Do you believe...

...in Fairies?

The current challenge over at "Winter Wonderland" is to use Fairies or Angels as the main image on a Christmas card...whilst over at "LOTV", challenge 107 provides a sketch for use - I have combined the two.
I have used this cute little fairy miss (LOTV image) and tried for a more vintage Christmassy look. I have used fairly traditional colours this time around.
The sentiment is cut from some satin ribbon that I found tucked away in my stash - the red & green ribbons were in the same pack.
The blooms are from a mix of sources - Papermania, 99p Store, and some unknown from my stash. Some punched fronds again (Martha Stewart punch) mixed in with the blooms and did you notice the little silver fairy bells tucked away in there too.
My little miss has pretty glittery wings (Ice stickles - what else LOL) and a bit of glitz to her wand and head decoration.

The base card is made from smooth white CS with a matt of antiqued holly CS on top. The image panel has been cut/embossed with my Nesties - scalloped ovals. All the edges have been distressed using a Frayed burlap distress ink pad.

You will find lots of ideas and inspiration over on both sites so why not go and take a look - there is even time for you to play along if you'd like to..............

Anything but Square...

...is the July challenge for "Scrapology".

I've gone with a triangle shape and because it seemed an ideal chance to play with one of my new Fizzy Moon stamps - I've stuck with a Christmas theme.
Not too much by way of decoration as I thought the shape could speak for itself. I did edge the bottom of the card with some white punched fronds (Martha Stewart punch).
Aren't this pair just too cute - and so quick & easy to colour in. Most of this image is coloured with 'E' shades...the bears, the fence & the robin with some red and cool greys thrown in to finish off.
I know peel-offs are a bit like the marmite of the crafting world...well I don't hate them & I don't love them but I do think there are times when they have their place and they certainly fit the bill here. A simple sentiment and a few snowflakes help to embellish the background.
Oh, and there has to be a bit of bling - a touch of Crystal Ice Stickles to highlight the snow. A few red gems are also placed to add a bit of twinkle.
Here is the finished card standing up - all done and dusted and ready to add to the pile of cards that I showed earlier.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend folks.......................

Post Number 800...

...I certainly didn't think I would get this far with my blogging.

This year I decided I was going to make more of an effort with my blog and like all things - it started off fine...then I started to struggle.

My crafting has always been a bit eclectic (I think that's a posh way of saying 'a bit of a mish-mash' LOL) and I wasn't sure what to share with everyone. So I've had a go a sharing most of the crafty things that I do with you lovely folk out in Blogland. You've had a peek at my ceramics, knitting, crochet, sewing and paper crafts and you have been very kind in return with your lovely comments.

Back in May, I dipped my toe into the world of 'challenges' and at my first attempt I was lucky enough to win...to say I'm now "hooked" is probably an understatement but at least it has given me the motivation to create stuff that I can then share on here.

I decided to put my 'challenge' cards altogether in one place but...
...as you can see - I think I need to find a bigger basket LOL
One thing that taking part in all these challenges has brought me...the ability to endulge my love of 'colouring in' (I think my stamping might be improving too LOL) and it has also given me a perfect excuse to make Christmas stuff any time I please **hehehe** - forget 'Christmas in July'...I had Christmas fun back in May when I won my first challenge and the seasonal theme has put in an appearance on a regular basis - for that I make no apologies...I LIKE CHRISTMAS...LOL

So what better way to mark the 800th post on this little bit of cyberspace but to find out that I was lucky enough to make the 'Top 3' over at Totally Tilda with my Christmas decoration for challenge #27. I now have a pretty new blinky over at the righthand side.

Well enough waffling from me otherwise I won't have anything made to put on here as post 801..............................

Animal Antics...

...purrrrrrrrrrrrrfect!

A while back, DoCrafts brought out a range of single clear stamps in a variety of cat & dog designs. When the folk over at "Die Cuts Dreams" announced the theme for their 'challenge #94', I knew I would be using one of these stamps.

The brief for the challenge was 'animal antics' but it was stressed that the animals had to have 4 legs (so no birds). I knew what cat stamp I was going to use but I couldn't decide what I was going to do with the card design.
These were the bits I pulled together to make the card base and I even played with one of my new Clarity stamps - Small Leafy Swirl S111-F - to stamp at each of the corners using a Distress Ink pad in 'tumbled glass'. The scalloped oval is cut from dot embossed pale blue CS...
...and this is what I made. A fairly simple card with a lavish flower embellishment and basically just two colours - blue & white.
This shows one of the corners in a bit more detail.

So there we go, another card finished. I'll have to take some pics of the mountain of cards I am collecting by doing all these challenges............................

A bit of stitching...

...Faux or otherwise.

Challenge #8 on the "TOMIC" site asks for stitching - real or faux - so I went for faux (not much of a surprise there LOL).
The backing paper is Kanban's 'Haberdashery Ribbons-Lace' which has stitching shown on it but I added some hand drawn stitching in black. I also went with my 'Patch Tilda' as I thought it was rather fitting.
The sentiment is added to a pink pearlised paper label that I cut with the second from largest die in the x-Cut set and I added some 'stitching' to this too.

