Christmas Chris

The image used for this card is Christmas Chris by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.

I hope you have all had a magical Christmas and not suffering too much today.  Poor old Christmas Chris is going to have belly ache I think as he is still tucking in to yesterdays leftovers lol.
Design paper was used to back the card I created a circular frame with my die cutter using gold card which I placed the design paper behind - alas this looked really bad, so fussy, so I coloured the holly and berries in to tone it down a bit.  Christmas Chris digi was coloured with Copics and fussy cut and a pre printed sentiment was used along with pre cut holly leaves to decorate.  Simple strips of gold glitter paper were used to frame the card.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

Elliot & Elvis

The image used for this card is Elliot and Elvis by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.

 Merry Christmas everybody, hope it is a wonderful one for you full of happiness and wonderful memories :).

I coloured the image with Copics and fussy cut it ready to added to my card.  The card base was covered with design paper then I added a red mulberry paper layer, do love how the transparency here allows the Christmas trees of the backing paper to shine through.  The text was designed on SCAL with the shadow layer matching the backing paper and the sentiment on top cut out of sticky back felt.  I do love a bit of touchy feely on cards lol.  I finished off the coloured image with some gold glitter for a bit of sparkle too then attached it to my card.  Simple but effective I think.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

• Sisterhood of Crafters 2nd/4th Wed,3E - Christmas
• Digi Choosday Challenge -W,E2, - #51 - Anything Goes
• Everybody-Art-Challenge 2W - #460 - Winter Landscape or Christmas Colors (week 1)
• The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - 2W, C15, E3 - #62 - Anything Christmas Goes  - runs till Jan 12, 2020

Lilac

The challenge this fortnight at I ❤️Promarkers is

 'Anything Goes'

and the sponsor for this challenge is IKEsART with $15 prize to spend in the store

For my design creation I have used the IKEsART image Lilac, I have had this image for quite a while and loved it from day one but shamefully, this is the first time I have coloured it.  I had such plans for this card in my head and grrrrrr they fell apart when I tried to pull them off but never mind, I had fun really and sometimes it is good to have an experimental day lol.  I did want to have a yellow and orange alcohol ink background with the image printed on acetate and coloured from behind but the Promarkers were not dark enough to stop the inked layer below it shining through.  So I opted for a clean and sharp card instead hahahaah.  This card has several simple layers with a white layer behind the mauve vellum gingham layer to keep the clarity of the colour.  The sentiment is stamped with Hero Arts white stamp pad, the addition of a few gems and a wee butterfly were all that was needed to complete the overall effect.

I am entering this card in the following challenges :-

Caffinated-Craig

The image used for this card is Caffinated-Craig by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.

 For this thank you card for Barry our builder I have used a photo taken just after the kitchen / dining room wall was knocked out.  Barry really deserved a cake and cup of tea after that lol.  The image is really a guy in his home lounging clothes and slippers but a bit of creative colouring changed his slippers into work boots I hope and although Barry did not wear clothes like this to work the actual image looks so like him :)   I coloured the image with copics and embossed the silver backing paper with a brickwork folder (think I got that the wrong way round but cool effect anyway).  Hubby made me the big hammer with his 3D printer and I coloured it with acrylic paint and finally I foil embossed the Thank You Barry using the WRMK foiling tip which can be used with a die cutter.  I designed the label and text using SCAL and print/foiled with my Silver Bullet.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

Peace Angel Bag

This bag was so much fun to make and a real challenge lol.  You know when you get an idea and then have to work out how to achieve it, well that was very much the case here.  I wanted so much to play along with the Aurora Wings FB December challenge and then an idea sprang into my wee head which really put smiles on my face hahaha.  Before I talk about the bag I have made let me share with you the reasoning behind it - this Christmas is the first Christmas in about 20 years my hubby and our 2 grown up daughters along with me will be together on Christmas Day, between hubby working overseas for many years, the kids leaving home and starting their lives etc. we have not managed to be in the same place at the same time for many many years until now.  My Mum joined the angels last year and my youngest daughter and her wife (who are in the army)  changed their long term plans of moving to New Zealand and bought a house about 40 minutes from us in Scotland, my other daughter lives about 5 minutes away from us :).  One of the things I always gave my Mum at Christmas was a box of Maltesers, she loved them and it was a real sharing event between us so I thought, what would be a beautiful way to help us know Mum is also there with us on Christmas Day would be to have some Maltesers from her for us all to share.  With that idea making me smile and knowing it will be a touching moment when the kids see and share on the 25th it was then to set about making the gift bag.  I have loads of small gift bags to decorate but nothing the right size for the Maltesers. My best choice was a big bag but it was green and I just could not imagine the digi on it.  That led to me hunting through all my rolls of A1 size wrapping/hand made papers and just as I was about to give up on that when one roll jumped out at me - the perfect blue.  My Mum was a spiritual healer with White Eagle and the main colour that was associated with them was blue, the gowns worn were blue too so I had to colour the Peace Angel gown blue.  The White Eagle group are peace loving, respectful of Mother Earth and all that lives on her.  The teachings are from White Eagle, a Native American leader from times gone.  Another thing associated with White Eagle is a 6 pointed star so I designed the gift tag for the bag as that - more symbolism.

