Fairies at Make My Monday

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Mine was very busy with family stuff as it was Fathers Day and there was quite a bit of visiting to do!
We have a new challenge today over at Make My Monday with the theme chosen by Joan which for the next fortnight is Fairies.

My inspiration features a beautiful image by Aurora Wings which was printed out on to thick smooth cartridge paper and coloured with Prisma pencils. I trimmed the image to a panel and added contrasting mats.
The paper is Polkadoodles  and I added a contrasting strip of card with a punched strip over the top. I embellished with some butterflies die cut ffrom glittery card and added a sentiment stamped on patterned paper, die cut and matted on contrasting card.

Have a great week and see you soon.
Fliss xx

More Spookiness!

Hello, guess who's late again with her post for the new challenge this week at Make My Monday. Teamie Joan has chosen the theme of Halloween as the spooky date is drawing near.
I had to go mostly digital for my inspiration due to the lack of actual Halloween stamps and I hope you like what I created.

I've used some Halloween images from the lovely June of Dezinaworld before she had to close down her online shop due to various difficulties and it's a real shame as you can see from the beautiful main collage image which is a favourite of mine.
I used background papers from a Polkadoodles Halloween download pack and used one for the background and 2 more to make panels as you see. I then assembled everything adding the cut out pumpkin and cat from June together with the bird (in black to resemble a raven) and cage die cuts by Sit Tim and cut from black paper.

I hope you can join us as we'd love to see you entering.
Hugs,
Fliss xx

Vintage Rosette Flower

Hello again everyone, I hope you're managing to keep warm in the big chill.
I've got a card to share with you which is my finally finished entry for this week's Play Date Cafe challenge and I apologise in advance for a rather bad photo, the light was against me and I hope to get a better one tomorrow.

I've used papers here from the Polka Doodles All Around & Everywhere CD, combined with some vintage music score from my stash which has been altered with Vintage Photo Distress ink.
I made a crepe paper rosette by stitching along the length of a piece and gathering up the stitches to form the rosette. I then trimmed the outer edge with pinking shears. I rubbed on embossing ink and embossed with sparkly silver powder.
I made a centre for the flower with a scalloped inked music score circle and a grunge board harlequin patterned circle which I embossed with silver powder. I made 2 holes in the centre to turn it into a button and added a tie of embroidery thread altered with the Distress ink.
I made up the card as you see with various mats and a border made on the inked music score with the Martha Stewart Arch Lattice border punch. I finished off with a sentiment from the Butterfly Kisses Clear 2 Collage clear stamp set, stamped on decorated paper with Memento Rich Cocoa ink and coloured with Promarkers.

Polka Doodles Design Team Call

Good evening everyone. Just to let you know that Nikky, the head doodler of Polka Doodles, is looking for some new talent to join the Design Team.

All of the details are over at the Challenge Blog and please click HERE to see them. The call is open until 6pm on Sunday 14 November and if you decide to apply for this great opportunity, good luck!

Polka Doodles will also be hosting a blog hop with £400 of stash available as prizes so please keep your eyes open for all the details as you really wouldn't want to miss out on this gorgeous stash.

Polka Doodles - Quick and Easy Christmas Cards

Morning everyone, it's Friday again so we have another Polka Doodles challenge for you which this week has been set by teamie Jenny. Jenny wants to help us all out with the Christmas card marathon so she would like to see your Quick and Easy Christmas Cards.
I decided to do a favourite trick of mine to make cards in bulk without getting too many repeats as I always like to have different cards to give to family and the neighbours - as they're all in each others homes over the festive season, it's nice for them to have a card from me that isn't the same as everyone else's if you know what I mean!
My trick is to use the same basic layout for the cards and then vary the focal point to make the cards look more individual. I've made 4 here so that you can see what I mean:

I've used 2 of the pretty papers on the Sundae of Seasons CD to make the simple background. I then chose some of the images from the Winter collection and cut them out (there are lots more to choose from)
I made a background panel for each image from white card, cutting some with a circle and oval cutter and embossing them with the Cuttlebug snowflakes folder. If you want to be really quick, you could stop here but I decided to add some sparkle by swiping with ink and embossing with crystal powder. I used Brilliance inks in some cases which gives a gorgeous pearly effect when embossed.
I added simple greetings matted on red card to finish.
Don't forget to visit the Design Team for some more great ideas.
I'm also entering my cards into the following challenges:
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Dry Embossing
Craft Your Passion Challenges - Anything Goes

