Emboss like a boss!

Hello all!
           the week has flown by and we're starting another challenge over at Time Out , the theme of which is "Embossing" with the optional twist of adding sparkle.  We are sponsored by Avocado Arts and our Guest Designer this time is Lesley so please take a minute to visit both these sites.

                For my card I used a rubber stamp from Stampendous, stamping the image with white embossing powder onto clear vellum, framing it with a cut frame done with my Silhouette Cameo and placing the whole thing on a pink polka dot backing paper, adding a trio of pink paper roses to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by!

Give thanks.

Hello all!
Time for another challenge from the Colouring DT over at The Outlawz and this week the theme is "Thanks" which can also include the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday over in the USA.
       This month we are being generously sponsored by The East Wind and I used one of their lovely images for my card - you can find it here.

            I coloured the image with my Copics, distressed and inked the edges of the card and added some paper strips, a paper flower and the  3 gems that I seem to be using on every card I do lately!  Once I see something I like, I tend to go overboard with it!

     

     Entering this into the challenges at 4 Crafty Chicks, Dream It Up, Moving Along with the times, and Addicted to Stamps and More.

    Please take a moment to visit my Teamies' blogs and check out their fabulous cards too!  You can find links to their blogs under the DT tag at the top of the page.  Thanks for stopping by :)

If leaf-ing me is easy........

Hello all!
         A day late and a dollar short but I'm here with my posting for the latest colouring challenge from the Outlawz colouring DT and our theme this week is leaves.  Now you go down the obvious route of using an image with leaves or go off-piste with a 'sorry you're leaving' type of card - the choice is yours and you can use any form of colouring medium you choose, just remember you must actually colour in an image!

                                            I used a very cute image from Birdie Brown, coloured in with Copics and used my Silhouette Cameo to cut some leaf shapes from the cardstock.  I then added some paint chip samples behind the cut out leaves and inked the edges of the popped out shapes, adding them along the side.

    I must apologise for the poor photography as I still haven't found my sweet spot in the house for photographing cards!  The gloomy, grey November light doesn't help much either.

               I would like to enter this into the challenges at Fresh Brewed Designs, Digi Stamps for Joy, Southern Girls and A Crafty Mess.

Thanks for popping in!

 
     

Back with blogging!

Hello all!
I hope there are still some of you out there after my short blogging break?  I'm starting off with the latest challenge from the team at Time Out and the theme this time around is 'Home sweet home' , where we ask you get inspired by a home decor picture.
 
                           Here's the picture -

 and here's my take on it - 

    I heat embossed the deer stamp using Tim Holtz Distress embossing powder, added a strip of burlap and simply mounted the image and backing paper with some gold card.  Three adhesive gems added a small touch of bling to a rustic style seasonal  card!

     Short and sweet for the first post in a while but I'm hoping to simplify my blog posts as much as possible so they don't become a burden.

Entering this into the challenges at City Crafter , Creative Card Crew , Through the Craft Room Door and Crafting by Designs.

      Thanks for stopping by!

Time for another challenge!

Hello all!
                                             Another fortnight has sped by and that means a new challenge over at Time Out .  This challenge is generously sponsored by Avocado Arts and the winner will receive a fabulous stamp set.  To be in the running for the prize, you must do the 'twist' with this challenge - our general theme is "Stamping" and the twist is apples.

                              Our Guest Designer for this challenge is the very creative Loll so please pay her blog a visit along with the rest of the Time Out DT.  I chose to stamp and paper piece for my card but I didn't use the twist as I didn't have one single apple stamp in my collection!

    I used a sweet little penguin stamp and stamped him onto 3 different designer papers, choosing non-traditional Christmas colours.  I also used the papers for some decorative strips and stamped a festive sentiment too, finishing off their hats with some stick on pearl gems.

       

         Thanks for stopping by today :)

Sparkle & Shine!