I disassembled the bag to make the covering easier.

When Mum died I had a letter to read out from her to family and friends and in it she mentioned several times that when we wanted to be close to her we would find her amongst the trees, hear her in the bird song (there was a lot more but those two things really stick with me) - so with the Peace Angel dressed in blue, holding a dove all I needed was to add some trees to complete the gift from Mum.  

Enough chatter so here is a quick recipe of what I did : - 

• Covered bag with blue patterned paper and reassembled.
• Printed image - PEACE ANGEL SPRITE approx 19cm and coloured with Copics, completed by masking dress, face and hair so I could add spray gold glitter varnish to the wings.
• Designed a sort of scene for the snow area and cut with die cutter.
• Used tree die cutting pattern from Treasure Box Designs - Snow Place Like Home.
• White heat embossed snow on lower edges of tree layers and dots on the snow background.
• Die cut in several sizes snowflakes out of white vinyl - snowflakes from rom Treasure Box Designs - Snow Place Like Home.
• Added blue ribbon handles, bow, recycled pearl string and snowflakes on twine wrapping and attached the tag too.

I was trying to work out how to get about 500g of Maltesers into the bag, should I aim for one big box or several then the brain kicked into action again and it was out with the 'boxer' by Crafters Companion and I made a lovely big box which fitted perfectly using 2 A3 sheets of card.  A super simple decoration but a bit more symbolism lol to complete it.  When I started card making I managed to get Mum to make some too, she did not colour etc. but used to love taking photos which I would get printed for her, she then added these to card blanks and used stickers to embellish.  With that in mind it could only be peel off stickers that were used for decorating the box.  Now it is fingers crossed the box is big enough for around 500g if Maltesers lol.  I have put a pencil in front of the box so you get an idea of the size.

I hope you have enjoyed reading the rather symbolic background of this bag, how it all came together and is still making me smile.

Challenges entered

• Artsystamper Challenge (2W) - #5 WINTER HOLIDAYS  (Week 2)
• Colouring in Scrapland  (M 1st Mon, 2E, No digital coloring, must have a hand-colored image) ANYTHING GOES OPTION CHRISTMAS (WEEK 2)
• Double Trouble Challenges  (2W/1W, 4E) #44 - "WRAP IT UP" opt. 1 - INCLUDE RIBBON OR BOW |opt. 2 share at ARTSY STAMPER - WINTER HOLIDAYS
• Path of Positivity  (M, 1st Monday, any positive/inspirational project or idea welcome)  #74 ANYTHING GOES OPT. twist PEACE
• Addicted to Stamps 4W, winner + Top Picks, Must include digi or rubber/clear Stamping (no precolored digis) - Cold and Frosty (Week 1 of 3)
• We Love 2 Create  - 2W (ends Tuesday) - Always Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes
• Die Cut Divas (M P1, E4, die cuts) December - Winter/Christmas
• Sweet Stampers (M, P10, E3, use stamp or digi) #38 - Christmas
• Allsorts  W,3E  - #549 - Snowmen and/or Snowflakes
• Challenge Up Your Life M - December - #118 - Christmas Packaging
• My Time to Craft 2W  - #411 - Christmas Scene (W2 of 2)
• Alphabet Challenge - 2W, 1E -  S FOR SNOW (W1 of 2)
• Crimbo Crackers 2W, Must Be Christmas Related #199 Gift Boxes (W1 of 2)

Clothes Peg Circular Advent Calendar

 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 #73
Anything But A Card

This fortnights challenge Anything But A Card has been chosen me, I hope you have lots of fun making something a little different for this time of year.  My youngest daughter is in the British Army and I made this for her to send to South Sudan where she was posted for 6 months back in June.  Although home for Christmas I thought this would also be a fun way to countdown the days until flying back.  With South Sudan being so hot a lot of the time I used a die cutting file by . . . . .  I have just spent the last 4 hours going through all my die cutting files and deciding to put them onto Evernote - found it lol - Summer Santa by My Scrap Chick.  I did make this project about 4 months ago in readiness to send to my daughter.  Oh dear, I am all over the place with this post hahaha :).  My daughter returned home early from South Sudan due to injury and is now awaiting an operation on her knee which is holding together with just a few very damaged fibres inside bless it.  She got the injury during an organised rugby match which she was asked to play in as from the age of 16 she has played rugby for various clubs pre army days and then for the army after joining but she retired a couple of years ago as she is getting old !!!!!!!! :) :).