Polka Doodles - Autumn

Hello everyone, it's Friday again and this week over at Polka Doodles it's the turn of yours truly to choose the theme. As I'm an Autumn girl by birth and have a birthday coming up soon, I decided it's the perfect opportunity to celebrate the glorious shades of fallen leaves. I've always loved the gorgeous rich golds and browns although being blonde means I can't wear them!
Here's my golden creation:

As I'm having printer problems again at the moment in the form of colour balance, I had to hunt through my PD stash to find something to use. Fortunately I had some bits left over from the Autumn section of Sundae of Seasons after making my samples for Nikky.
For the focal point, I printed out the black and white digi tree and a sheet of leaves. I cut the tree out with a circular Nestabilities die and coloured the white surrounding areas with Scattered Straw and Dried Marigold Distress inks. I then coloured the tree bark with Promarkers. I set this on a double mat of scalloped circles cut from deep reddish brown and golden card.
I then coloured some of the leaves with Promarkers and cut them out. I assembled the card as you see using some of the beautiful papers from the CD carrying on the scallop theme. I added some tiny jewels and a sentiment from the CD to finish.

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with and you have until 12 noon on Sunday 7 November to upload your creations on the challenge blog.

I will also have some exciting news soon about candy and things so keep an eye out for this!

I'd also like to enter my card in the Crafty Creations challenge with a theme of Halloween or perhaps Autumn. I think mine qualifies as a perhaps Autumn! 

Star Quilt

Hello again, here's my second post which is my entry for Gingersnap Creations Blue Moon Challenge GCSP5 - Quilt Patterns.
This is one I absolutely had to do as I've done cards in the past based on quilt patterns and thought it time to do some more.
Here's my creation which is based on a star pattern:

I've used papers from the latest Polka Doodles CD, Sunday of Seasons, as there are lots of vintage/retro papers on there which are very like fabric patterns. I chose a striking colour combination of burgundy and teal with yellow as a contrast as I wanted a bold look to my card.
I scanned a pattern from my book, resized it in Photoshop and printed it out to make my pattern pieces. I then cut these out from the patterned papers.
I assembled the pieces on a pale blue hammered card blank and added a tarnished brass ornate button in the centre.
I shall be saving this for my sister in law's birthday in December as she loves sewing and I know she'll like these colours.
Thanks so much to the Gingersnap team too as I found out earlier today that my card for CG72, Neutrals Plus One colour challenge has been made a Ginger Gem.

Sunset Floral

Hello everyone, the first of 2 posts here from me as I've managed to finish off a couple of challenge cards.
The first is for The Play Date Cafe's PDCC52, can you believe it's their first anniversary this week - it only seems a very short time since the challenges started! It's Julie Ranae's turn this week and her inspiration is just gorgeous - it made me think of a rose bed in my last house where we had to do the garden from scratch and my roses were in sunset shades of pink, orange and yellow.

Here's my creation:

The pretty papers I've used here are from the Polka Doodles Sugar Birdies CD and are my favourite as I love the fleur de lys design.
I used a digital flower stamp specially for layering from the Polka Doodles Love and Cherish CD. I coloured the flowers with Promarkers and then inked them up with clear embossing ink and heat embossed them with crystal powder for some sparkle (this doesn't show up that well in the photo here and is better if you click on it for a closer view)
I put my layered flower on a mat cut using a Nestabilities scallop circle, embossed with the Cuttlebug Textile folder. I added a stamped greeting (Hero Arts C4633) coloured with Promarkers to finish.
Thanks for looking.
Fliss x

Polka Doodles - Welcome New Baby

Morning everyone, I can't believe it's Friday again and this last week has just flown by! It's time for another new challenge over at Polka Doodles and this week it's the turn of Enfys to choose the theme. She would like to see a project to welcome a new baby.
I've taken this opportunity to share with you one of the samples I made for Nikky when the Sundae of Seasons CD was launched and managed to spot this one on display when the show aired on Create and Craft. Something that always maked me very excited!

I'm sure you can see why I love this particular CD so much as the papers on there are the most gorgeous yet, being in my most favourite vintage style colours. Quite a few of the papers are like retro fabric patterns too and look fabulous printed out on to linen embossed card or paper.
I made an easel style card and cut squares of some of the papers to make a patchwork quilt pattern on the card front and on the base.
I chose to use the cute teddy and decided the baby would look rather cute in the pretty basket so I cut out the central piece and slotted the gorgeous little baby through so that she's laying on the basket.
I finished off with a greeting from the Baby Collection and some cut out hearts for embellishment.
You have until 12 noon on Sunday 31 October (yikes! Halloween!) to get your entries in and please don't forget the 10 challenge rule!
You might also be interested to know that Nikky is now stocking East of India products which you can only buy otherwise in posh gift shops. It's well worth a look as there are some really unusual and stunning ribbons, labels, string and so on available.

