythical and Mystical - December - Anything Goes -  optional theme: Christmas

Gone Crackers

Aurora Wings

Holiday Spirit #74 - Holiday Spirit

Time for a new challenge at Aurora Wings and this month we know you will be in the Holiday Spirit with Christmas just round the corner.

Oh so much fun with this challenge.  I try to make my own crackers each Christmas to give to family either with their gift in the post of with us at lunch time, which ever fits and this was the perfect theme for my crackers this year.  I decided to use 9 of the Christmas Sprites Mitzi has over at the Aurora Wings store, they are just darlings to adorn the crackers aren't they :) :) :) I started by hunting for a cracker die cut template and found a great in Monica's Craft Room which is what I have used.  Monica is a very generous designer who has lots of free cutting files on her site so thank you so very much Monica, you are a superstar.  I made the crackers as big as I could with the template, each on fitting onto a piece of A4 card (similar size to letter) and used cream linen card.  Next I coloured 18 white doilies with gold paint and let them dry while I sorted the printing of the images, adding the sentiment along with the recipients name, sorting the correct size to fit my chosen gold die cut which they will be placed on etc..  Each of the Aurora Wings sprites was coloured using Promarkers in reds and greens (and brown for the reindeer guy) and then it was out with green, gold and red Stickles, I so love my Stickles lol.  With all the colouring done I assembled the crackers, mounted the toppers and used remnants of gold lace stuff to tie the two end sections.  There is no bang in these crackers so you just remove one of the ties and open the cracker box to reveal a wee gift, shhhhhhh don't tell, but this year they will be filled with Ferrero Rocher chocolates, partly because they have gold wrappers but mainly because they are yummy.

and here are some clearer pics of each of the crackers

I will let you into a little secret now, one I feel really bad about.  After all my planning and making sure I had things correct ready for the production line I must have lost the plot.  I had a cracker for everybody and two spare so I decided my lovely fur baby cats could have one each, they won't be getting Ferrero Rocher in theirs but probably a nice salmon stick.  Anyway, back to my little secret.  Crackers made and time to photography, still I did not see the problem.  Then to edit the photos and what do I notice, I have not made a cracker for my best friend, my hubby - how on earth did I make such a huge error and with the crackers having names on I could not hide this from him.  Yep, I feel bad.  Alan's response was he was not bothered (he is not a fan of Christmas) so I think I will buy him a whole box of Ferrero Rocher to say sorry and I know there are to many in a box to fit into a cracker hahaha.  

Items Used:-
Images:- 

• Aurora Wings Store Wine Sprite   Poinsettia Sprite  Holly Sprite  Mistletoe Sprite  Garland Sprite  Christmas Cactus Sprite   Christmas Tree Sprite   Winter Sprite   Reindeer Sprite

• Etsy Store   Wine Sprite  Poinsettia Sprite   Holly Sprite   Mistletoe Sprite   Garland Sprite    Christmas Cactus Sprite   Christmas Tree Sprite    Winter Sprite   Reindeer Sprite

• Die Cut - Monica's Craft Room
• Colouring :- gold paint, Promarkers
• Other items:- Stickles, doilies, gold lace 

Aurora Wings Digital Images Store

I am entering this creation in the following challenges:-

• Christmas with the Cuties - M last Monday, 3E, must be cute Christmas - #22 ANYTHING BUT A CARD (WEEK 2)
• Crafty Cardmakers - 2W, C15 - #223 ANYTHING BUT A CARD (Week 2)
• Dragonfly Journeys - 2W, monthly Nov & Dec, E5 - #130 Handmade Holiday Magic (deadline December 31)
• Crafty Calendar M,3E December -  It's Christmas Time
• Inkspirational 2W,C10  #175 - Anything Christmas Goes (W1 of 2)
• ABC Christmas Challenge M, 1st Wed,- W for Wishes/X for Xmas
• Christmas at Sweet Stampin' M, 2nd Wed, 2E, Anything Goes Christmas
• I love Promarkers  2W,3E Must use Promarkers, #369 - Anything Goes/Option  of Christmas (W1 of 2)

Christmas Giggle

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #47
Funny Christmas

This fortnights challenge theme has been chosen by DT sister CraftyGirl. I have made a digital card this time using a combination of digital papers, a digital image coloured digitally and sentiment base with elements from a digital set.  The sentiment was also digitally produced.  I find digital very flat and untextured but with the addition of shadows to create the illusion of depth I can just about get away with the end result.  I am not much of a Christmas card maker, only really making a few super special ones for very close family but this might just come in handy to pop onto the likes of FB in digital format to wish my friends around the world a Happy Christmas :)

Image used:-  

Colouring:- 

Other items:- 

Challenges entered:-

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Foxy

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #46
Wild Animals

This fortnights challenge theme has been chosen by DT sister Hazel.