The idea for this wreath was from Debi Durrant the Sheena Ink-ettes group on FB where she created an awesome wreath using one of Sheena Douglas's images in the centre.  You can find simple instruction on how to make a clothes peg wreath here.

Challenges entered:-

• A Gem of a Challenge  2W, 3E  - #24 - Anything Goes (W1 of 2)
• My Time to Craft 2W  - #411 - Christmas Scene (W2 of 2)
• Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers 2W, C10  #149 - Y is for Yummy (W2 of 2)
• Jingle Belles - 2W - must be Christmas - TAKING BACK OUR NINTH (W1 of 2) (Ends December 24th) - Next Challenge Jan 1st, 2020
• Creative Knockouts W,2E,C8 #327 Christmas Delight
• TIME OUT Challenges 2W #150 Merry & Cheerful *( W1 of 2)
• Fab n Funky W,1E, #460 - Anything But a Card
• Cuttlebug Mania 2W, 3E - Christmastime (week 1)
• The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - 2W, C15, E3 - #61 - Anything Christmas Goes (week 2)
• The Paper Girls  (2W 1st & 3rd Mondays, layouts, cards, F, 3E, A grand prize winner is randomly chosen every quarter) #189 GIFTS (Week 1)

Man About The House

The image used for this card is Man About The House by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.

This thank you card is for Leo who has done a tremendous about of joinery work in my Mum's house during a major renovation.  I used wood design paper to cover the card base and a digital version of wood flooring paper behind the image.  The image was coloured with Copics and hubby printed the border for me with his 3D printer and I then painted it with acrylic paints.  The die cut border on the right was a pain in the you know what lol - it is cut using a very thin layer of wood veneer, the first time I tried it was hopeless so I glued the wood to some thick paper and cut again.  It sort of worked but if you look closely you can see where the wood has lifted off, obviously where the glue has not held, never mind, it adds character.  The label was created with the hot foil attachment from WRMK using my Silver Bullet and designed on SCAL software.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

Circles

The challenge this fortnight at I ❤️Promarkers is

 'Circles'

and the sponsor for this challenge is Bugaboo Stamps with $12 gift code for the Store 

For my design creation I have used the Bugaboo image Flower Doodle 2 Colouring Page.  The image was printed twice, one copy for colouring and the second copy to use as masking and for the flowers, 2 of which were cut out with a circle die and the other fussy cut.  I hot foiled the sentiment with silver but it is hard to see in the photo unfortunately as in real life really brings the card to life. Images were coloured with Promarkers with the addition of silver and turquoise Stickles on the flowers.  For the background I masked the leaves,  again using Promarkers and my air brushing attachment gave it a good spraying, the card base was also sprayed.  Once all the colouring was done I mounted the image on black and then silver which I had embossed with a leaf pattern.  Finally the flower tops were added with foam tape for a bit of dimension.
Promarkers used - Moss, Olive Green, Pesto, Holly, Pear Green, Bright Green, Orchid, Grey 4, Black, Aegean, Cyan and Cool Aqua.

This card is being entered in the following challenges : - 

Poinsettia

IKEsWORLD

Challenge 127
Looking Forward to Christmas

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 :) :) :)

Well, hard to believe this is the last challenge at IKEsWORLD this year, where has the time gone I just don't know, maybe 2019 was a year with wings on it :) :)

It is a long time since I have made a digital card so I thought for this months challenge I would get the old tablet out, relax in my recliner with a cup of coffee and go all digital.

A vintage Christmas card was the end result although the vintage thought only happened once I had played around colouring the image in Photoshop.  Not my careful sort of colouring and that is because I found an awesome oil painting brush by Kyle that just moves the paint around, and around, and around and the feeling of being a kid and finger painting was the nearest I can come to describing how I felt lol.  I do rather like the slap dash, free flowing strokes and from a distance (or with your glasses off) it looks even better hahahaha.  Once I had finished in Photoshop I saved the poinsettia with a transparent background and brought it into Illustrator, oh how I love Illustrator, my favourite program probably because I am so used to working with shapes etc. with creating a lot of my own .svg files for die cutting.  Anyway, back to what I did, first bring in some digital paper for the background, next I created 2 rectangles, 1 was white with a red border which I reduced the transparency of and the other was a red border with no fill.  These were placed on top of the base paper background.  Onto the image, drop it in place and resize.  It was now that I was thinking this looked a bit vintage so hunted on the net for how to create Vintage text and found a some great help from Graphic Burger with ready made Illustrator actions, all I had to do was change the wording and - perfect - just what I was looking for.  Rather like the end result although I don't normally with digital and may just print this up half a dozen times for quick and easy Christmas cards or use it on FB in its digital format, to wish all the folks I don't send a card to a seasonal greeting.