Polka Doodles - Something Spooky!

Good morning all and welcome to Spooky Friday. Over at Polka Doodles this week, Ruth would like to see your creations with a spooky element.  As Halloween is fast looming up on us, a perfect way to get some of those trick or treat things done.

I decided to make a spooky card as I now have a new printer - yay! - and couldn't wait to try out the haunted house from the Sundae of Seasons CD which I couldn't print before as the black head had gone.
I sponged Dried Marigold and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks round the house for a grungy look. I then used some of the gorgeous spooky paper from the Halloween Download Bundle in which I cut an aperture with a circle cutter. I inked the inner edges with Black Soot Distress ink. I stuck the haunted house panel to a large card blank and added the purple paper over the top with foam tape. This is a very quick and easy way to add dimension to your cards.
I finished off with some spooky pumpkins from the Sundae of Seasons CD and the greeting is from the Download Bundle.
The rest of the DT have made some fabulous spooky creations so don't forget to check them out - one in particular really gave me the creeps as I'm not keen on those black hairy things with lots of legs!!!

Merry, Merry Christmas

A bit early I know but I had to call this post something! Another Christmas card to share with you that fits a few challenges which are listed underneath the card details.
Very hard to think of Christmas on such a gorgeous sunny day and I've been out this morning as I had to do a search for a posh frock to wear to a ball next month and finally managed to find one I liked that wasn't black (this makes me look like death warmed up if you know what I mean!!!).
I also have some good news to share as yesterday I found out that my bird cage card for the Play Date Cafe challenge 49 has gained a Cream In Our Coffee award which is a lovely surprise so thank you ladies.
So on to my card:

I've again used my cute Penny Black reindeer stamp (2803K Let's Play) and stamped them on ecru card with VersaFine Toffee ink. I cut the image out with a circle cutter and sponged Umber and Topaz VersaColor ink around the edges.
I added 2 circle mats of plaid paper from the Polka Doodles Sundae of Seasons CD and made a circle shaped easel card from red mottled card.
I then added a further piece of the blue plaid paper on the base and a Penny Black greeting (3885H so very merry). A red bow finished off the card.
I'm entering my card in the following challenges:
Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Don't Be Square
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Shaped Card
Alphabet Challenge - X for Xmas

Polka Doodles Challenge - Make Your Own Embellishments

Good morning everyone, it's Polka Doodles time again and this week we would like to see hand made embellishments on your creation.
Being stamping mad as you know, I decided to make some stamped flowers for my embellishments.

 My card features Fairy Flutterby Bevvieboo stamped with Memento black ink and coloured with various shades of Promarker. I added glitter to some parts of her wings for a little sparkle.
I stamped the flower from the Babsie set in the black ink and coloured again with Promarkers. I then glittered the flower centres. I rounded the flowers out with a large embossing ball tool for some dimension.
I assembled the card as you see, using papers from the new Sundae of Seasons CD (my favourite papers yet are on here), one of the pretty sentiments and a white panel made using a Nestabilities die.
You have until 12 noon on Sunday 17 October to get your entries in and don't forget to visit the rest of the DT for some great inspiration.

The Witching Hour

Good morning everyone and we actually have some sunshine today. Hope you have too.
I'm in spooky mode again with another Halloween card which I'm getting rather addicted to making at the moment.

This time I decided to make the card in a Gothic arch shape as I think it fits the spooky theme perfectly. The card front is made from some gorgeous grungy spiderweb paper from the Polka Doodles Halloween download bundle and I've used another of the papers to mat the witch image panel.
The beautiful witch, together with her black cat and the pumpkin are from June at Dezinaworld's Halloween collage set. The text is computer generated and I then coloured the words with a Promarker very appropriately called Pumpkin.
I'm entering my card in the following challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers - Step Away From The Square
One Stitch At A Time - Spooky Halloween Anything Goes
Simon Says - Halloween
The Shabby Tea Room - Vintage Halloween + Photo Inspiration

Jack O Lantern

Hello everyone, don't like Mondays that much but we do at least have some sunshine today which is a surprise after a somewhat rainy weather forecast-glad it was wrong!
I have an entry here for the Macabre Monday HDH059 Dastardly Delicious Digis Challenge (really love the title) having already got out my spooky stuff this morning for another project when this popped up on my reading list on Crafty Chaos Susan's blog so I couldn't resist doing it.