Hello all!

              it's time for the Friday colouring challenge over at The Outlawz once more and our challenge this week is to take your inspiration from this colour palette - 

         Our sponsor this month is the delightful Vera Lane Studio so get your colouring pens/pencils/inks and paints out and come join us.  We don't mind what colouring medium you use but you must colour a lined image as we really want to check out those amazing colouring skills!

                              I used an image from our sponsor this week and concentrated on using the blues and greys from the photo.  If I'm totally honest, I thought the pale yellow/cream colour was more of a beigey tone so I thought my skin tone would be a good match but now I see it in daylight........... hmmm not so sure.  Still we do allow some artistic licence on the colours, just make sure you use the majority of what's there please :)

       Please take some time to check out the fabulous creations from the rest of the DT  - you won't be disappointed!  By sheer coincidence, we all used Vera Lane Studio images and you should be able to see them on the Facebook page (if we all remember to link up!!).

         Entering this into the challenges at Crafty Catz ,  Alphabet Challenge and A Creative Romance.

                                 Thanks for stopping by today :)

Cock your hat - angles are attitude.

Hello all!
         Starting off with a quote from Frank Sinatra as our new challenge from the colouring DT at The Outlawz is taking inspiration from the upcoming "Make a Hat" day - who knew there was such a day???
      Anyway I thought the Frankie quote was very apt for the image I used for my card as you shall see.  Before we get there though, I just want to mention that we are being sponsored by the fabulous Vera Lane Studio this month so find some time to join our challenge and you could be the lucky winner!

      I tied in my card with the current challenge from Make It Colourful which is 'Two tone monochromatic with abstract background' - what a title!!  Their challenges always encourage you to stretch your colouring skills and I've missed entering them for a few months as it took a while to get settled back into things after returning to the UK and becoming gainfully employed again!  Anyway I made some time to think about my card design before printing the images and decided I wanted to use MIC tap dancing man in 3 different poses, using grey for the shadowy figures, blending it into a sepia type brown for the front man.

             I achieved this threesome by using Photoshop Elements and opening 3 layers with a different figure on each and then overlaying them - the digis are PNG files so this makes it a whole lot easier. Sorry if I'm speaking gobbledegook for some of you but there are plenty of great tutorials explaining how to do this a lot better than I can.   The abstract background was created by masking all the images (I printed them onto cheap paper and fussy cut around them) and then stamping with a patterned rubber stamp from my stash.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut 2 cardstock frames and added some tickets for an extra bit of bada-bing!

      Here's a close up of the fancy footwork dudes!

   This was fun to do and although not quite as dramatic as the fabulous two tone creations from the Make It Colourful DT, it still follows the guidelines and I'm pretty happy with the end result :)

        I would also like to enter this for the challenges at Chocolate, Coffee & cards, Creative Corner, Left of Centre.

                     Thanks for stopping by - it would be great if you could check out the fab creations from the rest of The Outlawz Colour DT, especially as we have a new member joining us.  You can find Laine's blog here and just click on their names for the rest of the team - Carla , Penny and Kathi.

Another Time Out challenge

Hello all!
We're having another challenge over at Time Out but before we get into the new theme, I should mention that we have some new DT members joining the Time Out team which means some more fabulous blogs for you to check out!  You can find links to all the DT members here so please do grab a cup of tea or coffee, put your feet up and spend some time browsing:)
      You should also check out the wonderful creativeness of our Guest designer this week - Christine.
                  So onto the challenge which is a photo inspiration this fortnight -

    I used my Silhouette Cameo for my card and cut out the white thin tags after printing the words and then designed the background by adding a sentiment to be cut out and 2 thin white lines for balance.  A digitally designed CAS card!

Entering this into the challenges at Cardz 4 Guyz, Through the Craftroom Door and Divas by Design.

Thanks for stopping by!

       

A day for the bears.