Ingredients:-

• image - Xmas Poinsettia by IKEsART
• colouring medium - digital
• other items - 

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

I.T. Ian

The image used for this card is I.T. Ian by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.

This thank you card is for Tommy who has totally rewired, moved electrical sockets and done a bunch of other things during the rewiring of my Mum's house. The image was coloured with Copics and hubby printed the sockets for me on his 3D printer.  The one odd copper one is because all the sockets in the house are white with the exception of the kitchen where I have a copper theme going on and so had to have a copper switch (a light switch not a socket but never mind).  The sentiment was created with the WRMK foil pen which I used with my Silver Bullet after designing the label using SCAL software.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

Snow Fun

The challenge this fortnight at I ❤️Promarkers is

 'Christmas'

and the sponsor for this challenge is Dr Digi's House of Stamps with a prize of 2 digital images of the winners choice.

For my design creation I have used the Dr. Digi's House of Stamps Snow Fun image.  The sentiment was added digitally and then printed with the image.  I then coloured the background with watercolour paints.  With that done I then coloured the image and sentiment with Promarkers and added white heat embossing powder to the tops of the letters and the hat along with some clear stamped snowfall for that little bit of texture.   The snowman was coloured with very pale blue/grey for the shadow areas and finished off with a clear glitter pen for some yummy sparkle.  Finishing off I used a snowman image and stamped my backing paper with silver then die cut the snowflakes out of white glitter paper.

I am entering this card into the following challenges : -

• Cardz 4 Guyz 2W, 3E - #233 - Icy Cold (week 2)
• Crafty Sentiment Designs W, 1E, SIO - Snowman
• Tuesday Throwdown W -   #445 - Punny Sentiments (week 2)

Christmas With No Image

 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 #72
Christmas with NO Image

This fortnights challenge Christmas with NO Image has been chosen by our DT sister Christine.  Oh what a blast I had with this one.  I don't make many Christmas cards as neither of my daughters or hubby give Christmas cards and don't particularly like getting them (they would rather see trees growing than used for paper in this case).  I love beautiful cards which are works of art beyond the Occassion so only make a few for those so close to my heart.  In this case I found the perfect Christmas sentiment and it made me laugh and smile so much and would be perfect as a foiled sentiment which I did using the Close To My Heart foiling pen - what a fabulous addition to any craft room for those of you who work with .svg files in SCAL or MTC, and if possible any die cutter where you have access to design software.  My craft area is to die for in my opinion lol OK I am biased.  I am quite careful about what I buy and know if I did not keep the chains on I could go shopping mad so I won't buy anything unless I know I can use it more than 3 times :) :) so I have a lot of the basics - colours, medium types, plain card stock, dies, die cutter etc.  It wasn't until very recently I have branched out into rubber/polymer stamps and inks.  The one thing I could never do the way I wanted it to was foiling.  Just over a year ago hubby, on the quiet, bought me the TODO - a great machine especially for those with a very small craft area but it is a bit of a 'Jack of all trades, master of none'.  It does the foiling best of all but the sentiment dies for foiling, although stunning, are a bit big for my cards.  A couple of months ago I came across the Close To My Heart foiling pen which links to an electronic die cutter in the pen holder and runs off USB.  This sounded perfect and I invested - totally awesome and crossed the bridge on some of the things I wanted for my card making.  The text for this card was created in SCAL and the fill in option to fill in the text - this creates a crosshatch effect to the text.  Next I went to Monica's Craftroom as she has the most beautiful die cuts and so generously shares them for free - a truly generous person.   I found the triple layer doily which I have used and cut out in white and gold mirror card.  For the text area I created the centre die shape and added my text.  On cutting, I only cut the shape of this mount then replaced the blade for the hot foil tip, taped heat foil over the area I wanted to foil and fingers crossed hit the cut button again.  So pleased with how it got on.  The card covering was embossed, just for a bit of texture but nothing distracting from the die cut and sentiment.