Oh how I enjoyed creating this card with the awesome 'Foxy' rubber stamp by Sheena Douglas of Crafter's Companion.  The image was stamped and then coloured with Promarkers.  I then masked the image and used Distress Oxides with another Crafter's Companion stamp to create the background.  For the small dots at the right hand side I used the rubber end of a pencil.  The top layer was then mounted on black card and then green before being attached to the base layer.  The sentiment is from a stamp set I have, think it was from the Creative Stampers magazine.  

Image used:-  Foxy by Sheena Douglas of Crafter's Companion

Colouring:- Promarkers and Distress Oxides

Other items:- 

Challenges entered:-

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Cat-attitude

IKEsWORLD

Challenge 114
Colour Inspiration

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)

I do so love a colour challenge and this one was perfect.  I needed a decent sized picture to go in our spare bedroom and felt like a bit of experimenting.  We have a great printer here were I lived so after discussion with the company and working out which paper/card would be the best to try for mixed media painting and would also work with alcohol markers I set to creating the image ready for printing in A3 size.  I used a cat background and superimposed the image KRAYZEE KATZ, this was then fired off to the printers - Fantasy Prints, Berwick upon Tweed.  Great, only a day to wait and then I collected my A3 black outline image.  The background cats were then coloured with Promarkers and the main design a mixture of acrylic paint and stick-back fuzzy felt.  To create the shapes for the fuzzy felt I converted the Krayzee Katz image to an svg. and sent it to my die cutter.  To complete the picture I added a few gems and google eyes along with the sentiment which was also cut using fuzzy felt.

I just love this picture, so much fun and placed in an A2 picture frame it is just perfect size to go on the wall.

Ingredients:-

• image -   KRAYZEE KATZ by IKEsART
• colouring medium - Promarkers and acrylic paint
• other items - gems, goodle eyes

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

Santa Muerte Mobile Phone Cover

Aurora Wings

Sketch Challenge #72 - Once Upon a Dream or a Nightmare

Time for a new challenge at Aurora Wings and this month we want you to head down the road of dreams or nightmares, how cool is this :)

I spent quite a long time pondering over this challenge, so wanting to use a darker image but my heart always heads towards the more peacefully ones.  In the end the decision was made for me totally by accident.  It was a Friday, not the usual day I visit my mother who has Alzheimers but she was having a very rare lucid couple of days and as these days are so very special as I have my Mum back as she used to be I couldn't let the day pass without a visit.  She lives about 25 miles away and I set off, alas with my mind on other things and by the time I arrived I desperately needed a pee lol. Now it was also a warm day so I did not have a coat on and I don't use handbags as I leave them lying around and forget to pick them up so I had put my mobile phone in my back pocket.  Pretty sure you can guess what happened - plop - no not me but yes, my mobile phone which was not waterproof, decided to dive head first into the loo.  Oh my heart sank, I could only imagine the hassles ahead of me but what to do.  Hand in the loo to grab my phone, took the cover off, gave it a good shake and hoped for the best, I had to now make Mum the priority and enjoy the special moments with her.  A few hours later, with a hot phone that did not want to switch off I headed off home.  Hubby to the rescue and mobile phone had Sim card removed and was then placed in a bag of rice - fingers crossed.  Anyway, to cut a long story shorter the phone worked after a couple of days but the big button at the bottom for closing applications was still dead grrrrr.  What to do, get it repaired - no Apple wanted over £300 for that, buy a reconditioned one, again no, battery problems often found there.  So only other option was to get a new phone.  With that sorted I needed a new case, so many pretty ones out there and then a lightbulb came on, get a clear silicone one and then I can make my own colourings to fit.  So here we are, my 'Nightmare' creation is more ways than one :)  Hope you like.