Hello all!
              Time for another challenge from the colouring DT over at The Outlawz - the first one for September and we are very lucky to have yet another sponsor for this month.  For September we are being sponsored by the fabulous Vera Lane Studio who has some delightfully quirky and fun designs to choose from.

     I will be using a Vera Lane image later in the month but for this challenge, the theme of which is Teddy Bears to mark 'Teddy Bear Day' on September 9th, I used a Cuddly Buddly freebie that I have had stored in my files for ages!

          I used Kraft cardstock for a change and coloured the image mainly with Copics, just using a white Prismacolour pencil for the daisies.   Colouring on Kraft card really makes the colours seems more muted and almost gives a vintage feel to the image.  I added a stamped sentiment and some washi tape strips to finish off yet another CAS card - it's the only design style I have time for at the moment!

    Entering this into the challenges at Fairy Tale Challenge , Creative Corner , Crafts 4 Eternity , 

A Creative Romance , Copic Marker Europe and 4 Krafty Girls.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Anything goes at The Outlawz

Hello all!
the end of August has got here far too quickly for my liking and that means another 'anything goes with the optional twist of Christmas' challenge from the DT colouring group at The Outlawz - what a mouthful!
       We have been sponsored this month by the wonderful Bombshell Stamps so I decided I really should use one of their fab digi stamps to make a card!  Time for a guy card, using one of the great hot rod images - I coloured it (and the printed sentiment) with Copics and then matted the whole thing onto some black cardstock.  Super simple and hopefully, simply super!

         If you join in with our challenge, you could be the lucky winner who gets to pick a set of digis from Bombshell Stamps so why not give it a go?  You can use any colouring medium but just make sure you are colouring in an image please!

                          

Inspired by Words challenge at Time Out

Hello all!
we're kicking off another challenge over at Time Out Challenges and we're asking you to get inspired by the following words- "If music be the food of love, play on".  You can take whatever creative direction you wish from that phrase and just run with it!
     Our guest designer for this challenge is Rosemary so please take a minute to check out her blog and say hello.
      I decided I wanted to use a bird on my card as that was saying 'music' to me for some reason. I started off by cutting part of a circle from a piece of white cardstock as I had seen this fabulous card

on the wonderfully creative blog Dee's Art Utopia (you really should go and spend some time browsing her gorgeous cards!) and I wanted to do something similar.  I stuck some patterned vellum behind the white card and then added a stamped and fussy cut bird on the edge of the circle, a stamped sentiment and a couple of scrap paper pennants, attached with a heart brad  - picking up on the 'love' from the inspiration phrase.

 

         Entering this into the challenges at Fantastic Tuesday, Through the Craft room door and Tuesday Throwdown.

       Thanks for popping in and please do come and join us in this fortnight's challenge :)

An angelic challenge.

Hello all!
                 It's Friday again and time for another challenge from The Outlawz Colour DT.  Our theme this week is in recognition of "Be an Angel" day (22nd August), so we are asking you to create something picturing an angel.  You can use any colouring medium you choose but you must colour in a line drawn image as we are a Colour DT after all!!

       For the month of August, we welcome Bombshell Stamps back as our generous sponsor.  The prize is 1 digi set of the winner's choice from the Bombshell Stamps store. They have some fun and sassy vintage and retro designs so be sure to check it out!

     

                For my card I picked a cute little angel from Make it Crafty and coloured her using Copics.  I then fussy cut the image and placed her onto a pale blue, dotted background, adding a simple sentiment and a few gold stars.

         Entering this into the challenges at Copic Marker Europe,  Little Miss Muffet, Winter Wonderland, Addicted to Stamps and Bearly Mine.                                     

    Thanks for popping in!

