Polka Doodles Sketch and Colouring Challenge

Good morning everyone, hope you're all ready for the big day. A quick post from me as following on from yesterday evening's post done sitting half way up the stairs (for some bizarre reason this brings Kermit the Frog to mind as I'm sure he did something involving being half way up too - hope I'm not going mad here!), I'm now doing this post from my daughter's computer as mine has no internet at all. My lovely hubby has just set off to go to the office on his day off to fetch a long cable to connect the computer directly to the airport so I can use it.

Please do head over to the Polka Doodles blog to see the current challenge and my card as I'm not able to put it on here as it's stuck on my computer.

Once again, wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and hoping you have a fabulous time tomorrow and that you receive some lovely crafting goodies.

Fliss xx

How To Make 50 Cards In One Day

Hello everyone and yes, that title is right as this is what I did just over a week ago having got rather behind on my cards to go in the post. As I didn't want it to cost a fortune posting them, they had to be fairly flat so here's what I came up with using the "kiss" principle - my hubby calls this keep it simple stupid but I think keep it simple and stylish fits better here!
First of all, you need a pack of 50 12.5cm square cards with envelopes which I bought at Tescos for £5 and then you need a variety of papers, stamps, scraps and flat embellishments plus any other things you need to use up.
Here are some of the card designs:

Papers by Polka Doodles, stamp by Hero Arts, greeting stamp by Papermania.

Bird stamp by Funstamps, holly by Art Impressions, paper by Basic Grey.

Deer stamp by Penny Black, papers by Polka Doodles, scallop border by Craftime.

Deer stamp by Little Claire Designs, colouring Promarkers, papers by Polka Doodles.

Paper by Polka Doodles, felt dove and ribbon by Papermania.

Deer stamp as before, paper by Polka Doodles.

Paper and angel digital image by Polka doodles.

Paper by Polka Doodles, felt dove as before.

Deer stamp as before, paper by Polka Doodles.

Deer stamp as before, paper by Polka Doodles.

 Paper by Polka Doodles, felt dove as before.

As you can see it's quite simple to make cards in bulk with a variety of designs as long as you keep it simple in design.
It wasn't simple to do this post though as my computer threw a wobbly in the middle and I'm finishing this off half way up the stairs as it's the only place I can get an internet connection - technology!!!!!!

Here's wishing you all a Merry Christmas and the hope that 2011 will bring you all that you hope for.

Fliss xx

Polka Doodles - Age Related Project

Good morning everyone, here's hoping you're not all snowed in again. We had sleet and snow yesterday evening and I drove to a friend's in a blizzard but thankfully it went away quite quickly.
It's Friday again and I can't believe there's only a week until Christmas - eek! We have another challenge over at Polka Doodles which is to make an Age Related Project which is because our Lou's son is turning 18.
I've chosen to make a 50th card as there is one coming up in the near future so I'm getting prepared in advance.

I decided to make a side step card having found bargain packs of ready made blanks for these in The Range - don't know about you but I find these a real fiddle and the cost of 5 blanks and envelopes was an absolute bargain at £1.99!
I've used some of the really pretty new papers from the Collectors Edition of the Sugar Birdies CD which launched on Create and Craft TV with Nikky yesterday. The CD has all the elements of the original with a fabulous new collection of papers, sentiments and stampies.
I simply layered everything on to the card blank and added cut out numbers from the really pretty collection on the CD and a sentiment from the new collection which has loads of pretty shaped greetings. I added some gems for a touch of bling.
You have until 12 noon on Sunday 26 December to get your entries in and good luck!

Tim Holtz's 12 Days Tags - Days 10, 11 and 12

Hello everyone, hope you're all OK and managing to get all your Christmas preparations done. I still haven't quite finished my cards as I'm very busy on the work front at the moment.
Many apologies to everyone in the Artyjen Splinter Group as I've got so much to do that I haven't been able to catch up on the commenting yet. Everyone's offerings look really fabulous and I think you've all done Tim proud.
I've got my last 3 tags here which I'm a bit iffy about as I didn't have the stuff needed again and due to work pressure my mojo is on a go slow. Here are my versions anyway:

Tag 10

This one is a bit bare as I forgot to put the holly on his hat - ooops! The background tag is the same as Tim's. I made the snowman with a pattern and stamped on a Papermania Christmas greeting. I added a ribbon scarf.