To make my mobile phone cover I used a template from the Internet for sizing.  I then removed all the background from the .jpg image and created a simple gradient to put behind the image in a colour to match my new phone :) and then added some text.  I have wanted to colour this fab image for a long time but never knew what to put it on but this seemed the perfect project for her, the image is Santa Muerte, a super image with a lot of detail which did make colouring her at this small size a real challenge.  Thank goodness for a good pencil sharpener to keep my Polychromes super sharp.  The scythe was coloured with a copper gel pen and a gold gel pen was used for her earrings but you can't really see that. I completed the image with some glass Stickles and Liquid Pearls and a quick spray of Crafters Companion Spray and Shine.  She is pretty blingy but I have not really managed to catch that with the photograph unfortunately.  Lots of fun with this challenge and I love the outcome, different and so lovely to be able to carry a bit of my colouring around with me.

Items Used:-

• Image:- Santa Muerte by Aurora Wings available from the AW Store here and from Etsy here
• Colouring :- digital background, Polychromes, gel pens
• Other items:- Stickles, Liquid Pearls, 

Aurora Wings Digital Images Store

I am entering this creation in the following challenges:-

• 
  

Autumn Colours

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #45
Autumn Colours

This fortnights challenge theme has been chosen by DT sister Debbie.  Time for me to be covered in ink with this card.  I love making my own backgrounds and my favourite mediums for creating the backgrounds are Distress Inks and Oxides. 

For this card I used Distress Oxides in Autumn shade then stamped leaves using leaf stamps from the Creative Stampers magazine again with Distress Oxides.  Next was an abundance of sprayed water to soften everything, so love how the background turned out :) :).  Once I cut the background to size I then added a simple embossed border from Crafters Companion.  The spare background I had left over was used to create the sentiment to which I stamped and Emily Bronte quote.  I finished off with some flower gems, Autumn ribbon which I stamped the leaf design onto and a very special button from my Gran's button box which I have had for years and years.  I used to play with the buttons in the button box when I was a wee girl sometime way back in the the previous century :) :) :)

Challenges entered:-

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African Sunset

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #44
Orange and Black

This fortnights challenge theme has been chosen by DT sister Chriss.  I love orange and black but it is not Halloween I think of but wonderful African sunsets hence the card I have made.  I used Distress Oxides for the colouring and stamps by Sheena Douglas, the animals and trees along with  Indigo Blue for the clouds and bushes. 

Image used:-  Pansy Perfect Partners by Sheena Douglas

Colouring:- Distress Inks, Crafter's Companion Aqua Tints.

Other items:- Lace, pearls, lattice die, birthday die cut, silicone glue, embossing folder

Challenges entered:-

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Oh Poe!!!!

IKEsWORLD

Challenge 113
Oct-POE-ber - Celebrating Edgar Allan POE / Halloween

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)

For this card I went all arty lol.  I started by getting a copy of the poem, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe and using it to create my design paper using Photoshop.  I also added the IKEsART image, Lenore and reduced the opacity of this to make it more of a watermark.  Once printed I coloured the background with Distress Inks and and for Lenore I used water colour pencils.  This layer was mounted on black card and then some Tim Holtz Crackle solution was smeared around areas of the background and put to one side to dry well.  For the raven I used Ike's image Raven Poe an printed twice on two different types of black card, one matt and the other a little shiny.  With the shiny printed raven, I used the lines that would normally be used for shading and fussy cut them so, once the matt raven outline was fussy cut I could place the shiny layer on top.  With the Lenore layer dry I added so DP to the base of my card, added the Lenore layer and then the raven with his wiggly eye.  To complete the front of the card I added a Happy Birthday die cut.

Close up of the raven -  I have played with the image colour settings so the layers are clearer..

                               

I then used the DP and black paper to create a decorative edge inside the card.

Ingredients:-

• image - The Raven and Lenore , by IKEsART
• colouring medium - Distress Inks and  water colour pencils
• other items - Border die, sentiment die, design paper.

