An early Christmas card

Hello all!
Yes, I know it seems as if we've only just waved goodbye to the festive season but it's never too early to start making your cards for the next Christmas!  That's why the latest challenge from The Outlawz Alcohol Markers DT gives you an optional twist to do just that.   It's optional though so if you don't want to go down that creative road just yet, the theme for this week is Anything Goes - just remember to use alcohol markers though, that bit is a must!
         This will also be your last chance to enter and win a gift certificate from our January sponsor - Aurora Wings so get those markers out and start colouring!
                     
                    For my card I went back to an old favourite of mine and used a Christmas digi from Teddy Bo.  I tried to give him some texture on his fur by dotting a combination of warm and cool grey Copics and kept the colour scheme very simple by just adding red for his clothes.  For the background I just wanted a few red paint splats which I made using my new Tim Holtz Distress Stain - I can't tell you how satisfying it is to thwack that sponge tip down and make those lovely splatters!  A simple stamped sentiment finished it off.

              Playing along with the challenges at Addicted to CAS , Crimbo Crackers , ABC Christmas Challenge , Crafty Creations and Fab n funky .

Thanks for stopping by!  

Keeping it simple......

Hello all!
         Once again, Friday has rolled around and it seems to have done so even quicker than usual!  That could be because I'm currently in the middle of a road trip through the lovely state of Virginia and time seems to be flying by as we try and see as much as we can.
                  Anyway, Friday means another fun challenge over at The Outlawz with the Copics/Promarkers DT.  This week we're asking for a one layer card from you but we are allowing you to add 1 layer to the cardstock base!  For my card I used an old favourite of mine, a TeddyBo digi and coloured it with a couple of shades of brown from my Copics to give it a sepia style look.  The sentiment is a rub-on (from Basic Grey, I think).

I would like to enter this into the challenges at - 4 crafty chicks , Delightful Challenges , Addicted to Stamps , Divas by Design and Whimsy Stamps.

Short and sweet I know but the road is calling :)  Have a great Memorial weekend all of you Statesiders and enjoy the Bank Holiday Monday if you're in the UK!

A simple Happy Birthday

Hello all!
Hope your weekend is going well and don't forget the clocks have changed over here Stateside so if you havn't done it yet, you're about to lose an hour!  No idea why this is done on a different date to the UK but it is and there is also another different date for things between the two countries - Mother's Day.  It's today (Sunday) over in the UK but it's not until May here in the USA - this means that I very nearly forgot to send a card to my mum!  Why can't all these things be on the same date?  It would make life a lot easier for those of us with a foot in each country :)

                Anyway there's a new challenge in all countries at the same time over at Eclectic Ellapu and the theme this week, from fellow Pink DT member Nana Connie is BIRTHDAYS .
            Nice and easy so I hope to see plenty of entries from all of you out there in blogland!  For my card I decided to go with a cropped digi from one of my favourite online stores - Teddy Bo .  I cropped Teddy Bea down to her face, hat and flower as I wanted to do a Spring time card.

                  Isn't she pretty?  I would like to enter this into the challenges at Teddy Bo , 2 Sisters, Allsorts and One Stop Craft .

Thanks for popping in!

Tulips from Amsterdam.......

Hello all!
well, I don't know if they actually are from Amsterdam but that's how the song goes so now you've got that stuck in your head, I'll quickly move on!  This card is for the current challenge over at Teddy Bo which is an easy one as it's 'Anything Goes'.  I used my trusty Copics again - the reds have really been over-used these last few weeks with all the 'lurve' stuff for Valentine's Day so maybe it's time to change the colour scheme?  Anyway, too late for this card - a festival of red!

\

                                    Not so CAS this time - I like to do a semi-loaded card every now and then :)  As well as the TB challenge, I would like to enter this into the following challenges - 

Card Crafter's Circle

Crafty Ann

Dilly Beans

Ready Teddy Go

Thanks for stopping by!

Fab at 40!

