Follow the arrows...

Hello there.  Is everyone enjoying fall?  How about raking leaves?  Has anyone else noticed that there seems to be an extra abundant crop of them this year?  I'm just hoping that's not another sign of a long hard winter.  I had a very large tree cut down this week that was damaged in last winter's storm.  What a major clean up that entailed!  So, time for a break, and soon to bed!

Here we go, with a stamp from Tickled Pink done with water colours.  Had a play with some striped paper....and look what else I found in my stash....some chipboard arrows.  I've had these for ages but they were hiding on me.  A great embellishment for a male card.

Some challenges for my card:

Creative Fingers - #55 Anything Goes

613 Avenue Create - #97 Anything Goes  FB Designer of the day

That Craft Place - Anything Goes

Party Time Tuesdays - #188 Anything Goes

Through the Craftroom Door - Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday - #346 Stripes

Incy Wincy Designs - Stripes

Papertake Weekly - 2 or 4 Legs

Southern Girls Challenge - Boy Theme

Bright and Cheery

Hello there crafty peeps!  Spring has finally arrived....it's a little warmer plus we have the rain, (oh joy), and hopefully soon we'll have some sunshine.  Lots of doctors' visits this week, but hubby seems to be a bit better right now.  He's on some needles to improve his blood, and they seem to be helping!

Today's card has some nice bright warm colours to chase the dreary weather away.  I've coloured this cute little Christina image from Tickled Pink with copics, then used the 'out of the box' technique with my Nestie die to cut her out....I always like this effect!  Then, plenty of DI...to distress the edges and provide the right colour for the lacy mat and the seam binding used for the bow.  I've added some sparkle to the dragonflies which are from Make it Crafty, a butterfly sticker, and then, how about some flowers.  If you look closely, you will also see that I've added a bit of stencil pattern to the DP for something just a little bit different.

Products used

Spellbinders... Labels Twenty die

Martha Stewart... Double Arches punch.

Basic Grey paper..Porcelain collection (from at least last year!)

Now, for some challenges...be sure to check them out if you need some inspiration!

Totally Papercrafts - Saturated Colours

Incy Wincy Designs - Girly / Mothers Day

Stampin for the Weekend - Sparkle and Shine

Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT - Birthday

Little Darlings - Flowers

Truly Scrumptious - Distressing & Diecuts/Punches

Aud Sentiments - ANYTHING

Dream Valley - For a Special Lady

Joanna Sheen - Flower Power

Creatalicious Challenges - BUTTERFLIES and add some FLOWERS

Hooked on Craft - Flowers

Crafter's Companion - Here Comes Summer

Oldie but a Goodie Challenge - Die Cuts and Punches

Feline Fancy...

Ho ho ho....hope you are being good, and keeping well!  Thursday today, so it's time for a new challenge at Charisma Cardz.  This week we are looking for Anything but a Card, so get your crafty hats on and show us what you've got!  The DT has some fabulous ideas to share, so be sure to check them out too!

I'm really taken with these little bags!  They are so easy to make....just a paper lunch bag, cut to size, and papers to decorate the front and back.  The folded topper attaches to the back and provides a nice decorative closure.

Supplies used:
Papers - My Mind's Eye (Be Merry collection); cardstock
Image - Tickled Pink (Christmas Mollie Mittens)
Stamps - Inkadinkado - Winter Trails
Other - distress inks, metallic gold pen, pearls, paper lace ribbon

This week our generous sponsors are:

(offering a £10 Voucher to their online store )

  (offering one lucky winner a stamp of their choice)

  (offering 5 digis of the winners choice)

We're really looking forward to seeing your projects this week,  and with a little luck perhaps you will be the happy winner of one of these delightful prizes!

A few fun challenges that I will enter:

Craft Spot - #36 Christmas Gifts and Treat Packaging

Creative Card Crew - Tis the Season

Karen's Doodles - Recipe 3 dif embellies, 2 papers & 1 image

Kaboodle Doodles - #96 Colors of Christmas

Sweet Stamps - #44 Christmas Bling

Forever Friends - It's all Christmas

ABC Christmas Challenge - Yippe, It's Almost Christmas

Sundays with Crissy - #24 Anything Goes

Bizzy Bec's - Christmas Crafty Ribbons - #8 Traditional Colours for Christmas

Tomboy

My oh my....just loving the weather we are having this Thanksgiving weekend!  Lots of sunshine and nice warm temperatures.  I wish it could stay like this all year, but we know that isn't to be.