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

Dandelion Sprite

Aurora Wings

Sketch Challenge #71 - Inspired By Music

Time for a new challenge at Aurora Wings and this month it is an Inspired By Music challenge.  Think I went a bit overboard with all the music on this card but love the bright happy feel of the end result.  The song I have based this on is 'Dandelion' by P.J. Olsson

Join in the challenge here and have lots of fun :)

I started by covering a white card blank with blue paper.  For the image I removed the background from the .jpg image I have and overlaid her on a music background I made.  The music background has areas removed to give it a bit more character.  I then added the digital text and printed.  I then set to with my Distress Inks to colour the background and for the image I used my Polychromes.  In keeping with the music them a rubber music corner stamp was used and I then embossed the four corners with silver embossing powder. This card layer was mounted on silver card.  Time for some more music and I embossed some yellow vellum with a music embossing folder, this layer then went behind the silver layer and attached to the blue base layer.  Musical note and yellow flower along with a musical note bow completed the project.  Pretty happy with the end result until I came to photograph it and it looked so very flat.  Time for a quick rethink and Flower soft to the rescue and I used this over the yellow vellum, a much better colour and the extra texture was just what this card needed to bring Dandelion Sprite to life :)

Ingredients:-
Image:- Dandelion Sprite by Aurora Wings available from the AW Store here and ETSY here
Colouring:-Polychromes, Distress Inks
Other items:- Flower Soft, music dies, mini flowers coloured with Promarkers, music corner stamp, silver embossing powder

Aurora Wings Digital Images Store

Aurora Wings ETSY Store

I am entering this creation in the following challenges:-

• Pattie's Creations - M, 2E, SIO, include an image (digital or stamped) – SEP - No. 150 - FAIRYTALE / FANTASY
• Polkadoodles - W, C10 - No. 39 - ANYTHING GOES
• QKR Stampede – W, 4E, SIO – No. 315-  ANYTHING GOES
• Back To Basics  2W, E3, #12 - Inky Backgrounds (W2 of 2)
• Sparkle N Sprinkle Creative Challenges (M, P1, must use glitter, EP or flocking) - September - Anything Goes: use loose glitter, embossing powder, and/or flocking

Pansy Birthday

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #43
NOT Clean & Simple - Layer It Up

This fortnights challenge theme has been chosen by DT sister Jennie. This challenge gave me the opportunity to make my own flowers using the Sheena Douglas Pansy Perfect Partners (stamp and die set).  I had tried it before but maybe I was not in the mood or just not daring enough but this time I went all out and just love the end result of the flowers.  OK so starting from the beginning, I coloured the card base and another sheet of paper with Distress Inks in the same colours I was using for the pansies.  I then embossed the paper sheet I had coloured and used this to place behind the die cut background.  To make the die cut background I used a repeating lattice die from Tattered Lace, a really handy die as you are not restricted to a card size.  I then made a square frame border to place on top which covers the rough edges and added a piece of lace to the bottom and pearls on the crossed over sections of the die cut.  Onto the flowers and boy, did I get inky lol but first I had to cut all the petals and leaves then stamp the images onto each section, for this I used Distress Inks. Next it was out with the Crafters Companion Inks which I have had for ages and a lovely big paint brush to paint each of the sections front and back and then an extra spray of water so they were lovely and wet.  Time to crumple them up to get some wrinkles into them and then open the sections up and bend into the shapes I wanted.  I left the sections to dry for several hours and then attached to the card font with silicone glue.  To complete the card I used a Happy Birthday sentiment die by Sarah Davies of Crafters Companion.

Image used:-  Pansy Perfect Partners by Sheena Douglas

Colouring:- Distress Inks, Crafter's Companion Aqua Tints.

Other items:- Lace, pearls, lattice die, birthday die cut, silicone glue, embossing folder

Challenges entered:-

• Art Impressions Stamp Challenge 2W,2E,SIO (tab at top of page)  #242 Vibrant Colours (W1 of 2)
• Aud Sentiments Challenge 2W,E5  #212 Use A 2 Word Sentiment  (W1 of 2)
• Through the Purple Haze M 1st Thurs, E3, C10 Sept-Bright Colours
• Always Happy Birthday (M, P1, E4, must be birthday)- October - Birthday
• Try It On Tuesday 2W, C5, 2nd & 4th weeks - Slap It On (get messy and inky with paints, textures and papers) (week 2)

Birthday Owl

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #42
The Natural World

This fortnights challenge theme has been chosen by DT sister Sall.  I love a challenge like this as for me, nature cards are always a delight to make.

For this card I went owl mad as my eldest daughter just loves owls :)  The large owl stamp is from Sheena Douglas and the smaller owls used to create the background paper and inside of the card are from  The Works.  I started by using Distress Oxides to create the backgrounds then coloured the main stamped image with Promarkers and stamped the other owls with the same Distress Oxide colours used earlier.  I had lots of fun making my own washi tape using micropore tape lol and stamped 'owl always love you' again with Distress Oxides.  To complete the card for Natasha I mounted the coloured image on black and then hand made paper, added a wooden owl embellishment again coloured with Distress Oxides and a couple of black pearls.