The packaging is embossed with the Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder and ribbon and fibres finish off the tag.

Tag 11

This one is my interpretation as I didn't have anything that Tim used. The paper is by 7 Gypsies and I stamped on snowflakes from the Reindeer Flight stamp set in Pine Needles Distress ink. The tree is by Marianne Designs and I embossed it with Bottle embossing powder after cutting it out of grunge paper.

I added green twine and Woodware Fluffy Stuff plus a star brad.

The greeting is from the Papermania Classic Christmas 6 x 6 paper pack and I added a bow. Ribbon and fibres finish off the tag.

Tag 12

I again had nothing for this one so used Basic Grey Wassail paper for the background. I drew a bauble shape on grunge paper, cut it out, inked with Fired Brick then added embossing with Crystal powder. The letters are from the Vintage Market strip die and were painted white and embossed with the Crystal powder. I added green twine at the top.

I added a calendar downloaded free from the internet and inked with various Distress inks. I finished off with a layered flower.

I shall be linking this to Artyjen's Splinter Group and want to say a HUGE thanks to Sioux for organising this once again and also to everyone who has left me such lovely comments. It's been a real pleasure browsing through all the fabulous versions of this year's tags.

Tim Holtz's 12 Days Tags - Days 8 and 9

Hello everyone, I've now got days 8 and 9 of the tags to show you both of which have a lot of improvising, especially Day 9 as all I had for that one were the inks.
Here's Day 8:

All I had for this one was the mask so I followed Tim's fabulous tachnique for this and then stamped on the music score from before and snowflakes from the Reindeer Flight stamp set in black. I inked up the tag and then stamped on the flourish design from the same stamp set.
As I don't have the little houses border die, I drew my own, cut them out with a craft knift, painted them with Bottle Paint Dabber and added white for snow.
I made decorate corners from a square of harlequin patterned grungeboard cut in half diagonally, painted with Pearl Paint Dabber and embossed with silver ep. I did the clock element in a similar way with a Maya Road cog which I stuck a black musical clock face on.
Here's Day 9:

This is all improvised and most of the work went into the rosette flower as I haven't yet been able to get the die which is forever out of stock everywhere. Having made the rosette by hand, I can see why!
I watched Tim's video before attempting this and can reccommend it as it does help if you have to DIY as I did.
I cut a strip of 12x12 paper and stamped on the music score. I then trimmed one long edge with my pinking shears. I next used a small embossing tool to score lines down the paper at the bottom of each v on the pinked edge. When I'd finished that, I folded up the concertina exactly as Tim does although it's much harder without the magic perforations the die makes. I then did as Tim does in the video and steps following. A definite labour of love here!!!
I used the Vintage Market strip die for the alphabet letters and distressed the brads with the embossing ball tool. I made the crown and heart using plain grungeboard elements embossed with the Cuttlebug fancy corner and dots folders, painted and embossed as for the previous tag.
I managed to find a scrap of tulle (a leftover from years of making fairy style costumes for my daughters) and used decorative brads instead of Adornments. I finished off with some braid and bling from an old earring.
I'm linking again to Artyjen's Splinter Group and also to The Artistic Stamper It's Christmas Time Challenge.
I'm also going to enter this in Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers Wonderful Christmastime Challenge.
Thanks for looking and hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Polka Doodles - Project To Hold A Gift

Good morning everyone, I'm taking a very short break from Tim's fabulous tags as it's Friday and Polka Doodles time.
This week's theme is to make a Project To Hold A Gift and has been chosen by team mate Dee. What a great way to get ahead with some of that all important Christmas packaging (though having said that in my family we have birthdays galore this month!!!).
I've chosen to make a slightly more unusual shaped project as when I saw this fabulous shape on the Paper Boutique Volume 1 CD, I knew it was just perfect for my younger daughter who absolutely loves bags (she takes after my mother in law who also does!)