Hello all!
Friday again and time for another challenge over at The Outlawz Copics/alcohol markers group.  This week we are asking you to celebrate a milestone birthday with us.  It can be any milestone number you like so the choice is wide - plenty of scope to come up with something!  Our prize this month is $15 to spend in the Etsy store of your choice so why not join in - you could be the lucky winner :)

       For my card I chose to make one for my youngest sister's birthday (which has been and gone now so I'm safe to post this).  I can't tell you how old it makes me feel now that my youngest sister is 40!!  I think I dealt with my 40th better than I'm doing with this one.  Anyway, her favourite colour is purple/lilac so I decided to go with a monochrome palette and use one of my favourite digi companies, Teddy Bo .
               I enlarged the image to make it fit almost the whole height of the 6x6 card and then coloured it with my Copics - I had added the "40" before I printed it.   I chalk-inked the edges and added a button to Teddy Bea's hat and matted the image layer onto a lilac layer before sticking to the main card front.

I would like to enter this into the challenges at - 

Teddy Bo

Can You Digi It

Copic Marker Europe

Little Miss Muffet

and the linky party at Simply Create

Thanks for popping in and please do go and check out the rest of the DT's fabulous work here.

Back in the swing of things....

Hello all!
I don't know about you but it seems to be taking me a while to get back into any sort of routine.  That includes crafting!  After a 2 week break, I'm finding it difficult to create anything - my enthusiasm is coming in fits and starts.  One quick burst enabled me to come up with a simple birthday card using a Teddy Bea digi.  I think I'm leaning towards more simple cards this year, trying to focus on the image more than anything else - I'm not that good at loading my cards up with a ton of embellishments, even after looking at all the fabulous creations out there for inspiration.
 

                    Anyway, here we go with a simple card; the image coloured with Copics and a touch of bling added with some adhesive pearls -  I also smudged some chalk ink around the edges and added my own computer generated sentiment.

   I would like to enter this into the challenges at Teddy Bo (birthdays), Oozak (pink and bling) , A and T Emerald Faeries (Celebration) ,  Through the Craftroom Door, Top Tip Tuesday (fur or feathers) , Ooh La La Creations (birthday).

Thanks for popping in to take a look :)

A Christmas candle

Hello all!
       Back with a quick gift idea - just enough time to fit a few in before the big day!  I loved how easy these Octopode candles were to do and so I decided to do some more for gifts.  I printed out the Xmas Teddy Bo digi onto tissue paper and did some light colouring with my Copics.  It isn't really possible to do a great deal of blending and shading on the tissue paper but I don't think it matters too much in this case.
                   I cut around the image and applied it to the candle using wax paper and my heat gun - as long as you keep the heat gun moving, you shouldn't have any problems with the candle melting!

 

                              Here he is, posing with my vintage glass jars on a little table I recently painted (may do a post on that soon).  I love the touch of red against the pale blues and greys.

 

 

He's so cute that I may have to keep him myself!

I would like to enter him into the following challenges -

Through the craftroom door

Oozak

Hooked on crafts

Tuesday Alchemy

Can You Digi It

Emerald Faeries

 

Thanks for popping in!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                  

Last page on the calendar.

Hello all!

   First of all I just want to share that we went to see the legend that is BB King last night and he was totally awesome!!  The guy has a voice that stops you in your tracks and he's 87 years old!  It was so great seeing him -  I've loved his music for a long time so it was definitely a bucket list check :)  If you get the chance, go see him - definitely worth it!  Enjoyed it so much that I had to brag about it!!