Challenges entered:-

• Daring Cardmakers - W, C5 – NATURAL GOLD AND WHITE 
• Cardz 4 Galz 2W,3E #110 Get Ready For Christmas (W1 of 2) 
• Crafty Sentiment Designs W, 1E, SIO - Christmas

Tough Turkey

The image used for this card is Tough Turkey a brand new digi by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.

I coloured the image digitally and then used the image to design the backing paper using a program called Repper Pro which makes tiling patterns from colours/images imported into it.  I then designed the frame on SCAL, a design program used for die cutting.  Finally I printed the original image of the turkey and fussy cut him then sticking him on with foam tape.  I don't do a lot of digital colouring but TV is a sedative for me so the only way I can stay awake to watch anything is to do things on my laptop in the evening lol.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

• Crafting By Designs  M, F, 3E - Anything Goes
• The Card Concept 2W, #123 - Thanksgiving/Photo Inspiration* (W2 of 2)
• Crafting Happiness Challenges (W) - #23 FALL FOOD

Dunderton Decorators Ltd

The image used for this card is Dunderton Decorators Ltd by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.

This thank you card is for Rocco who decorated my Mum's house.  Not only did he do the decorating which is his main profession but he also assisted Barry the builder throughout the whole renovation which has taken about 3 months.  I coloured the image using Copics after printing him on a paint chart background.  For the backing paper I used a teal/green colour plain paper to match the colouring on the shirt and then stamped paint blots with emerald green then added flicks of yellow paint.  This was then embossed to add a bit of texture.  Hubby printed the paint cans for me on his 3D printer and I then painted them with acrylic paint.  The label was made by heat foiling using the WRMK heat foiling attachment which can be used with an electronic die cutter.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

• Always Fun Challenges - (W, 3E, Top 3 Awarded)  #137 THANK YOU
• Crafty Cardmakers  (2W, C15) #245 THANKFUL (Week 2) 

Gardening Gus

The image used for this card is Gardening Gus by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.

This thank you card has been created for John who is the plumber and done some amazing work in the renovation of my Mum's house.  He has put in a new kitchen for me, a bathroom too and moved heating radiators to new locations to make way for walls being knocked out and large window changed to a patio door.  The image is really a gardening guy so after I printed him I then fussy him and removed the hose pipe from his right hand and hoe from his left hand, these were replaced with a fussy cut adjustable spanner and a 3D printed pipe which I covered in copper powder.  The other copper pipes are Memory Box die cuts and the label was created by heat foiling using the WRMK hot foil pen which works with an electronic die cutter, the text and label design were created using SCAL software before being sent to my cutter.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

• Aud Sentiments Challenge 2W,E5  Must include a sentiment #240 Thank You Sentiment (W1 of 2) 
• The Male Room 2W, male projects only, #124 - Hobbies (W1 of 2)
• Cuttlebug Mania 2W, 3E - Thank You (week 2)
• Sweet Stampin W, 2E, include stamping - Make Your Own Background
• Die Cut Divas (M P1, E4, die cuts) November - Thanksgiving or Thank you

Tea-Light gift box

The challenge this fortnight at I ❤️Promarkers is
 'Stitches Real or Faux'

Our sponsor for this challenge is
The Paper Shelter



with a prize of 3 images to the winner.

I have used the image 'What A Mess' from the Paper Shelter to make a gift box to hold 4 tea-light candles.  My eldest daughter loves a 'pamper bath' with something scrumptious to make the bath smell nice and candles to help her chill.  I thought this image would be just great with the Christmas Lights text written on the box, just perfect to go with the Christmas smelling tea-lights inside.  It was quite a challenge to colour this image which is printed at just over 5cm in size, a fab lesson on pen pressure lol.  I have used 4 lovely Yankee Candles Christmas Eve tea light and they smell just gorgeous.

Promarkers used :-

Peacock Green, Emerald, Forest Green, Green, Berry Red, Red, Burnt Umber, Spice, Cinnamon, Tan, Sandstone, Gold, Lemon, Umber, Warm Grey 2, 3 and 5, Ice Grey 1, 2, and 3 and finally Metallic Gold.