Unusually for me there is no stamping involved here at all as the only spooky stamp I own at the moment is an image one so my digital collage sheets from Dezinaworld came to the rescue. I decided on the witch collage and then added legs and a hat to the pumpkin to make him look a liitle like Jack O Lantern who really gives me the creeps. I used background papers from the Polka Doodles Halloween Download Bundle which has some really great eclectic style papers which I'll be using on my next spooky creation.

Polka Doodles Challenge - Fancy Folding

Hello everyone, it's Friday yet again and I've spent the week starting to sort out my craft stuff which is why I haven't been blogging.
I went to Ally Pally on Sunday and spent a lovely day catching up with people (Hels, Jennie, Lin and Mark Brown, Wendy of Stamps & Memories amongst others), watching some great demos and meeting up with blogging buddie Cheryl and her daughter Lisa. It was really lovely to see you Cheryl and thank you once again for the gorgeous little suitcase and atcs, I am thrilled to bits with these.

It's now time for me to tell you about this week's challenge over at Polka Doodles which has been set by Dee. Dee would like to see some fancy or interesting folding on your creation and in common with several other DT members (great minds think alike!) I decided to try making a side stair step card. After searching the internet for a while, I found a template for making one out of almost a whole sheet of A4 card so thanks to Julie of Julie's Crafty Creations for this and you can find the template and instructions HERE

This is not a very good photo so you might want to click on the image to see it better.
I made the base card from pale blue hammered card and then added paper and elements from the new Sundae of Seasons CD which has just launched on Create and Craft TV. I used gingham paper from the Baby collection and all the other pretty butterflies and dotty flowers come from the Summer collection. There are so many elements on this CD that the number of cards you can make is likely to be endless - definitely a must have!
I do have one tip for you if you don't have one of the cutters that most of the crafters making side step cards seem to have. I cut my line with a craft knife, having first pierced a hole at each end. This helps to make the cut more accurate and don't forget that if you do get a slightly fluffy bit at the end, you can always cover it up by adding an element that goes over the edge.

Movie Queen

I'm on a roll here with my second post of the day which is my entry for this week's Sunday Stampers challenge, More Like The Movies. The first time in ages too as I've been so busy lately that I don't know where the last few weeks went - I think my 2 girls stole them if you know what I mean!
My entry is somewhat retro as it was determined by the stamps I own and stuff already printed out in my stash. It also concerns my favourite movie queeen, Audrey Hepburn, whom I still consider to be the most elegant woman ever.

I made a background on white card with black ink and B Line Designs Eiffel Tower, Art Impressions Manhattan Skyline and a film strip which I think is by Stamp Attack.
I stamped Audrey by B Line Designs in black on blue and vermillion card and cut out squares.
I assembled the card with the addition of some cinema tickets from the Eclectic section of the Polka Doodles Not For Girls CD and some text made with a Dymo machine.

I'm now off to do a VAT return - how about that for down to earth with a bump!

Polka Doodles Challenge - Hidden Element

Morning all, it's Friday yet again so it must be Polka Doodles time and this week's challenge has been set by teamie Claire who would like to see a hidden element in your creation.
I have to admit that I cheated slightly with mine, still being printerless and had to make my card from scraps left over from my samples for Nikky's fab new CD, Sundae of Seasons.
I made a simple gate fold card which reveals a pretty inside when opened up.

I made a floral wreath from the gorgeous flowers and leaves in the Autumn scetion of the CD and I just love the beautiful colours here (probably because I'm an Autumn girl myself lol)
I added some of the pretty papers to the front of the gatefold, cutting part out with an oval cutter to show off the wreath better.
I covered the inside with some more pretty paper and added a greeting from the large slection together with a pretty basket of flowers which match the flowers on the wreath.
How easy is that!
You have until 12 noon on Sunday 3 October to upload your creations and please don't forget our 10 challenge rule as we often have to discount the most beautiful creations because of this.

I also have some news which I forgot to tell you about in that on Monday I found out that I won last week's challenge over at Craft Your Passion and am now the proud owner of 2 lovely digital stamps from Lauretta and Corinne. Thanks ladies!