So how about a card with a nice outdoor feel.   My youngest daughter was into this sport, and I spent many a time watching her play.  She would have loved to have had those braids too...but her hair just wouldn't grow long.   This little image is a digi from Tickled Pink Stamps, and goes by the name Baseball Pippa.  I've coloured her up with Prisma pencils and OMS, cutting and framing with a Nestie die.

The papers are from the Pinkpaislee Queen Bee selection, layered over pale yellow cardstock to make this fancy fold card.  A few punched flowers and greenery adds some interest, but also brings to mind the memories of the younger ones picking wild flowers in the outfield....waiting for the ball to come to them (lol).

The sentiment...Remember When, is an old stamp from Inkadinkado, while the ticket is from a set from Just Inklined.

We'll soon be looking at snow and winter coats again, so enjoy the day and be sure to get outside while you can! 

Some lovely challenges for this card:

Tickled Pink - #40 Anything Goes

Fab & Funky Challenges - #93 Die cut or punches

Crafts and Me Challenges - #55 Use a Digi

Delightful Challenges - Make It Dimensional

Dutch Dare Card Challenge - #133 Special Fold Card

Emerald Faerie Garden - #10 Punches/Dies

By the Cute and Girly - Anything Goes + 2nd Birthday Blog Hop

Sentimental Sundays - #76 Anything Goes

The Centre of Attraction...

Hurray, we had some rain yesterday...so maybe you had some sunshine!  I think it had been nearly 4 weeks, so the grass and gardens were very parched.  I'm still willing to trade off a few more days....

Today's entry uses Lil Lad Eric, one of the newer images from Tickled Pink Stamps, and I've teamed him up with Spots and Stripes for their current challenge.  He looks so sweet and innocent, but when he takes off those Clark Kent glasses......look out!

This striped paper is from my stash, but I've added some brown detail stripes so that I could accent with brown.  I've played with the paper, reversing and matching the stripes on the bottom section, which draws your eye to the image.   So do the arrows, which are transparent stickers placed over cardstock and then cut out.  It's is amazing what cool stuff you can find hiding in drawers!  Have you checked your's lately....just pretend it's a bargain bin!  lol

A bit of ribbon and some faux stitching on the borders basically finishes it off, definitely leaving the image as the focal point.

Hopefully you all have a wonderful day, staying safe and sound and healthy.   Until next time, be sure to check out these challenges for some more inspiration:

Cute Card Thursday - #174 For His Eyes Only

Totally Papercrafts - One for the Boys

Allsorts Challenge - #113 Free and Easy

Craft Us Crazy - #13 Anything Goes

Crafter's Companion - #14 One for the Boys

My Mums Craft Shop - #15 For a Teen

2 Sisters Challenge - #49 Anything Goes

Stamps R Us Challenges - Happy Birthday + Blog Hop

Kaboodle Doodles - #77 Stitching - Faux or real

Birthdays and Butterflies

Good morning everyone!  I hope you all had a fantastic weekend....lots of fun and plenty of relaxation.  I just have a quick post today.  I had a couple of  specific challenges in mind for this card and the deadlines are fast approaching.  No one can ever accuse me of being early! lol

I've followed the sketch at Pink {Ink} Sketch, a new challenge blog and their very first challenge.   I've switched it around a bit, adding a faux stitching border, but I think it works okay.

Check out the butterfly!  Remember those inside pieces that are left after you use the peel off sticker?   Well I finally made use of some, adhering to velum, which turned out quite well I think.  You just need some sticky medium to lift the pieces....and a lot of patience!

Supplies used:

Stamps - Lil Birthday Kellita (Tickled Pink Stamps), sentiment from Nettie's Cards

Papers - DeLovely paper pack (Cosmo Cricket), vellum for butterfly, card stock

Tools - Nestibilities - Fleur de Lis Rectangles die

Other - stitching stencil, peel off stickers, stickles

We had a wee bit of much needed rain overnight, but now the sun is shining again.  It will probably be another hot one, but I will be inside today catching up on some work.   Maybe tonight I can get to play again.