I am entering in the following challenges :-

• Christmas at Sweet Stampin' M, 2nd Wed, 2E - Trees
• Paper Shelter W, 3E, #406 - Christmas
• The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - 2W, C15, E3 - #60 - Anything Christmas Goes
• Make My Monday  (2W, Top 3, 3E) #109 RED, GREEN AND WHITE (Week 1) 
• Animal Friends Challenge (M, P1, E3, must have an animal) #80 - Reindeer
• Papercraft Business Challenge (M, P1, E3, any papercraft) #24 - To give as a gift

Grace Darling

 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 #71
UK Myths and Legends

This fortnights challenge UK Myths and Ledgends has been chosen by our DT sister Sall.  Where to start, what to do - go with the obvious St George and the Dragon and make a dragon themed card - no did not want to do that.  We do have so many myths and legends in the UK, well known ones and some very local ones.  The boarding school I went to as a kid had a Green Lady - she would appear every Friday 13th late at night and if she caught you awake she would scratch your eyes out.  Scary stuff for us wee kids, just about as scary as the nuns !!!!!!  The so called real story behind the Green Lady was she was the mistress of the house in times passed and was locked in a secret room entered via a hidden door in the library - sounds like Cluedo might have had an influence in this myth hahaha.  Anyway I did not want to do a beast, a dragon or even the Green Lady so I played on the challenge theme words a bit and used the word 'Legend' - where I live in the UK is very close to Holy Island, Bamburgh Castle and the Farne Islands, all very old areas of habitation - Holy Island - In 635AD Saint Aidan came from Iona and chose to found his monastery on The Holy Island of Lindisfarne. The Christian message flourished here and spread throughout the world.  Bamburgh - was the seat of the former Kings of Northumbria, the castle has been used in many films too (but not Harry Potter, that was Alnwick Castle which is about 30 miles away), and finally The Farne Islands  are possibly the most exciting seabird colony in England with unrivalled views of 23 species, including around 43,000 pairs of puffin.  The costal area here is beautiful but some areas are treacherous, we have lots of lighthouses to guide ships away from the rocks that can't be seen and one of those lighthouses (Longstone) is on one of the Farne Islands.  Grace was born on 24th November 1815 at Bamburgh, Northumberland and spent her youth in two lighthouses (Brownsman and Longstone) where her father, William, was the keeper. In the early hours of the 7th September 1838, Grace, looking out from an upstairs window of the Longstone Lighthouse on the Farne Islands, spotted the wreck and survivors of the Forfarshire on Big Harcar, a low rocky outcrop. The Forfarshire had foundered on the rocks and broken in half; one of the halves had sunk during the night.  Amidst tempestuous waves and gale force winds there followed an amazing rescue of the survivors. Grace Darling played a huge part in this rescue with her father, rowing a wooden boat out into the rough seas to find survivors - you can read the full story here if you are interested.  Grace darling is a true hero, a true legend in my book so I decided to use some free to used images to create this trivet in pyrography.  The images were placed into Photoshop and manipulated until I liked the layout, I then printed the image in reverse and transferred it to my wood piece using acetone.  From there it was out with the pyrography iron and get to burning the wood.  I finished off by stamping then wood burning a few birds.

Challenges entered:-

• Challenge Up Your Life M - November - #117 - Black/White + 1 Color
• Just Us Girls W - #513 - Anything But A Card
• A Place To Start M, 1st Mon) - October - CAFFEINATED TONES

Katy the Cat Lady

The image used for this card is Katy The Cat Lady by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.

We have to gorgeous cats, Russian Blues and such gentle natures and so calm too.  They are brother and sister, the boy is call Jeeves and the wee girl is called Bree.  So many of my friends have pussy cats, often it seems, a house full lol so the term Crazy Cat Lady often floats about hahaha.  When I saw this digi the crazy cat lady was just about all I could think about.

For this card I designed the text in Ilustrator and saved it as an .svg file which I then imported into Sure Cuts A Lot.  I love the versatility of creating my own die cuts this way as I can achieve the proportions etc. that I want.  I know many folks design their cutting files directly in SCAL etc. but I fund the software a bit cumbersome to use and my way works for me lol.   I coloured the image with Copics and fussy cut her then added to the die cut circles/text layer.  The background was created by rubber stamping cat images and for the centre circle behind the digi I also added embossing for a bit of texture.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

• Show us Your Pussies - M, Cat Only Challenge-  November -  Furrything Goes
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies (M, P1, E5, must have a critter) #32 - Anything Goes with a Critter
• Tinker- Dream (M, P15) #82 - Favourite Animal

Mama Puss

IKEsWORLD

Challenge 126
Kindness

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 :) :) :)