Image used:-  recycled magazine, coffee tin and twine

Colouring:- none

Other items:- hot glue gun and PVA glue

Challenges entered:-

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Imagination

IKEsWORLD

Challenge 112
Sexy September

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)

Oh what fun making this card, I so love Ike's female images, not OTT but they scream seduction in the most beautiful way LOL.  For this card I went with a totally different colour combo, browns, olive and burgundy.  To start with I found some burgundy paper and embossed it with a key design, this was then used to back my card blank.  I then used Distress Inks to do the background then ran this, when dry, through my laser printer to add the text ready for foiling.  Such fun adding the text with foil and great when you don't have a suitable sentiment stamp.  The background layer was then mounted on gold card.  The image was coloured with Prismacolour pencils, again not the usual skin tones as I tried to pick up some of the colours I used in the background.  Simple die cuts in gold and burgundy along with a metal embellishment completed the card front.

Ingredients:-

• image - Girly Pin Up, by IKEsART
• colouring medium - Distress Inks and Prismacolour pencils
• other items - gold card, key embossing folder, gold foil, Sizzix dies and metal embellishment 

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

Himalayan Blue Poppy

Aurora Wings

Sketch Challenge #70 - Sketch 

Time for a new challenge at Aurora Wings and this month it is a SKETCH challenge.  So here we go with the sketch we would like you to use and we can't wait to see what you come up with and how you interpret this challenge :) :)

For my DT inspiration to get you in the mood I have used the image Himalayan Blue Poppy available here from Aurora Wings Digital Stamps and also from the Etsy store.

I chose to use the Himalayan Blue Poppy image to decorate the outer side of the circle instead of putting and image in the circle and using other embellishment on the outside.  The image was flipped so it fitted beautifully on the top left of the circle and for the bottom right I removed parts of the image so I was only left with the flowers and reduced the size.  Once that was done I printed the two bits ready for colouring.  Usually I would colour and then fussy cut but this time I was a bit concerned about the fussy cutting so did that first.  Then the fun and games began as seems to be a common trend with me at the moment.  I coloured most of the image but did not like what I had done grrrrr, so printed and cut again ready for a second round of colouring.  Now the second attempt was much better and I was half way through it when I got sidetracked and started thinking about the background.  My plan was to rubber stamp a poppy background in colours to match what I was using (fatal mistake).  I hunted through my stamp inks, nothing suitable there, Promarkers possibly but not what I wanted then I remembered I had some Aqua Tints from Crafters Companion and there I found the perfect colour.  Time to play and see what I could come up with and my stupid hand knocked over the bottle of ink and I think you can guess where it went, all over the half coloured image which I had not moved out the way - I could have cried.  Time to leave the craft room after wiping up all the spilt ink before I did something else rather stupid.  I left things for a couple of days and rethought what to do with the background - that ink went back in the drawer and won't be seeing the light of day for a wee while hahaha.  I ended up using a poppy design paper which I converted to greyscale in Photoshop and then overlaid a colour I thought would work well, hurray, got it pretty good first time.  Next was to print and fussy cut the image for the third time and get the colouring done.  All going well so far so fingers crossed it would continue and it did, no more accidents.  The images were coloured with Polychromes and completed with Liquid Pearls in the centre of each of the flowers then a blast of Crafters Companion Spray and Shine to give a nice sheen. To finish off the card I die cut a background flower die I have and trimmed it to size to fit behind the inner circle, lace was added to the top background poppy layer and this was mounted on dark maroon, then cream vellum and added to the card base.  Behind the image I added some maroon dried leaves, pearl sprays and a glass bead spray.  Finally I stamped the sentiment and added a wee pearl bow to complete this project.