Polka Doodles Challenge - Easel Card

Another post from me today as being Friday, it's Polka Doodles challenge time again. This week's theme of EASEL CARDS has been chosen by team mate Brenda as she says she's addicted to them - I second that as I just love them too! Good wishes go out to Brenda too as she's been feeling under the weather lately - hope you feel much better soon Brenda.
My contribution is one of the samples I made for Nikky from the absolutely stunning collection of papers, images and sentiments on the brand new Polka Doodles CD, Sundae of Seasons. I have no idea how Nikky managed to fit all this on one CD as there's a massive amount of stash there all ready to be printed out. Nikky is on Create and Craft TV on Monday 20 September at 10am and the show is a must just to see the variety on this year round CD.
My easel card has been made from the stunning Sewing collection which is a favourite of mine as my younger daughter is starting her Fashion degree at Kingston University next week and we will be taking her up there tomorrow (along with a massive amount of stuff!)

I'm sure you can see from the photos why I love this collection so much and I have to say the collection of papers on there is from my point of view, the best yet. The papers have a very vintage feel to them rather like fabric and the colours are so beautiful with lots of deep reds, greens and teals with some softer pinks, aqua and golds.
Don't you just love the mannequin here which can be cut out too and there are also some black and white versions to colour yourself or print out on patterned paper.
The challenge is open until 12 noon on Sunday 26 September and don't forget to take a look at the other DT creations as there's some very spooky stuff there!
I'm also going to enter my card in the Craft Your Passion challenge with the theme of Easel Cards and the Crafts and Me challenge with the same theme.

Polka Doodles Sketch Recipe Challenge

Morning folks, it's Friday again (don't know where the last week went!) so it's time for another challenge at Polka Doodles which has been set by our head doodler Nikky. Nikky has been very busy working on the new CD which is on Create and Craft TV on 20 September and she will also be at the Harrogate show over the weekend, so if you're lucky enough to be going do pop over and say hello to her.
Now, on to the challenge which is a sketch and a recipe - follow the sketch, add 3 brads and no fabric ribbon allowed.

I've rotated the sketch for my card so that the flap opens on the right hand side:

I've used papers and embellishments from the Paper Boutique CD, the Secret Garden and Floral Bouquet sections and printed out the blue scroll paper on both sides so that my opening flap had the design on the inside of the flap. I trimmed the edge with scallop scissors for a pretty finish.
I added a lovely butterfly from the Stampies section of the All Around & Everywhere CD and my 3 brads finished off the opening bar.
The rest of the DT have created some fabulous takes on the sketch, rotating it every which way, so if you're stuck for inspiration do take a look as it's easier than you might think.
I've got a very busy weekend ahead as I have to post off my samples for the fabulous new CD on Monday (I absolutely love this one which will be the most used ever for reasons which will become clear when you see what's on it!!!) and my daughter Claire is going back to Sheffield uni tomorrow and at this stage, I have no idea how all her stuff is going to fit in the car - she might have to sit on the roof!
Have a great weekend.

Polka Doodles Challenge - Shaped Card

Happy Friday everyone, the weekend is nearly here and it's time for a new challenge over at Polka Doodles which this week has been set by our techno whizz teamie, Ruth.
You will notice that the theme is to make a shaped card, by which Ruth means an unusual shape rather than circles, squares etc. but silly me saw that Ruth wanted the DT to use some of the fabulous Polka Doodles templates for shapes and totally missed the shaped card bit. What an idiot I am!
Having missed the shaped bit, as I wanted to do something a bit different, I chose the Baking Time set to make a recipe folder. This came about because my younger daughter is off to Kingston uni in a couple of weeks, having gained a Distinction in her Art Foundation course, and at the moment we're trying to gather all the things she needs. She loves baking so a recipe folder was on her list and here's the one I made:

You can probably see from the photo which designer inspired this and I found some Polka Doodles papers and decorative elements which capture the style perfectly.
I painted the edges and spine of a plain kraft ring binder from W H Smith with blue acrylic paint. I then covered the file with papers from the Funky Flower section of the Paper Boutique CD as they're in mouth watering shades. I trimmed the edges of the pieces with pinking shears before sticking them on to give a pretty fabric look.
i then used the template to trace and cut out the apron, complete with pockets, and the oven gloves from some of the contrasting polka dot papers. I inked all the edges to make the pieces pop out more.
I decorated the file with some of the yummy strawberries and embellishments from the Candy Doodles CD and then added the apron and gloves.
The back is covered with pretty flower dot paper from the same set with a strawberry band to make everything match. A photo of this will be going on later when the light lets me take a decent one.

You have until 12 noon on Sunday 12 September to get your entries in and don't forget to have a look at the rest of the DT creations as most of them are shaped cards made with just some of the great templates on offer.