'Patch' has been coloured to tie-in with the colours of the PP.

Unfortunately, I was running a bit late today and then blogger decided to go on a 'go-slow' so I missed the deadline - nevermind, at least I completed the card.

Think I might have a colouring in session this evening as there are a few more challenges coming up that I'd like to try................................

You've gotta pick a pocket...

...or two.

In fact, if you hop over to the latest challenge on the "Kenny K's Krafty Girlz" site you will find lots of different style 'pocket cards'.
I went for a fairly simple pocket with an inserted tag for the message to be written upon. The base card is smooth white CS and it has been decorated with DCWV CS in black with a silver glittered design.
The main splash of colour is this little diva's hair - pretty bright or what LOL
You can just make out the glitter on the CS in this shot.

I haven't used this image for a while but she is one of my favourites.

Hope you like my entry for the challenge...................................

A Christmas decoration...

...no cards allowed LOL

Well the challenge #27 over at "Totally Tilda" is keeping to the Christmas in July theme that a lot of sites have had this month and they don't want to see any cards. What they want is a hanging decoration...
...and this is mine. My Jolly Tilda is sitting in a decorated ring ready to be hung on the tree.
The colours and the blooms used match the Christmas tags I made a while back so everything will co-ordinate.
Tilda even has her own little silver bells to finish off the trim.

The ring used to make this decoration is the plastic centre from a reel of red-line DST (the very sticky stuff) it seemed a pity to throw it away and as it turned out...it came in use very nicely..........................

Guess what...

...look what I found in my blog reading list this morning.

An announcement that I'd won the "Holidays - vacations, bright & bold" challenge over at Creative craft world. It was a lovely thing to find out before heading off to work - made the day seem so much brighter...........................

"What's Cooking"...

...is the week 116 challenge at "Just Magnolia and hAnglar & sTanglar".

The challenge says that it doesn't matter if the image isn't cooking but the theme must link in. My little Tilda has baked a cake using a 'Happy Birthday Recipe'.
The card was created from a latte shade of pearlised CS. The layers of PP are from Hunkydory & My Minds Eye.
The 'recipe' was found on the Internet. The list of birthday ingredients are: -

1. Take a glass of wine or two and take some time out just for you
2. Add some gifts that are just right to get a feeling of delight
3. Dine out on the finest fare and you won't have a single care
4. Mix it with good company and laughter that's a remedy
5. A holiday will give it spark, we hope your birthday hits the mark

I found lots of sites with birthday poems/recipes...not sure which one this came from.

I used Rangers Frayed Burlap Distress ink pad to edge all the layers. The blooms are from a mix of sources.
Tilda's dress has been coloured to give a slightly vintage look - there was a tutorial over at the Copic Marker Europe site that showed what colours to use to create this effect.

Hope my take on the cooking theme meets the requirements of the challenge................

A Little bit of...

...Christmas fun.

I thought I'd do something a little more whimsy for these two challenges - "CHNC" challenge 30 asks for at least one reindeer and "Catch the Bug" has a challenge linked to 'Metal' (colours/textures, brads/eyelets). So this is my card...
I used one of the Christmas block digi stamps that I won from CTB last week in the Christmas in July event and coloured the image with Copics.
I went with 'gold' as my metal/colour. The image and the sentiment are mounted on embossed metallic CS in a dull gold and I tied a crytal ribbon bow to the front of the card - also in gold.

The sentiment panel has eylets that pick out colours from the image.

If you want to see what DT folk and other entrants have come up with, do hop over to the two sites and have a browse..........................

Pretty Pink...

...Candy alert - over at Downright crafty.

Kate is celebrating '200' followers by offering this heap of loveliness.
The Candy will be drawn at the end of the week so there's not too long to wait.

I've only just found Kate's site through entering the Winter Wonderland challenges - I really need to set aside some time to have a browse as she has some lovely work there.

Why not hop over and have a look for yourselves (there is a beautiful lavender 'Whiff of Joy' creation that I spied during my brief visit...) If you like what you see you might want to 'follow' her blog and have a chance at this lovely stash..............

EDT: My PC/Blogger was playing up a bit this morning and I didn't check the links - I've been in and amended them now so you should be okay getting over to Kate's blog.

Back to the...

...Christmas cards.

The challenge over at "Winter Wonderland" Christmas challenge blog is 'The Holly & The Ivy'...they want folk to use Holly and/or Ivy as little or as much as you like - I'm sticking with Holly. The second challenge that I'm using this card for is the "Less is More" week 25 'Recipe' challenge...the instruction is to use Button or Ribbon (or plurals there of).
The Holly swag is stamped onto smooth white CS andthen coloured with Copic pens.
The swag is a clear stamp from one of my new sets by B-C-E. The sentiment is one of the Christmas digi ones that I won from Lynne Salmon.
A single piece of ribbon is wrapped around the stamped panel and held securely by the sentiment which is attached using 3D foam.