Aurora Wings Digital Images Store

I am entering this creation in the following challenges:-

• Just Us Girls W - #456 - Celebrate
• Always Happy Birthday (M, P1, E4, must be birthday)- September - Birthday
• Creations in Pink (M, P15, E3, mostly pink) #1 - Anything Goes in Pink
• Digi Doodle Studios Challenge Blog (M, P1, E3, must have hand coloured image) - #9 - Mythical/Magical
• Digistamps 4 Joy (M, P1, E3, SIO) #152 - Anything Goes + optional : Flower Frenzy
• Alphabet Challenge - 2W, 1E - I L IS FOR LEAFS  (W1 of 2)
• Brown Sugar – M (First Friday of M), E2 - AUG - No. 281 - FAIRIES AND FANTASIES
• Just Add Ink – W- No. 424 - TEXTURE*
• Cardz 4 Galz 2W,3E #79 Beautiful Backgrounds (W1 of 2)

School Time

Just a very quick post with a card I finished off this morning using the image from IKEsWORLD Progressive Challenge on FB.  I had so much fun with this on and finally got my Promarkers out of the drawer they have been hiding in for the past year.  It seems I have fallen in love with my pencils but it is a shame that the Promarkers got put to one side.  Now they are out and about again I really must try to use them more often :) :) :)

Image - From IKEsART Progressive Challenge
Colouring medium - Promarkers
Background - digital paper

Challenges entered:-

• I love Promarkers  2W,3E Must use Promarkers, #364 - Anything Goes/Option of Die or Punch (W2 of 2)
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies (M, P1, E5, must have a critter) #18 - Anything Goes with a Critter
• Tinker- Dream (M, P15) #68 - Back to School/Work
• Kitty Bee Designs - 2W,2E, C10 - No.126 - ANYTHING GOES W/OPTIONAL TWIST:ANIMALS  (W1 of 2)
• Paper Shelter Challenge  W, 3E, SIO, #353 - Back to School

Recycled Coffee Tin

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #41
Use a non-craft item on your project/Recycle

This fortnights challenge theme has been chosen by DT sister CG.  I have a love hate relationship with this challenge theme lol, so many ideas I get sidetracked.  I was going to make flowers out of coffee filters but then knew the hubby had kept our just finished coffee tin for something so decided to use that instead.

To create my project I used an empty coffee tin and free magazine from our pet store which was ready for the bin.

A quick check on You Tube for some tutorials led to this one showing the making of paper tubes from magazines to cover a container, you can check out the video tutorial here.  Lots of fun to do and not hard at all, the only downfall was the burnt thumb from using my glue gun grrrrrr.  I started by creating all the tubes from the magazine, these were then glued to my container with hot glue, yep, very hot glue.  Next I trimmed each of the tubes to the correct length and applied a couple of coats of PVA glue.  To finish off I found some old hessian string which came off some packaging at Christmas and wound this around the top of the paper straws to cover the holes, 4 circular layers in all and a couple more layers to the bottom of the tin to tidy things up.  Yep, super easy and even got a 'coo' from my daughter when she saw it lol.

Image used:-  recycled magazine, coffee tin and twine

Colouring:- none

Other items:- hot glue gun and PVA glue

Challenges entered:-

• Catch The Bug  W,3E,SIO - Anything Goes
• Use Your Stuff - W,  #327 LOTS OF COLOR

The Lighthouse

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #40
Marine, Ocean or Sea

This fortnights challenge theme has been chosen by DT sister Sue.  What a great theme and thanks to IKEsART for this fabulous image which is so perfect for where I live - on the Northumbria coast where we regularly see fishing boats.  I just know this card will find the perfect recipient.

To make the card I created a DL size card out of black card.  To this I added a layer of water themed vellum ready for the image and sentiment to be added.  The image was coloured with Polychromes and mounted on black then orange backing paper.  To finish off the image I added a border of gold peel off stickers.  The text was stamped onto the vellum and embossed with fine silver embossing powder.  I then used the compass direction stamp from Creative Stampers magazine and again heat embossed with silver embossing powder.  2 small orange gems to hide the glue dots for attaching the vellum on the right side of the card completed the project.

Image used:-  The Lighthouse by IKEsART

Colouring:- Polychromes

Other items:- sea design vellum, gold peel off stickers, stamps from Creative Stamper magazine, silver heat embossing powder

Challenges entered:-

• Allsorts  W,3E  - #480/481 - From Boys To Men
• Crafting with Dragonflies 2W,1E, No rude/sexy or Halloween/witch, cards only - #111 Guy Card  (W1 of 2)
• Seize The Birthday 2W, 3E, C5  Birthday + Option Of Anything Goes (W1 of 2)
• The Crafty Addicts  M, 3E, #51 - Anything Goes/Boys and Men
• Scrap From Your Heart (M, P1, 5E, C10) #24 - One for the Guys

