Happy Easter!

A new challenge starts today at One Stitch at a Time and the theme, appropriately enough, is Spring!

I've actually made two cards this for OSAAT this week.... one using an image by Kassal Digi Stamps and one using one of my own new Alipeeps' Art digi stamps, now available from Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet! :) This is the first time my creations have been included in the OSAAT challenge and the very lovely Choccy wanted to let me be the first to create a DT project with them. :)

 

For my Kassal Digi Stamps project I chose this cute bunny to work with and decided to make an Easter card:

 

 

I coloured the image with my Promarkers and used freebie Easter-themed papers from a craft magazine for my card. I love the fresh, spring colours of these papers.

 

 

I added detail with a die-cut frame and pennants and some punched borders and some ribbon and added my sentiment using rub-on alphas:

 

 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards - Bring on Spring
Creative Corner - Anything Goes
Digi Haven - Spring
Dilly Beans - Easter
Jellypark Challenges - Pretty Pastels
Patties Creations - Easter
QKR Stampede - Animal Antics
Simply Create Too - Animals
Stampin With The Dragon - Easter
Stempelsonne - Fur and Tail
Sweet n Sassy - Think Spring
4 Crafty Chicks - Easter
Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes With Ribbon
Delightful Challenges - Hippity Hoppity

For my Alipeep's Art project I worked with my Starry Dreamer digi image:

I went with a similar colour scheme to my first card and coloured my image with Promarkers again:

I used lots of pretty die-cutting on this card, using a new Sizzix border die I got recently and some decorative oval Nesties and my perennial favourite butterflies embosslit die from Stampin' Up!

I also added some pretty flowers...

And some Stickles glitter on the stars:

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Passion for Promarkers - Bingo (Die Cut, Free and Glitter)
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards - Bring on Spring
Creative Corner - Anything Goes
Digi Haven - Spring
Jellypark Challenges - Pretty Pastels
Sweet n Sassy - Think Spring
C.R.A.F.T. - Mother's Day/Female
DL.Art - Spring
Shelly's Images - Anything Goes
DRS Designs - Paper Flowers

It's so easy to enter the challenge at OSAAT. You don't have to use a Stitchy Bear product but entries that do will be in with a chance to win the main prize of a $9 gift voucher to the Stitchy Bear Store and, as ever, entries without a Stitchy Bear image will have the chance to win a $3 gift voucher for the Stitchy Bear store.

 

 

Unicorn and Fairy

I've been playing with a new digi stamp this week.... this gorgeous fantasty image, called Unicorn and Fairy, is one of Joanne Schempps's recent additions to the Sweet Pea Stamps store:

Please do excuse my rather brightly-lit photos... even with a lightbox my photos just weren't picking up the colours and detail of this card so I ventured into the consevatory for some daylight shots... and despite the large amounts of snow still laying around outside, it was quite a sunny day! :lol:

I coloured the image with my Promarkers and used a blender pen to dot over the background to give it a bit of a mottled effect and make the figures in the foreground stand out more.

I then added lots of sparkly shimmer and shine with a Versamark pen (I'd actually forgotten I had one of those! :D) and some embossing powders. I added silvery-white pearlescent embossing powder on the moon and some streaks of holographic glittery embossing powder on the wings. I also added some little dots of blue Stickles to the background here and there, like little points of starlight.

I matted my image onto pearlescent pink card and decorated my card with a panel of white card which I embossed with a floral embossing folder (from Stampin' Up!) before matting onto more of the pearlescent pink card. I finished things off with some die-cuts, some pretty flowers....

...a border punch and some ribbon and gemstones:

This lovely image is available as a digi stamp from the Sweet Pea Stamps store.

WOYWW 199

Am pleased to report that, so far, the tidyness of the desk has - mostly - continued. :)

 

 

(Admittedly, I did have a wee quick tidy around before taking this photo! :lol:)

 

The tray in front of the Cameo has gained quite a bit more content though, though a large part of it is my stack of printed-out digi stamps awaiting my colouring pleasure and also some paper remnants awaiting putting away properly.

 

The main crafting area of the desk contains the results of a quick bit of Tuesday night crafting:

 

 

There's a digi stamp (one of my own designs! :D) awaiting colouring, a sheet of gemstone stickers and an embossed piece of card that was a possible alternative background for the completed card.

 

 

I made this card for the "White Embossed Background" challenge at A Day For Daisies. I've done a couple of white on white/primarily white cards lately using embossing for detail and texture and it's such a lovely effect so I couldn't resist entering this challenge.

 

 

I actually coloured this gorgeous A Day For Daisies image (I just looove her hair and her big eyes and long neck!) a couple of months ago and it's been sitting around on my desk every since awaiting the right card project. And this is it. :) I cut a tentfold card blank and used a Tim Holtz embossing folder. I added ribbon and gemstones and fussy cut out the image and attached it with foam pads, letting it slightly overhang the edge of the card.