     

Delight in the little things

Hello all!
             I'm back with my Friday card for the colouring challenge at The Outlawz.  Our theme is a colour/photo inspiration and you can use any colouring medium you like, as long as you have a line drawing that you are actually colouring - does that make sense?  How many times can you use the word 'colouring' in one paragraph, or 'coloring' for my friends across the Atlantic?
      So, probably best to move on and tell you that we are being sponsored this month by the fabulous Bombshell Stamps - they offer both rubber stamps and digital options so you could pick up a great prize by joining us.
          Another CAS card from me - no big surprise there!   My mojo seems to be stuck in CAS mode for now so I'm just going with it until the patterned paper and embellishment fairy comes by to visit!  I used a Whipper Snapper rubber stamp for this card, coloured with my Copics, mounted the image on some cardstock and added a stamped sentiment.

                       Entering this in the challenges at Crafty Little Fairies, Cute Card Thursday, Crafting for all Seasons and Inky Impressions.

                          Please come and join us at The Outlawz and check out the fantastic inspiration from the rest of the DT.  Thanks for popping by today! 

Time Out CASE challenge

Hello all!
I hope the summer's not whizzing by too quickly for you - it sure feels that way for me at the minute!  I can't believe it's time for another challenge over at Time Out and this one is a CASE challenge.
         Our inspiration card is this one - from Anita so please do go and pay her blog a visit :)

   Another blog to visit is that of a our fantastic guest designer this week - Shona who has come up with a wonderful card for the challenge as have the rest of the Time Out DT !

               As I was CASE-ing the inspiration card, it's no surprise that my card is very CAS.  I used a rubber stamp with 2 different colour chalk inks, a computer printed sentiment of one of my favourite quotes, a paper flower and a few gems.

    Entering this into the challenges at Crafty Sentiments Designs , Fan-tastic Tuesday and Through the Craft Room Door.

                          Thanks for stopping by to take a look :)

Eat, drink and be merry in the great outdoors!

Hello all!
      Time for another Friday colouring challenge over at The Outlawz and our theme this week is 'Picnic/BBQ' - basically eating al fresco.  

    For the month of August, we welcome Bombshell Stamps back as our generous sponsor.  The prize is 1 digi set of the winner's choice from the Bombshell Stamps store. They have some fun and sassy vintage and retro designs so be sure to check it out!

    For my card this week, I used a Dude Time Doodles digi (not sure that they're still operating so please let me know if you are and I'll link up!).  I kept it CAS again as I do find it easier and just added a few scraps of paper and a Tom Holtz ticket.  I figured that Santa would have festive coloured beachwear so limited the colours to red and green.

     Entering this into the challenges at Fan-tastic Tuesday , Through the Craft Room Door , Crafty Girls , Delightful Challenges , Addicted to Stamps and Hambo Hoedown.

Thanks for stopping by - please check out the fabulous creations from the rest of the team, (you can find their blog links on the DT page of my blog).

Friday friends at The Outlawz

Hello all!
Another Friday, another challenge from The Outlawz and the fab Friday colouring DT are asking you to celebrate Friendship Day (the 1st Sunday in August) with a friendship inspired creation.  We recently changed from just Alcohol Markers to any form of colouring medium but you must have a hand -coloured image as the main part of your creation.

               For the month of August, we are being sponsored by the wonderful Bombshell Stamps with a prize of a digi set so get those entries in!   I used a digi from All Dressed Up and my Copics for my card, adding a computer printed sentiment and a co-ordinating card mat.

                                          Entering this into the challenges at 4 Crafty Chicks, Addicted to Stamps, Addicted to CAS, The Crafter's Cafe and Divas by Design.

Thanks for popping in!

Celebrate with butterflies.

Hello all!
Time Out challenges has got another fabulous challenge up and running for you and this fortnight we're being sponsored by DT member Shery and the wonderful Stamplorations !

       Our theme for this challenge is "Celebrations" with the optional twist of adding butterflies and  the prizes on offer are  -  1 stamp set for the entry that has the twist (butterflies)

                    - 1 stamp set for the entry that has a STAMPlorations stamp (with or without the twist)

      What more do you need to get you to enter?  