Wolke

I was asked to make a card for a friends sister with a image of her horse on it.  Her horse is a black Frisian called Wolke and is now 13 years old and really is her baby :)

Now I am no drawer but with the help of my computer I was able to get a good outline shape for the horse's head and the placement of the most important bits which was a great help.  I then coloured the background using Distress Oxides but this time I used a paintbrush to get a stroked effect instead of the usual blending I do.  Onto colouring the horse's head with trepidation and a rather shaky hand lol.  Prismacolor pencils were used for this and many many breaks so I could step back from the image and come back to if fresh, I really did not want to muck this one up as it was a special birthday card.  So very pleased with the outcome, not quite sure I can believe I did it and both my friend and more importantly, my friends sister really love it, happy bunnies all round. 

Will let you into a little story now, I was given the wrong spelling of the horse's name and so it was a mad dash to sort the spelling the day before the birthday.  My friend was so upset when her dad pointed out the spelling was wrong, tears shed and she contacted me to ask if I could do anything.  It was tricky as I had used PVA glue to stick the letters down, thankfully it was just the E at the end which was originally an A.  I heated the card gently behind the letter and with my craft knife prised the A off then had to do a bit of repair work when I had accidentally lifted the colour from the background.  You can still see the mark left by the A as I had also used a spray varnish on the card but it is not overly obvious thankfully :) :)

Image - photo provided by my friend which I copied
Colour - background Distress Oxides, horse Prismacolor pencils
Other items - die cut letters, spray varnish, copper peel off line stickers

Challenges entered:-

• AAA - 2W, 3E, winner and Top Picks, strictly CAS cards - #121 Friendship (W2 of 2) - THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HORSE AND THE OWNER
• Dare 2B Artzy Challenges - M, 1st Sunday, E3 - (August) Anything Goes
• Through the Purple Haze M 1st Thurs, E3, C10 Aug- Make It CAS
• Sunny Day Crafting - (M, P15, E3) Always add an Animal
• Crafty Gals Corner  2W, E2, #171 - Tropical Colors (W2 of 2)
• That's Crafty! Challenge -M, 3E, 1st Wed of Month,C20, Animal Magic

pink elephant

Just a quick wee baby card for a friend created today :) :).  I have had a few coordinating sheets of soft pink baby paper for years now and never used them so this afternoon they saw the light of day, I love how they match up so beautifully.

I used this adorable elephant image from Pink Gem Designs and coloured her with Prismacolour pencils.  A couple of die borders and matching paper buttons finished off with soft pink satin ribbon along with gauze behind the elephant held in place with some pink gems.  Rather pleased with how this turned out :)

Entered into the following challenges :-

• DL ART Thankful Thursday Challenge 2W, 3E #233 Baby (W2 of 2)
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies (M, P1, E5, must have a critter) #17 - Anything Goes with a Critter
• Creative Craft Cottage Digi Creations (M, P3, E3) #95 - Three of a Kind
• Back To Basics  2W, E3, #9 - Use a Digital Image (W1 of 2)
• Incy Wincy Designs - 1st & 3rd Monday, 5E -  RIBBON AND/OR LACE (Week 1)
• A Gem of a Challenge  2W   - #225 - Breast Cancer Awareness (must be mostly pink) (W1 of 4)
• Crafty Friends Challenge 2W, 3E,  - #89 - Lace/Ribbon (W2 of 2)
• Di's Digis Designs 2W, 3E,SIO  Use Your Stash Items (W2 of 2)

Birthday in Cream

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #39
Paper Pricking

This fortnights challenge theme has been chosen by DT sister Josephine.  

Ouch to my finger after this one lol,  I have not done paper pricking before so thank you Josephine for the challenge, such a cool effect but oh so time consuming :) :) :)
For this simple multi layered card I started with a cream base the added a die cut doily created from vellum.  The doily was made by using four corner dies so I could get the exact size I wanted.  Next was a scallop edge circular die cut followed by my completed paper pricking layer.  The final two layers were vellum again and a birthday stamped sentiment die cut using one of my small circular dies.  I do so love monochromatic cards made up of many layers which at first glance are not obvious so yep, I did enjoy making this one :) :) :) To complete the card lots of pearls.

Challenges entered:-

• Crafter's Castle - M, 1st Sat., E3 - August - #8 - Anything Goes + option: Elegant or Shabby Chic
• Always Happy Birthday (M, P1, E4, must be birthday)- August - Birthday + option Water theme