 

That's it for me this week. Check out Julia's Stamping Ground blog for the full list of WOYWW desks to visit. :)

 

Butterfly... flutter by...

Butterflies!

 

That's the theme of this week's challenge at Passion for Promarkers and naturally I just couldn't resist cos I looooove em! Butterflies are one papercrafting motif that I will never tire of - I'd put em on everything given half a chance! :D

 

This challenge was also the perfect opportunity for me to try out one of my brand new digi stamp designs - Butterfly Profile - which has just been added to the (newly revamped!) Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet store:

 

 

I coloured the image with my Promarkers:

 

 

I wanted my card to have intense, vibrant colours to match with this image so I took the plunge and finally made myself use some of the gorgeous Bo Bunny Ambrosia collection which I've been hoarding avariciously for probably at least a year (filed under "Too Pretty To Use")! :D

 

I looooove these papers and matching embellies!

 

I matted the paper and my coloured image onto deep turqouise cardstock and added a pretty cluster of flowers, with a button centre, and a sentiment (stamped and die-cut with my Itty Bitty Banners set from Stampin' Up! - love this versatile set for making instant sentiment banners!):

 

 

I added a few more flowers:

 

 

And then pretty much went kerrr-aaazy with the butterflies! :D

 

 

I used my Beautiful Wings embosslit die from Stampin' Up! and cut butterflies from three different colours of card. I use this die sooo much and it's perfect for dinky little butterflies to scatter across a creation. :)

 

I finished things off with a few gemstones.

 

 

And that's my butterfly-themed card. D'you think it's got enough butterflies to qualify for the theme? Be honest now? ;D :lol:

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:
Artistic Inspirations - Fantasy
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Girly
Creative Creations - The Letter B
Crafty Boots - Flowers
Pause, Dream, Enjoy - Anything Goes
WhoopsiDaisy - Use a Digi
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes
Kenny K's Krafty Krew - Anything Goes
No Matter Which Challenges - Anything Goes

 

Beat the Christmas Rush

The 25th of the month is upon us once again - Gosh, isn't this year going quickly? And would someone please tell Mother Nature that it's the 25th of March and we are done with the snow now, please?! - and that means it's once again time for Creative Craft World's monthly Beat the Christmas Rush linky party.

 

If you're new to BtCR, the premise is simple... each month, make one (or more, if you'd like) Christmas card, post it to your blog by the 25th of the month and link up your creation at the Creative Craft World blog. The idea is that by November, you'll have a bunch of Christmas cards all ready to go - and there'll be some prizes to be won also. :)

 

So here's my card(s) for this month:

 

 

Yes, this time I actually managed to make more than one! :D I went with a fairly simple design that was suited to mass production.

 

 

I started with a panel of white card and embossed the top of it with a dotted embossing folder.

 

 

I then stamped my images and my sentiment (both Stampin' Up! stamps) and added a length of velvet ribbon and finished things off with a pearl centre for each of the baubles. The completed panels were attached to card blanks using foam pads.

 

Just for fun, I'm going to enter these cards into a couple of challenges:
Christmas Card Challenges - Clean and Simple
Pile It On - Dots
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Anything Goes
 

So that's my cards for this month, how about the cards entered in February's BtCR? Each month, each of the CCW Design Team pick their favourite from the previous month's entries and this month I've chosen this lovely set of bauble-themed cards by Wendy:

 

 

Aren't they lovely? I love the simple yet striking design and the 3D element to them. Read more about how Wendy made these cards are her blog.

 

Use a Digi

This week's challenge at One Stitch at a Time is a perennial favourite - Use a Digi.

 

It couldn't be easier to enter - just use a digi element (a digi stamp or digi paper - anything digital!) somewhere on your creation and link your entry up at the OSAAT blog.

 

For my card I got to work with this fabulous image by BeeBee Kakes - isn't he just so cute? :)

 

 

I coloured him with my Promarkers..

 

 

...and kept the card bright and bold to match with the fun image, adding detail with some brads and gemstones:

 

 

I was also very frugal with this card - every single bit of card and paper on this card came from my scraps bags! :) I have to remind myself now and then to try and use up some of my scraps collection, rather than just continually adding to it! :lol:

 

You don't need to use a Stitchy Bear digi stamp to enter the challenge but if you do you'll be entered into the draw to win our main prize of a bumper collection of Stitchy Bear digi stamps. Entries without a Stitchy Bear product will have a chance to win a $3 gift voucher to the Stitchy Bear Store.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Eclectic Ellapu - Whimsy/funny
Robyn's Fetish - Food or Drink
Brown Sugar - Anything Goes
Clearly Inspired - Anything Goes
Stampin' For The Weekend - Child's Play
Southern Girls - The Kids Are Alright
Addicted to Stamps and More - Make Your Mark

 

Sweet Pea Sale!