    For my card I decided to create my own butterfly using a variety of heart stamps that I had in my stash.  When you put heart shapes on their side, they look like the wings of butterflies - well they do in my world anyway!  I had been crafting with my 2 nieces over the weekend and they were getting very messy with all my inks and were using more than 1 colour on a stamp.  When I saw how good it looked, I decided to try it out on this card so my inspiration came from a 6 year old and a 4 year old this week!

      I decided to fussy cut around the edge of the wings on one side just to make it stand out a bit more and simply added a stamped sentiment and some black gems for the body of the butterfly.

    Please excuse the poorly composed photos of recent posts but I have yet to make my lightbox and find a good window/light source to take my snaps.  My previous homemade lightbox didn't survive the shipping and I just haven't got around to making another one yet - I'll add it to the list of things to do!

        Entering this into the challenges at Through the Craftroom Door , Addicted to Stamps , Inky Impressions , Simon Says Stamp and Whimsy Stamps.

      Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas in July

Hello all,
it's the end of the month colouring challenge over at The Outlawz this week and that means an optional twist of making a Christmas card.  For the whole of this month we have been sponsored by All Dressed Up stamps, with a fabulous prize of 2 digis of the winner's choice so get those cards coming in!
      As we have now changed from just alcohol markers to any colouring medium, I decided to try using something different this week.  I have a few Distress Markers that I haven't really used much yet so I picked out a Christmas stamp by Stampendous and stamped it onto some watercolour paper.  I only have a few colours of the Distress Markers so when the image came out fairly muted, I decided to add a few touches of red to jazz it up a bit!

              I fussy cut the image and placed it on some vellum, adding a computer printed sentiment.  It's another very CAS style card and I'm sticking to my excuse of not having all my craft bits to hand yet!

                                  Entering this into the challenges at Aud Sentiments, Creative Knockouts, Southern Girls, Crafting for all Seasons and Hambo Hoedown.   Please take some time to check out the fabulous creations from the rest of the Outlawz DT - Carla, Penny and Kathi.

Thanks for popping in!

Midway reminder for Time Out challenges.

Hello all,
I missed the boat for the beginning of the current challenge at Time Out but I'm here with a reminder that you still have another week until the challenge ends.  We're asking you to take inspiration from a photo -

 

  it could be the colours that inspire you, the stripes, the bunting, anything you like :)  Add your creation and you could get picked for a guest DT spot!

      I'm on the CAS train with my card.  Partly because I still haven't unpacked all my crafty bits and partly because the crafting side of my brain seems to have gone on holiday somewhere!  Anyway I used a couple of freebie stamps (I think they were from Craft Stamper magazine) and some gelatos to make my card, finishing off with a Versamark stamped sentiment.  Very CAS!

      Entering this into the challenges at Fan-tastic Tuesday , Crafty Girls , The Crafter's Cafe , Inky Impressions and The Male Room.

Friday colouring challenge with The Outlawz.

Hello all!
well this week completely got away from me!  I can't believe that it's Friday again and I very nearly forgot to do this blog post - oops!  Anyway it's a colour challenge for you this week over at The Outlawz Colouring group - remember that you don't have to just use alcohol markers now, we want to see all your colouring mediums on line drawn images, digital or hand stamped.
        The colour palette is a pretty range of soft, muted colours, (photo courtesy of Design Seeds), and you don't need to match them exactly - we just want to be able to recognise that you did use them!

   For my card I used a Tiddly Inks digi and kept it CAS by just adding a Cameo cut word as the sentiment and a pearl stick-on for the picture frame to hang on.   The 'hello' has been my go to sentiment lately as it just seems to cover a multitude of occasions.

                   Entering this into the challenges at  Tiddly Inks , Addicted to Stamps , Crafty Girls , As You Like It , Charisma Cardz and Little Miss Muffet.

Thanks for popping in!