                Anyway I can't believe it's the end of November!  So now the countdown really begins for Christmas.  In keeping with that, I have the final page on my Teddy Bo calendar to show you.  It's the Anything Goes challenge with the optional calendar choice over at The Outlawz Copic/alcohol markers group .  Twelve months of calendar pages have come to an end and now all I need to do is make a cover page and bind it with my Zutter.
          Not sure what I'm going to do for the cover design yet but it needs to be simple as I've got too many other projects on the go at the moment!  Don't know about you but I feel time is slipping by too quickly - some of my projects are not going to get done by the festive season.  Never mind, I want to enjoy creating stuff, not feel overwhelmed by it :)

 

    Enough waffling - here's the visual -

 

 

I would like to enter this into the challenges at Teddy Bo , Crimbo Crackers , Hanna & friends , Sassy Studio designs . 

 

  Hope your Friday kicks the weekend off with a bang and that you're on top of your seasonal duties!

Old fashioned charm.

Hello all!
Back with a card that has a vintage feel to it today.  The challenge over at Teddy Bo is Anything Goes and I had a little tag that I had coloured up some time ago but hadn't done anything with.  It wasn't partcularly large so I had to bulk the card design out a bit using an additional 2 tags (the bottom one is actually a clothing tag that I cut off a purchase and kept - does anyone else do that?  Some of the labels and tags are so nice that I can't bring myself to throw them out!).
    The background paper is from a Prima 6x6 Botanical pad that I have decided to use instead of keeping it locked away in my stash cupboard!  The other bits have come from my ever-increasing stash that really does need a good sort through - don't you feel terribly guilty when you come across things you don't even remember buying?

  Still, enough waffle and on to the card -

 

I would also like to enter this into the challenges at -

Bearly Mine

Through the Craftroom door

Bunny Zoe crafts

 

Thanks for popping in :)

   

Anything goes Friday at The Outlawz.

Hello all!
As well as Anything Goes, we also have the option of doing a calendar page for the last challenge of each month over at the Copics/Promarkers group at The Outlawz .  I've managed to stick with this choice and so have my November 2013 page to share today.  I have been using the Teddy Bo digis for the whole calendar and keeping it simple with just the image and the month table.

 

Isn't he just so rootin' tootin' cute?

 

I would like to put this in for the challenges at  -

http://teddybochallenge.blogspot.com/  A/G

http://simplycreatechallenges.blogspot.com/ A/G

http://ladyanneschallenges.weebly.com/stamp-challenge.html - use a stamp

http://digistamps4joy-sa.blogspot.com/2012/10/midway-through-challenge-53-anything.html -

A/G with a masculine twist

 

Thanks for popping in and I hope you have a great weekend :)

Happy October to you!

Hello all!
          Ok so it's a couple of days early but allow me artistic license please! This is a scheduled posting as I'm not sure how jetlagged I will be feeling this Friday morning, having flown back across the Atlantic Ocean yesterday (and yes, my arms are very tired!! sorry but I've just spent 2 weeks with a 5 year old and a nearly 2 year old so I'm sure you can understand !)
                    Anyway this is the Anything Goes/optional calendar page challenge for the Friday alcohol markers group over at The Outlawz.   I'm continuing with my calendar for 2013 and I went for an appropriate theme and colour scheme for October by using Halloween orange and a cheerleading bear for the football season.

                  I would like to enter this into the Anything Goes challenge at http://teddybochallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ ,  http://craftuscrazy.blogspot.com/ (Halloween/Anything Goes) ,  http://simplycreatechallenges.blogspot.com/ (Anything Goes), http://inkyimpressionschallenges.blogspot.com/ (animals).

 

 

            Why not head over to The Outlawz and join in with our alcohol markers challenge this week?  As an added incentive we are being sponsored by the fabulous Kenny K so you could win some great digis too!  Thanks for popping in and have a wonderful Friday :) 

Simply does it......

Hello all!
Back on a very wet and windy Saturday afternoon - tornado warnings are in effect for parts of New Jersey so we could be in for a wild evening!!  Anyway my card today, as the post title suggests, is a very simple affair.  I love this image from Teddy Bo and it's appeal to me is the complete simplicity of it.  I have a thing for taking photos of the back views of people, not sure why I like them so much - maybe its the whole mystery feeling of not seeing faces.......who knows?  Enough rambling though and on to the very few details of this card.
         I used Copics to colour the bear couple, actually managing to keep it fairly light and the sky was done with Distress Ink (China Blue) which I pounced on using a fairly large brush head   -  I think that's the technical term for it, 'pouncing' - basically I swirled, swooshed and gently bashed the ink loaded brush onto the cardstock.

