Polka Doodles Challenge - Stamp Away!

Morning everyone on this bright and somewhat breezy Friday. It's time for a new challenge over at Polka Doodles and this week it's Lou's turn to chose the theme. She would like to see Stamping on your creations and she challenged all the Design Team to make a card using just stamps, the gorgeous Fairy Flutterbys collection available only from Polka Doodles.
As I'm sure you all know, this is exactly the type of challenge I love as it's really me. I chose to make an easel shape card and made a resist style background with a slight difference. Read on to find out how!

I made my background paper by stamping the large flower from the Babsie collection all over a piece of white card. I ended up stamping it in Encore Ultimate Metallic pigment ink which is the stickiest I know as it took me 3 attempts to stamp and embosss the flowers - the hot weather made the other pigment inks dry off more quickly than I could get the embossing powder on!!! As the ink is coloured, I embossed with white powder.
I then coloured the flowers with Promarkers in yellow and orange.  The next step is to sponge Distress ink in between the flowers - I used Tumbled Glass. This made a pretty, colourful background but I think this would look fabulous with gold embossing too (note to self - try this soon). I cut the paper and used a square on the front of the card and the remaining strip on the base.
I stamped the very cute Gracie, the butterfly wings and 2 of the little ladybird in black ink and coloured them with Promarkers. I then cut them all out. I used a Nestabilities circle and scalloped circle to make a frame for her to sit on and embossed the white circle with the Sissix Floral Flourishes & Vines set. I did the same with a matching border strip (Tip - as the border strip was too big to fit all of it in the embossing folder, I embossed both the ends only as the middle is hidden). I inked all the edges with yellow.
The card is assembled as you see in the photos with tape and foam tape and the greeting came from the Gracie set too.
If you pop over to the challenge blog, you'll see how versatile the stamps are as there are several ideas using the stamps by other members of the DT as some of us picked the same stamps.

Shy Girl

Hello folks, hope you've all had a lovely weekend and some good weather. It's been trying to rain a little here on the South coast today but the sunshine has just appeared again.
I'm here with my rather late entry for the current challenge at Ready, Steady, Stamp which I started just over a week ago and then had to stop for a while due to other commitments. I managed to finish it off yesterday evening at last. For those of you that don't know, the challenge rules have changed a bit and now every 2 weeks one of the Design Team members will make a project and list the ingredients used. The challenge is to make something using at least 5 of the ingredients and I found this good fun as the list this time is quite long and there are plenty of things to choose from.
I used the following on my card:

Cream, Brown and Green

Rectangles

Embossed Metal/Metal Embellishment

Distress Inks

Dry Embossing

I made my background paper using my grunge technique with Distress inks in Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint and one of the lovely stamps from the Inkadinkado Garden Delight clear stamp set which I really love as the stamps included are so useful. I stuck this to a cream card blank I made.

I made a frame for the lovely photo from June's Art Freebies blog by cutting a piece of cream card and stamping all around the edges in VersaFine Vintage Sepia using a tiny Anna Griffin flourish stamp. I put the photo on a mat of brown paper and then on the stamped panel.

I then embossed a panel of cream card with the Sissix Tim Holtz Alterations Damask embossing folder and put this on a panel of brown paper trimmed on both long edges with the Martha Stewart Arch Lattice punch. I added this to the card with some brown floral ribbon and the photo panel.

As a finishing touch, I made a metal foil flower using a Woodware floral cut and emboss punch. I deepened the embossing effect with a ball tool and rubbed on Olive Green StazOn ink. I then bent the petals for a 3D effect and added a little black StazOn to the edges to make them stand out. I then added a Making Memories round embossed metal brad in the centre.