I've chosen to make the bag up in one of the gorgeous papers Nikky designed especially for the bag as it's a favourite colour of my daughter's being taupe. I made up the A4 size of the bag by printing out the templates on the back of the decorated papers, cutting all the elements out and following the easy, clear instructions. I simply added a flap trimmed with scallop scissors and a pretty white carved button from my vast collection which I attached with thread.
It will be filled with her favourite chocolates - not actually those in the photo which are my favourites! She likes the Lindt D'Or in the red foil wrappers so those are on my huge shopping list for next week.

You have until 12 noon on Sunday 19 December to get your entries in and please, please, please remember to take a look at the challenge rules as we get sooooo many entries we have to discount largely because they break the 10 challenge rule.

Tim Holtz's 12 Days Tags - Day 7

Hello everyone, I have a finally finished tag for day 7 to show you as I had a right old struggle doing the poinsettia flower on this one. More improvising too as I didn't have all the supplies yet again - no surprise there!
I've also got day 8 in progress and want to take this opportunity to say a HUGE thanks to Jennie of The Artistic Stamper as my order arrived yesterday and luckily for me, I ordered the Seasonal Masks set which Tim has used on this - how lucky is that!
Anyway, here's Day 7:

I made the flower and leaves as per Tim's instructions, substituting some of the spray inks as I didn't have all the inks he used. My flower has Sticky Fingers Poppy and Wine and Roses Glimmer Mist. The leaves have just the Lettuce Colorwash combined with Olive Vine Glimmer Mist. I used Frosted Lace and Diamond Stickles.
I embossed my tag with the Cuttlebug Allegro folder and inked with Wild Honey, Crushed Olive and Vintage Photo.
I made the letters with the Vintage Market Strip Die, inked them with Fired Brick and stamped with the music score used on my other tags. I added a flourish from the Grungeboard Plain Elements, painted and inked as Tims. Due to a little error with some glue which showed, I also popped on a bit of glitter glue - fabulous for hiding mistakes!
At the top of the tag, I simply added some ribbon.
As before, I'm linking this to Artyjen's Splinter Group.  Well worth your while to pop over for a peek at all the other tags of which there are a totally astounding number of this time.
My next tag won't be posted until tomorrow as it's now gone dark but I might also have the one for Day 9 if I can work out how to make the gorgeous flower without a Rosette Strip Die which I've been trying to get my hands on for weeks with no luck.
To see Tim's original and inspirational tags with a host of fabulous techniques please click HERE.

Tim Holtz's 12 Days Tags - Day 6

Hello again, I'm back with my finished tag for day 6 and am finally managing to catch up a bit. Some elements on this one were a bit of a challenge but this has actually turned out to be the one I'm most pleased with so far which is mainly as I really love the colours.
Here it is:

Quite a bit of improvising has gone on here to get a similar effect with different supplies.
The reindeer was painted with a mixture of Pool and Lake Mist paint dabbers as I don't have Aqua. The embossing was done with the Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder and rubbed with Brushed Corduroy as I don't yet have any Frayed Burlap (on my wish list).
The tag background was inked and then as I don't have a similar stamp, I actually did my stamping by inking up the raised side of the Regal Flourishes Texture Fade with Brushed Corduroy ink and stamping on to the tag - this worked brilliantly so yet another use for those embossing folders.
As I don't have the tree folder, I stamped the trees from the Reindeer Flight set in VersaFine Spanish Moss and Vintage Sepia and embossed them with clear powder. I cut them out and rubbed them on the reverse with a large ball tool to round them out.
Due to lack of tissue tape, I cut a strip of tissue paper, stamped on it with the music score from my other tags in black, ran a Pritt stick along the reverse and then followed Tim's instructions. Not quite as good as the original, but close.
As I ended up with more space at the bottom of the tag, I embossed this with the same flourish folder and rubbed on Brushed Corduroy ink.
I made the antlers for the reindeer from a Penny Black stamp and my label was computer generated with lines drawn with coloured pencils to mimic the journalling label. The wreath is made from a green glittery pipe cleaner and I added sparkly fibres and a star brad at the top of the tag.
Linking once again to Artyjen's Splinter Group. 
Apologies for this being a rather long post but I wanted to mention all the improvising which you might find useful.

Tim Holtz's 12 Days Tags - Day 5

Hello everyone on this very cold and frosty morning. I'm getting a bit behind on my tags for Sir Tim's 12 Days and have number 5 to share (number 6 is in progress drying off) which I ran out of light to take a pic of yesterday as the daylight disappeared so early.