 

Well I did say it was simple :)

 

Putting this in for these challenges -

http://teddybochallenge.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

http://justsomelinesblog.blogspot.com/ - 2 different colouring mediums

http://www.littleclairesdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/little-claire-monthly-challenge-24-best.html

http://perfectsentimentschallenge.blogspot.com/

 

 

Thanks so much for popping in and a big hello to my new followers :)

 

All that you wish for........

Hello all!
Back with a quick posting as I'm in the middle of another project and I'm just waiting for it to dry!!  I've done a card for the Teddy Bo challenge which is 'B&W plus another colour' and I used one of the new images that I was lucky enough to win the other week :)

                  A pretty simple card with the image coloured with Copics and then matted on co-ordinating cardstock.  The sentiment was done with the Cameo - print and cut technique (really loving that!!) and I used a Dylusions stencil and an ink pad for the leaves behind the image.

 

     It certainly makes it easier when you only have a few colours to choose from, much quicker too!

 

I would also like to enter this into the following challenges -

http://everybody-art-challenge.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/ - diva or anything goes

http://scrapbitzcopics.ning.com/group/cmccopicchallengegroup - blacks/dk greys

http://trulymadlycraftychallenges.blogspot.com/ - summer fun

 

 

Thanks for popping by :)

2 for 10cents.

Hello all!
Back for the second time today - a twofer!!  I needed to get this card posted as I want to put it in for the Teddy Bo challenge which ends later on today.  It's a 'distressed' challenge so I used lots of inks to grunge it up a bit and kept the colours on the digi to greys (apart from their pink noses!).

      I added a bit of background interest with some strips of crafting tape - not sure if the name 'washi' tape only applies to a certain type or make but this stuff, from Michaels, is ideal for me as you can easily remove it if you change your mind.  The ticket is one of mine and the diamante heart was in my stash; I have no idea where it came from.....

I think this is such a cute digi - one of my many Teddy Bo favourites!

I would also like to put this in for these challenges - http://pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ (animals or teddies)http://scrapbitzcopics.ning.com/group/cmccopicchallengegroup (black/ dk. greys)

http://sugarcreekhollow.blogspot.com/ (family)



That's all for now - enjoy your Sunday!

Mr Fix-it

Hello all - back with a quick posting for a card I would like to enter into the current Teddy Bo challenge.  This week you have to make a masculine card and include string and button(s) - I like to keep cards for men as simple as possible but there's nothing wrong with a touch of cuteness too !

This little guy looks like he's ready to tackle anything, even though he does have a slightly worried look on his face.........

In my mind, he's a car mechanic hence the mini licence plate sentiment!  I used my Copics  - I know, huge shock - and also some papers from a Basic Grey kraft 6x6 pad and buttons and twine from my supplies.

I would also like to enter him into the following  -

http://phindysplacechallenge.blogspot.com/ - button it

http://craftycreationschallenges.blogspot.ca/ - buttons

Did you see the Olympics opening ceremony the other night?  I thought it was spectacular - I particularly enjoyed the Queen's entrance :)  The fireworks were wonderful and the whole lighting of the flame looked so special - loved it!!  Made me proud to be British and especially coming after the whole fantastic Diamond Jubilee  - sorry, just a bit of patriotic rambling........

Thanks so much for stopping by today :)





How did it get to be Friday already?

Hello all - not sure where this week went but it's definitely Friday again and as it's the last one of the month, that means it's 'Anything Goes' over at the Friday Copics group at The Outlawz .  The challenge has an optional twist which is to do a calendar for next year and that's what I've been choosing to do with the wonderful Teddy Bo Co. digis.