Kindness to me is doing something for somebody else without being asked, it need not cost anything but your thinking or your time as so for me one of the most perfect acts of kindness is to give a hug.  A hug says so much, it says you care, it says you are there for somebody, it says you are not alone.  In keeping with the kindness theme I have used this super cute huggable image by Ike called Mama Puss.  The background was created with Distress Oxides (I had already printed the image so a bit of an experiment here to see if I could cover up the oxides without masking the image), and then stencilled again with oxides.  Next I coloured the image with Ice Grey Promarkers - 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5, no they did not cover over the oxides and I didn't expect them too :) and finally the image was finished off with Polychromes, yep they worked a treat.  My thinking cap and measuring skills were then put to work, placing the HUGS text for the eclipse card.  As I don't have the large dies so many use for these cards I just used my die cutter hence the measuring to make sure the cutting happened in the right place or it was off to the bin and start again.  That old rule, measure twice cut once was well in play here, in fact it was measure 4 time, move a bit this way, think ahead had I missed anything, shoot - yes - I forgot to set the orientation on my die cutter (and I had started cutting - thankfully I caught this before the blade did its work and pressed the pause button then cancelled the cutting) - second time round and all went perfectly to plan so I was rather pleased with myself.  The letters once cut were added to the card using foam tape for that bit of dimension that often brings cards to life.

Ingredients:-

• image - Mama Puss by IKEsART
• colouring medium - Distress Oxides, Promarkers, Polychromes
• other items - Sheena Douglas stencil

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

Hairdresser Hannah

The image used for this card is Hairdresser Hannah by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.

Such a fun image to colour :)   I used a digital background which I printed very lightly and then coloured the areas with Copics.  The image was also coloured with Copics. A simple card design wise but love how bright and cheerful it is :)

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

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All about 3's

The challenge this fortnight at I ❤️Promarkers is

 '3 Different Embellishments'

and the sponsor for this challenge is IKEsART with $15 prize to spend in the store

For my design creation I have used the IKEsART image  Surprise Pug.  I have had this image for several years and shied away from colouring it until now.  Anyway, a bit of Google searching to get a better idea of their colouring and face markings got me going lol (I am a German Shepherd lover haha)

The image was coloured with Promarkers and then fussy cut and added to the background then a brown mat was added.  I cut the die cut out of the same paper used for the mat added to the top layer.  To finish the card I created my sentiment added my next two embellishments, the bow and some pearls.
3 embellishments - die cut corner, bow and pearls.
Promarkers used - Black, Umber, Warm Grey 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Cool Grey 4, Tan, Putty, Almond, Satin, Antique Pink, Cocktail Pink, Pink Carnation and Pale Pink.

I am entering this card 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 #70
Celebrate  Autumn

This fortnights challenge Autumn Colours has been chosen by our DT sister, Debbie, I think Debbie love Autumn lol as I am sure she chose a similar theme this time last year hahaha.  For my card I used a Cottage Cuts die for the dark brown leaves and a Sheena Douglas die - Wild Rose for the foamiran leaves and flower which I coloured with Promarkers before letting the iron do the shaping work.  Not the best of ideas as my iron needed a good scrub to get the ink off when I had finished :) :) :).  If you like making flowers and have not tried Foamiran it is an awesome product, a similar to funky foam but much thinner and die cuts beautifully.  You can colour it with all sorts of different mediums or buy the pre coloured (I just buy white and colour as cheaper that way).  The way this product holds the shapes after shaping with an iron is brilliant, alas you can't really see the true effect as I scanned the card and the lid of the scanner flattened it a bit.  The background was stamped with a large wood plank stamp and Moon Rock AltNew ink  and then I airbrushed with brown and beige Promarkers as to soften the white and add more colour around the edge. The two sentiments were  also stamped with Moon Rock ink.  I then layered the birthday sentiment and top layer on black for contrast, the bottom layer behind the sentiment and for the card base are an old bit of metallic wrapping paper :)

Challenges entered:-

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Cuddly Critter Cow

The image used for this card is Critter Cow by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.  Who does not like a fun cow hahahaha.  I coloured the image with Copics and designed the cow backing paper using a seemless tile in Photoshop.  For the sentiment I used the cow's udder and enlarged it then added my text digitally before printing.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

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Dunderton Academicals FC

The image used for this card is Dunderton Academicals FC by Dr. Digi House of Stamps. This card seemed to give me one headache after another.  I should have engaged my brain more but the battle was good for the old brain cells which is a bonus.  I removed the stripes from the t-shirt as they were horizontal and for the local football club in my area the stripes needed to be vertical so I drew them in again in the correct direction.  The colours of the team are Black and Gold so it was an obvious choice to use those colours.  I did not want a plain green background to made that using alcohol inks and then die cut the goal posts and used black thread to make the netting which seemed to take me ages and was so fiddly.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

• WaterCooler Wednesday W, C8, #243 - Masculine

Did Someone Say Cream Cake?