Purple Rain...

For my card for Sweet Pea Stamps this week I chose to work with another of Ching-Chou Kuik's gorgeous digital stamps. This one is called Autumn Rain:

 

 

I coloured the image with my Promarkers in stormy shades of purple and blue:

 

 

For patterned papers to match with these colours I turned to my beloved collection of Basic Grey papers. These papers are from quite an old collection - Phresh & Phunky - which I've had for ages! I also added coordinating fibres from the Phresh & Phunky collection layered under some flowers. I punched the large flower from the patterned paper using a Stampin' Up! punch and added some small paper flowers.

 

 

I also punched several butterflies from the patterned paper (using two different Stampin' Up! punches) and folded the wings up a little before attaching them and then added some grey pearls (also by Basic Grey) to the centres.

 

 

The final touch for this card was some chipboard photo corners (also by Basic Grey - I might have gone a bit mad with the whole Basic Grey thing on this card! :lol:) which I decorated with a faux dichroic glass technique.

 

 

You can buy this beautiful image in either red rubber or digi format from the Sweet Pea Stamps store.

 

 

WOYWW 198

Well, one week post mega-desk tidying session, I am pleased to announce that the desk remains relatively (note, relatively!! ;D) uncluttered. :)

 

 

I mean, look, there's even space for the keyboard to be on the desk! Though, to be honest, I've gotten rather used to it being out of the way propped up on the floor so it usually only gets to visit the desk when typing is required. :D

 

There is a small amount of papery debris on the desk from recent crafting (the results of which will be featuring in a blog post later this morning). Mostly some scraps of my much-loved and long-hoarded Basic Grey papers (from the Phresh & Phunky collection, which just shows you how long I've been hoarding it - that collection was released how many years ago?!!) which are awaiting filing in the appropriate scrap bags.

 

And the desk tidy system on the Cameo corner of the desk is still working, pretty much:

 

 

A few in-progress bits and bobs have been added to the tray and a couple of stamps are parked in front of it, waiting to be put away properly. And in the pursuit of continued tidyness, I took a quick trip to the Range earlier this week and got these:

 

 

More storage baskets and a dinky little bin which is going to be my desk bin... so small throwaway paper scraps, and particularly the backing tape strips off DST, can go straight in there and be periodically emptied away, instead of building up on the desk!

 

Anyhoooo... all this tidying aside, I've not done a huge amount of papercrafting this week (which is another reason why the desk has remained vaguely tidy! :lol:). Partly cos I am still full of lurgy (that's a full week of this now, dammit, and no signs of improvement!) and partly cos I've been working on something a little bit different...

 

Those of you who stopped by last week will have seen me bemoaning that I had exciting news that I couldn't share yet. Well, I was finally able to make my exciting announcement over the weekend... and it is that I have started making my own range of digi stamps and they are now available to buy from the Stitchy Bear Stamps store! How cool is that?! :D I'm super excited about it. There are 6 stamps in the store so far but lots more on the way. Oooh and I'm also having a wee linky party to celebrate my awesome news. I'd love it if you'd like to join in. :D

 

That's it from me. Thanks for stopping by on your hop around the world's craft desks. Tune in next week to see if I can maintain the tidyness! :lol:

Bonjour mes cheries!

Simplement pour m'amuser (et pour une autre raison que je vais expliquer dans un moment), j'ai decidé d'écrire cette note en français. Il serait interressant aussi de voir comment horrible est mon français après quelques anneés sans l'utiliser.

 

Bon, pour expliquer, la chose qui m'a inspiré d'écrire en français aujourd'hui  était le defi cette semaine à Passion for Promarkers, dont le sujet est "From Around The World". En effet, on doit créer quelque chose (en utilisant les Promarkers, bien sûr) qui montre quelque partie du monde.

 

J'espère que je ne dois pas expliquer quelle partie du monde j'ai choisi, hein? ;)

 

Donc, voici ma carte:

 

 

J'ai utilisé un dessin de Sassy Studio et l'a colorié avec mes Promarkers:

 

 

Les papiers sont par Websters Pages (gratuites avec un magazine, bien sûr) et j'ai ajouté un napperon, une piece de dentelle, un réverbère découpé, et quelques fioritures et fleurs découpé avec mon Cameo:

 

 

Les fleurs petites sont des spirales est les fleurs plus grandes j'ai tamponné avec un tampon d'écriture et j'ai colorié les bords avec de l'encre "Distress" avant de les assembler.

 

 

Et voila.

 

J'éspère que vous aimer ma création - et que mon français n'était pas trop affreux! :D

 

A bientôt, mes amies!