I did consider using this for the CHNC challenge which asks for at least one reindeer but I thought it would be a bit cheeky as the reindeer on the sentiment are a little on the small side LOL Anyway, I have a reindeer sorted for that - I just need to put together the card.

Have a look at the Winter Wonderland site or hop over to Less is More as I'm sure you'll love all the fab creations that you'll find there......................

"Fun & Games"...

...is challenge 106 over on "LOTV".

Do you remember playing 'dress-up' in your Mum's clothes and tottering around in a pair of her shoes feeling sooooooooooo grown up...I do, so when I saw this LOTV image I knew it was what I wanted for this challenge.
I'm still working my way through the Serif paper stack 'Picnic in the Park' so this influenced the colours I used to colour in this little miss. The Martha Stewart doily trim has been edged with an orange Copic marker and layered with some satin dot ribbon.
The blooms are from a variety of sources and I tried to keep the colours linking with the image and the PPs used.
Some flowery 'card candy' finishes off the card.

Why don't you hop over and have a look at the lovely cards that the LOTV DT have come up with - I'm sure you'll be inspired....................

Last week was certainly...

...Christmas in July.

WARNING: Lots of photos so you might want to grab a cuppa before you go any further LOL

In addition to various challenge sites setting Christmassy themes, the folk at Catch the Bug had a week long challenge and a blog hop - and the folk at Wild Orchid Crafts joined forces with Lili of the Valley to have their own Christmas event. On top of this I won two lovely prizes which made it feel even more as if Christmas had arrived early.

However, if that wasn't enough...last week was also Dawn Bareham's monthly 'all-day' card workshop and if you haven't already guessed, the theme was Christmas in July - go figure LOL

As always, Dawn had some lovely creations lined up for us and we started with...
...a box...but look what is inside...
...a 'Snowman' book-style card.
The first two pages have phrases from the song 'Walking in the Air'.
They also have framed openings leading the eye through to...
...the decoupage scene on the back page. Although there was quite a bit of work to this card & box it was actually quite simple...but oh how lovely the finished item is. This is where it becomes difficult to even consider giving these cards away.

The next card was a triangular card made from scratch.
Now I am not, and never will be a great fan of the process of hand-cutting decoupage but this was the second card of the day and the second one where I had to cut out the decoupage bits...
...but I have to say it was worth it. My photos probably don't show the detail well enough but the Teddy & parcels at the foot of the tree do look rather effective.

Dawn's workshops always involve learning something. Sometimes it is a crafting technique or as with this time - the construction of different style/shaped cards.

The third card was based on a easel card but not only was it on it's side...
...it was also scored into 3 sections instead of the normal two.
When stood-up the card gives the effect of a bay window.

The final card was fiddly - not because of it's make up but because despite a brand new blade in the Cricut the doily design just did not want to cut so we all ended up cutting the design by hand.
This card is a rocker as the main part of the card is a shaped circle folded in half.
The decorative panel is mounted onto the rocker and all the edges of the red & green CS were inked gold.
The sentiment on the front was printed onto a tag and heat embossed with gold.
The card was finished off with a simple printed panel on the inside.

It was a fabulous day as usual and very busy. However, these workshops are always fun and it is great spending time with 'like-minded' folk and at the end of it coming away with four lovely cards............................

St. Swithin's Day - plus 9...

...well I think we can say that's it for this year.

Unless it decides to pour down before midnight I think we can declare today a 'rain-free' day so the "40 days" has been broken.

I can honestly say I didn't expect this when I saw the sky this morning - lots of nasty dark clouds but it has in fact turned into a really lovely day.

I'll try to remember next year and we can all keep an eye on the weather and see if we get any closer to the 'wive's tale'.

What a Week...

...that Was.

Workwise - it was pretty naff. Weatherwise - pretty much the same.

Wins & Wonderful stash...WOW, amazing...

I was so lucky to win the Scrapology June card challenge and this is what I got...
This super set of stamps arrived with me almost in the blink of an eye. They are beautiful and I hope to have a play with them later when I get back from Mum's.

Well, having collected my fab stamps from the sorting office I went off to get some easy mount and I found Andy at Pinnacle Crafts playing with these...
Bless him, they weren't on display yet but he went and got me some so even more stamps to play with.
I finally got my "Snow Cuddles" stamp along with some Holly/poinsetta stamps and these Fizzy Moon beauties.
Aren't they cute...and yes, I know what you are going to say "More Christmas Stamps" - I can't help it...I love Christmas.

Then to round off the week I found out today that I was one of the lucky 'Day' winners over on "Catch the Bug".
This little digi cutie is just one of 7 Christmas blocks that I now have to play with **who's a lucky girl then**

Craftwise it has been a lovely week - I just wish I could spend more time crafting and less time doing everything else...then life would be 'perfic'....................