Some more fun challenges:

Tickled Pink - #28 CUTE... WITH A BUTTERFLY

PaperPlay Challenges - #28 Things With Wings

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - #111 Butterflies

Totally Papercrafts - #75 Girly Girls

Birthday Sundaes - #18 Anything Goes

Emerald Faerie Garden - #5 All Things Nice (Girly)

Daisy Doodles - #38 Anything Goes

Scrap-Creations - Recipe Challenge

Bearly Mine Challenges - #14 Anything Goes Crafty Sentiments - Use stitching challenge  Do You Stack Up - #28 Sew: Faux or Real Simon Says Stamp! - Anything Goes

I Think It's Going to Melt.....

Here we are in the heat of summer.....and I'm making another Christmas card!  We could definitely use some rain, but please.....NO SNOW!  I can assure you, I have no problem waiting another six months for the white stuff.

My card today fits in with a number of current challenges, and I'm using the Lil Christmas Frankie image from Tickled Pink Stamps.   It's perfect for a Christmas in July card, as I'm sure he's thinking his little snowman is going to melt!   To help him out, I've played with some nice cool colours....purple and green, with lots of glitter.

This is my first time making a card with this fancy fold, and I'm happy to say it isn't as difficult as it looks.  My problem seems to be finding the right papers to make it all work, as I usually colour the image up first.  I could probably cut my time in half if I could only reverse the process.  Maybe next time.....

Supplies used:

Colouring medium:  Prisma pencils and OMS

Tools:  MS snowflake punch & lace border punch, Nestibilities die (labels 18)

Other:  glitter paper,glamour dust, brads, gems, ribbon and DP from stash

And now, thanks again for visiting, and here are some wonderful fun challenges to enter with this card:

Tickled Pink Christmas Challenge - #5 Anything Goes

Sparkles Forum Christmas Challenge - #6 Glitter

Sweet Stamps - Christmas in July

Stamp Something - July Digi Day

Allsorts Challenge - #110 Free and Easy

Digital Tuesday Challenge - #118 Bling It Up

Tuesday Throwdown - #56 Christmas in July

Little Red Wagon - Christmas in July

Fab & Funky Challenges - #80 Purple Haze

Winter Wonderland - Christmas Buffet (patterned paper, ribbon, brads)

Wombat Walking

In real life, little critters and me aren't too compatible, especially if they get too close or get in the house, but they sure are cute on cards!  They are also a big hit with my youngest grandson, so this card just might be for him.

This little Wombat image was a freebie from Tickled Pink Stamps and I've coloured it up for their ongoing challenge 'One for the Lads'.  Isn't he a sweetie, all dressed up like the Man from Plaid!

For my layout, I got some help from the lovely sketch this week at Friday Sketchers.  Of course, I didn't add any flowers and you'll see I did move things around a bit, but I don't think that will matter.

I've used a Cuttlebug folder to emboss the card front, adding a light touch of DI to the dots and then sponging the outer edges.  A bit of ribbon and a few buttons are the only trim, after all it is a card for a little boy.

A few more fun challenges that I will enter:

Totally Papercrafts - #59 Cuddly and Cute

Phindy's Place - #49 All About Animals

Sentimental Sundays - #48 Cute and Cuddly

Digital Tuesday Challenge - #104 For the Kids

Creative Card Crew - For a Child

Cards for Men - #7 Embossing

Craft Us Crazy - CUPCAKES AND/OR CELEBRATION

One of my winnings!

Well now, today should prove interesting.....we woke up today with no water!  Just one of the many things that can and will go wrong when you live in the country.  Now we need to find a plumber to see what is wrong with the well....wish us luck!

So now to my card.  This is the new Lil Valentine Lilith image that I won last week from Tickled Pink Stamps.  Isn't she sweet....love those tights and long thin legs!  So of course I'm entering in their challenge this week for I {Heart} You.  I've coloured with Prismas again, and all materials came from my stash.

I've used my Nellie Die, to both cut out the image and create the framework behind.  You will note that the shoes stand outside the die cut.  This was the first time I tried this with this particular die, and it was a little more challenging.

Some more challenges for additional inspiration:
Simon Says Stamps Challenge - Bingo (Die cuts, Flowers, Gems)
Raise the Bar Challenge - #49 Oh, To Be A Kid Again
Pear Tree Designs - #32 Free for All
Papercraft Star - #29 Recipe Challenge
Southern Girls Challenge - Totally Loved Up