I had a bit of a struggle again as I didn't have most of the stuff so there's loads of improvising here. Here's my version:

I did have the inks so managed the background all right. My biggest problem was the Santa stamp as the Crafty Individuals one in my collection would absolutely not go here so I was wondering what to do. To my delight, I was looking at my reader yesterday morning and the perfect Santa graphic popped up. Many thanks go to Meri of ImagiMeris for generously sharing some lovely Christmas graphics which saved the day here.
My holly is my favourite by Art Impressions and as it's quite an open design, I just outlined with the glitter glue and filled in with an American Crafts ultimate glitter pen. My greeting is by Papermania.
I used a Go Kreate die to make the panel and a scrap of scrapbook paper stamped with my much used Oxford Impressions music score then inked with Vintage Photo.
The numbers are wooden and as I didn't have any white UTEE, I used clear topped with a couple of coats of white detail embossing powder.
The foliage has claret and bottle embossing powder as I don't have many colours of the Distress embossing powder (brown and grey not good here!!!).
I also omitted the bells as I don't have any but used fluffy trim to try and make up for this (this was an absolute bargain at 5p a metre in my local craft shop!).
To see the original tag by Tim, and all the others, click HERE.
My tag is also being entered into Artyjen's Splinter Group which is being sponsored by Jennie of The Artistic Stamper with a goody bag of Tim Holtz products for one lucky crafter. If you haven't seen all the fabulous tags, pop on over for a peek.
I'm also entering this one in The Artistic Stamper It's Christmas Time Challenge
OMG, I've just seen the Day 7 tag and it's the best yet!

Tim Holtz's 12 Days Tags - Day 4

Hello everyone, hope you've all had a great weekend. I've finally managed to finish my tag for day 4 as family stuff got in the way this weekend and I had rather a struggle with this one as I had nothing except the Distress inks and alcohol inks so a lot of thinking went on here.
Here's the finished tag:

I managed to have a couple of accidents while doing this one so it took rather a long time to finish off. As I didn't have the paper, I sponged the tag lightly with Tumbled Glass ink and then used the same technique as the day 2 tag on the Santa stamp by Papermania only didn't emboss it this time as I wanted a softer look. I painted on from the foil the following shades of Distress ink - Pumice Stone, Brushed Corduroy,  Crushed Olive, Pine Needles and Fired Brick. I painted on a little more after stamping on the lines with the paint left on the brush which sharpened the image up a little.
I then sponged Stormy Sky and Pumice Stone on the tag to darken the colour slightly.  I then managed to make the first error by trying to stamp on the snowflakes from the Reindeer Flight set with white StazOn ink but they didn't show up! I added some white embossing powder which went somewhat blotchy as the Distress ink was still a bit wet. I stamped more snowflakes over the top with blue Palette ink.
I added rows of blingy trim and pearls at the bottom. As I don't have any facets, I made this piece from clear shrink plastic cut out with the largest Nestabilities Labels 11 die and shrunk with a heat gun. I then used Tim's technique for a similar result.
I made a ticket with the same Nestabilities set, stamped with Impression Obsession text in Olive Green StazOn ink, inked this with various Distress inks and added faux stitching in brown.
I finished off with some trim at the top and some bling from a couple of broken earrings from my recycling box.
If you haven't yet had a go at this, there's still time and you can see the original inspirational tags by Tim Holtz by clicking HERE.
To see all the the tags created by the Splinter Group, go to Artyjen's blog for a real treat and some fabulous improvising.

Tim Holtz's 12 Days Tags - Days 2 and 3

Hello everyone, I'm playing catch up here with 2 at once and I'm starting to get the hang of it as I'm not behind any more. Can't wait to see tomorrow's delight either as Sir T!m is soooo inventive.
You can feast your eyes on all of his gorgeous tags by clicking HERE 
Without further ado, here are my takes on the tags.