The challenge this fortnight at I ❤️Promarkers is

 'CAS (Clean & Simple)'

and the sponsor for this challenge is Knitty Kitty Digis with a prize of Prize 3 single images to the winner (or one set).

For my design creation I have used the Knitty Kitty Digi Did Someone Say Cream Cake? image.  CAS oh CAS - often such great looking cards but for me one of the hardest to do, I never feel like I have finished the card and have to stop myself from adding extras, the only way I can do this is to go with a very plain card, no layering and only have the image and sentiment and nothing else.  I do love the way this one has turned out, have to admit that.

Image coloured with Promarkers - Warm Grey 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Cool Grey 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Ice Grey 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Orange, Sunflower Yellow and Ivory.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

Lotus Mermaid

Oh how I loved colouring this image. Lotus Mermaid by Aurora Wings although it did take me two goes lol.  The first time I coloured the image I created the background with Pan Pastels but really was not happy with the end result so with a heavy heart and no time to think I screwed it up and put it in the bin.  Back to the drawing board and I opted to go for a digital background.

The image is originally created as a rectangle but I love squares so I took a couple of the flowers and copied them then moved them to a different location using Photoshop (the 2 on the right side of the image).  I then printed the image at 20% opacity as I wanted a no line technique, not something I do very often but I rather fancied the challenge this time, talk about making life hard hahaha.  The image was then coloured with Copics, about 42 different colours by the time I had finished and then to sharpen some of the hard lines I used PrismaColour pencils.  To finish off I used a blending stamp and stamped around the edge in black and a bit of silver, added liquid pearls to the head dress and the ears and some mica flakes also on the head dress.  Now I will let you know I hated that too but I had come so far and did not have the heart to bin the colouring a second time.  I used my usual Rangers Liquid Pearls but they are getting a bit old and grungy, think they are heading for the bin and need to be replaced and some Papermania new ones which were dreadful, they looked like plastic.  So, holding my breath it was out with my craft knife to try and pick them all off.  Thankfully I got most of them off without damaging the colouring, I think I must have help there from another dimension :) and I ended up using lots of tiny flat back pearls I have instead, much happier with the result.  Instead of a sentiment I opted to used a metal heart with the word Love in it which I have had for donkeys years and covered the loop for hanging it with a large flat back pearl.  To mat the card base I used water effect vellum and matted the image first with black then a metallic peach paper, simple but all that was needed.

Challenges entered : -

• The Fairy and The Unicorn M, 1st Sat, E3, Mythical and Mystical - October - Anything Fantasy Goes
•  Inkspirational 2W,C10  #197 - Photo Inspiration* (W2 of 2)
• Alphabet Challenge - 2W, 1E -  O IS FOR ONE WORD SENTIMENT (W1 of 2) 
• Brown Sugar – M (First Friday of M), E2 - Oct  No. 294 -  ANYTHING GOES (Ends Oct  29th)
• Just Add Ink – W - No. 477 - ADD H ELEMENT TO YOUR PROJECT HEART

Moonlight Cat

 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 #69
Halloween

This fortnights challenge 'Halloween' has been chosen by our DT sister CraftyGirl.  I have to admit I just don't get Halloween at all - I do understand the old meaning of Halloween or All Hallows' Eve and that makes sense to me, a time to think about those who have passed although I think about those who have passed that I know quite regularly not just on one eve of the year.  But - where did the giving of sweets and dressing up in costumes come from, why would a human try to emulate a departed spirit who would have no need for food anyway.  Yep, I am a party pooper but when something makes little sense other than commercialism I see no reason to partake.  I wonder how many kids, if asked what Halloween was, would answer 'ooooooo free sweets'.  I always used to keep a bowl of fruit ready for trick or treaters, they were not impressed and actually did not even want sweets, they wanted money!!!!!!!  Right, enough party pooping and although I found this a really hard card to make I have tried my very best lol.  I used Distress Oxides to create the sky and stamped a tree trunk, leafy tree top and witch.  I then die cut the fence, flower border and cat.  The cat was attached with foam tape for a bit of dimension.  I mounted the image layer onto silver and then black and placed this on my card blank which I covered with mulberry paper.

Challenges entered:-

• Crafty Calendar M,3E  October - Autumn Colors/Halloween
• Crafty Catz - W, 3E - No.478 -  ANYTHING GOES WITH OPTION THE WITCHING HOUR 
• Mod Squad W, 3E, F - Add a Moon
• Show us Your Pussies - M, Cat Only Challenge-  October - Meow-loween or Furrything Goes
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies (M, P1, E5, must have a critter) #31 - Anything Goes with a Critter
• Animal Friends Challenge (M, P1, E3, must have an animal) #79 - Cats