This is the Butterfly Teddy Bea and I coloured her with my Copics as usual.  I'm hoping to get this finished well before the end of the year so I can give it as a gift (not sure who to yet).

I would like to put this into the following challenges -

http://delightfulsketches.blogspot.com/ - dog days of summer

http://craftsandmechallenges.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

http://whimsyinspires.blogspot.com/ - summer fun

http://jacksonsdigitalexpressions.blogspot.ca/ - anything goes

Thanks for stopping by - please do and go take a look at the rest of the DT's fabulous work over at The Outlawz :)



More festive fun!

Hello all - I'm back with a "real" post, that's to say not a scheduled one!  Got back home from my trip last night and realised that I had forgotten to enter the current Teddy Bo challenge which is another 'Christmas in July' one.  I had made the card before I set off for CHA - a simple tag on a cardstock background that I wrapped with some ribbon to make it look like a gift :)

I would also like to enter this into the following -

http://2sisterschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - christmas in july

http://www.doitwithdigischallenge.blogspot.com/ - christmas in july

http://sweetnsassydigis.blogspot.com/ - christmas in july

Only a quick post but I'm hoping to get a few photos from CHA onto here later in the day - it was certainly an experience!!

Thanks for stopping by :)



Fab fun Friday at The Outlawz!

This is another scheduled post as I'm still in Chicago - recovering from CHA and hoping to get in a day of sightseeing!!

It's Friday so that means another great challenge over at the Copics/Promarker group at The Outlawz and with the 2012 Olympics fast approaching, our theme this week is sports.  You can do any project - it doesn't have to be a card - but you must use alcohol markers (the challenge group name should have given you the hint!!).

I used one of the TeddyBo digi's, which I merged with a digital ticket for the background and then placed this on a football (soccer ball for those of you Stateside!), cut using my Silhouette SD.

Perfect for any Man Utd or Arsenal fans out there...............................

Our sponsor for the month at the Outlawz is Dilly Beans so why not join in the challenge and you could win some fabulous digis?

Thanks for popping in!



Summer dreams.

Monday morning - good or bad?  For me, it depends on what the weather is up to!  I'm definitely happier when the sun is out (it isn't at the moment) and I'm a summer person who looks forward to that season as soon as October arrives!!  Anyway, the image on my card today reminds me of those lazy summer days when you can just relax and enjoy the day :)

This is one of my favourite Teddy Bo digis - he's such a chilled out little dude!  I had made this card a while ago for a pink and brown challenge that I missed the entry date for - doh!  I then tidied up my craft room for guests and couldn't find anything (still having trouble!) - I'm not the tidiest of crafters......

I would like to enter this into the following challenges -

http://www.creativeinspirationspaint.blogspot.com/ - CAS

http://onestitchatatimechallenge.blogspot.com/ - use a digi

http://www.thehybridchick.com/2012/05/card-caravan-20-use-pink/#more-16859 - pink

http://catchthebugblog.blogspot.com/search/label/challenge - anything goes

http://crazy4challenges.blogspot.com/ - 139 butterflies

Thanks for popping in and I hope the sun is shining for you :)

Calendar time at The Outlawz

Well it's the last Friday of the month which means it's 'Anything Goes' or the optional Calendar choice over at The Outlawz Copic /Promarker group.  I've been choosing to do the calendar each month and as we're working a month ahead to make sure it gets finished in time, I've now completed half a year.  Where does the time go???

I used the Teddy Bea ladybird digi and coloured with Copics (as usual).

I would like to put this in for the following -

http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/ - pink and green

http://trulyscrumptiouschallenge.blogspot.com/ - pretty in pink

And here's the first 6 months all together -

I still havn't decided who to give this to yet.......

Why don't you check out the rest of the DT's fab work over at The Outlawz ?  If you havn't yet joined up, you really should as there are some fantastic prizes to be won every month and there are 7 different challenge groups with a new challenge every week - there's bound to be one to suit you !!