Day 2

I didn't have any of the things used on this one except for the inks so a lot of improvising resulted. The biggest one being the lack of Cut 'n' Dry Felt, I got round this by applying patches of Distress ink to a piece of kitchen foil and painting it on my holly stamp (Art Impressions) with a brush and because it stays wet so long, I was able to emboss it successfully. As my stamp is a bit more open than the pine cone T!m used, I painted on a bit more ink after embossing.
I used T!m flourish stamp, a Penny Black greeting stamp, an Oxford Impressions music score stamp and a bird stamp by Inkadinkado. I also used stick on pearls by Prima as I didn't have the Adornments.

Day 3

For this tag all I had was the bird cage die set. I didn't have any tissue tape so had to get very creative here and actually found success with stamping music score (as before) and script (Paper Artsy) on white tissue paper with black Memento ink and cutting it up. I applied this to thick card with the super strength Pritt stick and then die cut it as per T!m's instructions. I used Cranberry and Watermelon alcohol ink (no Red Pepper).

Also due to lack of tissue tape, I made a paper rosette from a strip of crepe paper stamped in black with the script stamp and trimmed the edges with pinking shears (easy peasy as this is the second one of these I've made this week!) I added a vintage silver button from my collection to the centre.

I used the same holly stamp as the previous tag, stamped in black. I made a sort of label with the Nestabilities smallest scallop circle die, stamped with the music score in Stormy Sky, Hero Arts numbers in Fired Brick and sponged with Vintage Photo and Crushed Olive inks.

I inked up some crochet lace with Peeled Paint ink and added this together with some twisted cross stitch band fabric.

Don't forget to pop over to Artyjen's blog to see all the other Splinter Group tags and if you take part there's a chance of winning some candy from Jennie of The Artistic Stamper who is also taking part.

I'm also going to enter these in The Artistic Stamper December challenge which is Christmas - thank to Artyjen for the link on this.

Thanks for looking.

Polka Doodles - All About The Sentiment

Hello everyone, hope you're all managing to cope in the snow. All being well this post will be appearing whilst I'm at the hairdressers as I have a 9am appointment and I'm not sure how I'm getting there at the moment as it's too far to walk.
As it's Friday today it's time for another challenge over at Polka Doodles which has been set by teamie Claire and she would like to see a creation that has the Sentiment as the main focus.
Here's my inspiration:

All elements for my card come from the latest Polka Doodles CD, Sundae of Seasons, the Summer collection which has loads of yummy images. I added some texture to the card by doing some faux stitching on the main backing paper by piercing holes and running a brown fineliner along between.
I punched the top border with a Martha Stewart border punch. I added a ribbon border to the centre and some crochet lace to finish off with strawberry coloured glitter sprinkled on to cover the tape (I find this quite useful when you're sticking on something with holes in)
I added the sentiment and cakes with foam tape.

I'll be back (gosh, I sound like Arnie!!!) a bit later with my Day 2 Tag of Sir T!m's 12 Days of Christmas Tags (and a day late-oops!) and if you're also following this, you may not know that Artyjen is running a splinter group so that we can see all the fab tags everyone is making along with T!m (well worth a look to see all the incredible improvising going on due to lack of T!m stash). Click HERE to see all the tags.
Can't wait to see the next one.

Tim Holtz's 12 Days Tags - Day 1

Well I hope everyone is OK as we're snowed under on the south coast today with the most snow I've seen for many years. It's at the lovely, crunchy and powdery stage at the moment and was gorgeous earlier when I ventured out on foot with my hubby to get some shopping for us and his parents. It made me want to be a child again and throw snowballs!!!
I'm a day late with my first tag as I only had one of the requirements apart from the inks and had to put my creative thinking cap on but it made my head hurt! I managed to get it done but I'm still a bit iffy about it.

The things I used instead are as follows:
Crafty Individuals chipboard house instead of Rickety House die
Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes embossing folder for Alterations Notebook folder
Snowflake stamps from the Reindeer Flight set
Rock Candy Crackle Paint for Picket Fence
Marianne Designs Tree die for Prima wire twigs
Label made with Nestabilities die and Hero Arts stamps
Holly Wreath made from stamped holly (Polka Doodles Christmas Doodles set) and hand cut holly from paper scraps. Red fabric floral centre.
Sparkly Glitter for Ranger Sparkly Stuff
Star Brad
As you see, the only thing I had except for the inks was the On The Fence Alterations Die!