Polka Doodles Challenge - Summer Theme

Morning everyone, it's Friday yet again and I don't know where the last week has gone. I've been doing lots of crafting but can't show you anything yet as most of it has been samples for Nikky who will be demoing at the craft show on 17 and 18 July at Doncaster Race Course. She will have loads of new products with her and all the DT have been making samples for the show. If you're going, do go and say hello and have a look at the new stuff, you can take it from me that it's fabulous!
On to this weeks challenge which has been chosen by Enfys and owing to the current very warm weather, the theme is Summer so your challenge is to make anything you like to show what Summer means to you.
Summer to me mostly means being able to enjoy all the lovely flowers in my garden together with the butterflies that we get a lot of as we have all the shrubs that they like (some of my favourites too luckily)
I've made a birthday card with flowers and butterflies for someone special (can't say who as they might just see this).

I used some pretty backing paper from the Sugar Birdies CD. The flowers are part of the extra layering flowers that come with the Funky Flower 3D card on the Paper Boutique 1 CD. The butterflies are from the All Around & Everywhere CD - a whole A4 sheet of them, ready coloured or black and white for you to colour yourself. I added heart shaped gems to the bodies for a bit of bling. I added a round greeting from the same CD to finish. A really quick and easy card to make.
You have until 12 noon on Sunday 18 July to uplaod your creations and don't forget to take a look at the lovely things made by the rest of the DT.
Fliss xx

Remembrance

I'm on a roll here with my second post today with my entry for this week's challenge at Sunday Stampers run by Hels Sheridan with the theme of Pearls. This is something I loved doing as I think pearls are my favourite type of embellishment at the moment, along with butterflies.
Here's my card:

The image I've used here is a slightly size adjusted postcard from my free vintage downloads (see side labels) so if you like it please help yourself. It's actually very versatile as you can just cut out the image and the verse to use separately if you like.
The background paper is made using Distress inks (no surprise there!) and using a technique which is my twist on a more familiar one and not quite as messy (still got inky fingers though!). I'll be posting a tutorial on this next week together with some cards I've made. The colours I used here are Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Spun Sugar and Victorian Velvet. I stamped on an image from a tiny set by Prima - Go Green Concepts 850715 which has 3 stamps and some bling. I used the Victorian Velvet ink.
I made a card blank from dusky pink card and used part of the left over strip to make a central border, trimmed with scallop scissors. I added pink crochet lace, some yellow pearls and a butterfly sticker to finish off.

Polka Doodles Challenge - Decorative Item

Hello folks, it's Friday yet again (don't know where time goes these days!) and so it's time for another Polka Doodles challenge which has been chosen this week by team member Claire.
As the latest Polka Doodles CD, Paper Boutique 2 Creative Christmas, launched on Create and Craft TV last Sunday, and has lots of decorative style elements, Claire would like to see something decorative for your challenge creation.
This is something I've been doing a lot more of lately as those of you kindly following my blog will know. I decided to make a wall hanging piece of art suitable for someone who's just moved house or someone who just wants to brighten up their home.

I've used a piece of mount board as the base and covered this with some clever house text paper from the Back To Nature CD. This has a white background and is very versatile as you can print it out on any colour card for a different look. I chose blue card. I then added a central panel of green polka dot paper from the All Around & Everywhere CD.
I printed out some of the pretty houses and trees from the All Around CD and added these to the panel with foam mount for a 3D effect. I then added some gingham paper ribbon strips from the Back To Nature CD and the arched text at the top was taken from one of the black and white images in the Housey, Housey section of the same CD.
I then made a flower using the pretty gingham floral layering pieces from the All Around CD which I cut out inside the black lines and scrunched up before sticking them together and gluing a flower shaped button in the centre.
I finished off by piercing holes in the top corners with my trusty Tonic Tim Holtz hole piercer which seemed to make short work of the thick mount board. I pushed blue thick wire through the holes and twisted the ends, then added pieces of knotted gingham and dotty ribbon.
Do have a look at the gorgeous creations made by the rest of the DT. I particularly like Jenny's clever and yummy looking ice cream sundae box and will be trying this out.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Hello everyone, I'm here today with a very late entry for the current Ready Steady Stamp challenge which closes today having got rather behind due to DT work (will be back tomorrow to show you the samples made for Polka Doodles Nikky's TV show which was on Sunday and went really well with the brand new CD selling like hot cakes).
Here's the recipe to follow:

I've made a piece of artwork using a lovely house shaped shadow box which I bought at the Craft Barn extravaganza. They've got quite a lot of really useful blanks so it's well worth a look at the website as they're also very good value as this one cost me just £1.75 (an absolute bargain!!!). I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with my blogging friend Fiona and see some great demonstrators including Jean and Malcolm from Crafty Individuals, Kay Carley, Beatrice Neumeister, Leandra Franich, Lin Brown and of course Isabelle Norris of the RSS challenge.
Here's my artwork:

I painted the frame with turquoise and purple acrylic paint and then rubbed on white, turquoise and lime VersaColor inks to tone it down a little. I stamped flowers from the Inkadinkado Garden Delight clear set on in Memento Grape Jelly and white ink.
I then made the central rectangular panel by using direct to paper technique with the VersaColor lime ink on white card then stamped on flowers in the same lime together with turquoise and some grape.
I stamped the butterfly on white card with the grape ink and also on acetate in StazOn royal purple ink and cut them out when dry. I bent the acetate wings up slightly, stuck the butterflies together and glued them in the corner of the frame.
I stamped a Magenta heart image twice with the grape ink, cut out just the centre of one and inked with lime. I then did the bit I wasn't sure about which was to hand write all the text with a purple Promarker and a purple fine liner,  cut them into rectangles and ink the pieces with lime. I assembled the remaining pieces as shown in the photo.

Wings To Fly

Hello everyone, hope you've had a lovely weekend and aren't too upset by the abismal football result this afternoon. I didn't watch much of the match and was astounded to switch on the TV at around 4.30 and see the score so promptly switched off again!!!
We also had a bit more drama here a bit later on when I went to open the sun lounge door again having shut it to stop a huge bumble bee coming in the house. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of our 2 rabbits on the outer window sill of the sun lounge (about 4 feet off the ground!!!!) and rushed out to find that the upper door of the 2 storey cage was open and she had climbed out and somehow managed to get round to the back of the cage onto the sill.  Was my OH in trouble as he obviously didn't shut the door properly! It took me quite some time to calm down afterwards and poor Rosie was upset too.

I'm here today with a card which fits 2 challenges. The lovely bright summery colours are those from the current Play Date Cafe challenge 35 chosen by Sarah Anderson.

The second challenge is the Gingersnap Creations GC57 Chestnut Theme Challenge - Wings as my image stamp has wings.

I really loved working with these colours as they're perfect in the lovely sunshine we're having as the moment.
I made my background strips by tearing pieces of white card which I then sponged with Distress inks in Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade and Broken China (with some VersaColor Turquoise rubbed over the top). I then stamped on various images from the Inkadinkado Garden Delight 97623 clear set in the same inks except for one of the orange ones which I stamped with Vintage Photo DI.
I stamped the image Crafty Individuals CI-137 in VersaFine Vintage Sepia on My Minds Eye Pretty Please orange dot paper and cut her out. I then die cut some flourishes from old music score using the Sissix Fancy Flourishes 655675 set and inked these with the Vintage Photo ink.
I assembled the card as you see with a couple of contrast strips of old music score trimmed with the Martha Stewart Doiley Lace punch and a computer generated text panel.

Anniversary

Today my lovely hubby Andrew and I are celebrating our 28th Wedding Anniversary and I can't believe how the years have flown. I think they started to fly by after our 2 daughters were born. They're now 21 and 19 and sometimes it seems like only yesterday that they were toddlers.
I've made a card for the occasion which fits Hels Sheridan's current Sunday Stampers theme, Metal Guru.

As you can see, it's got quite a lot of metal. I actually used metal foil which I wrapped round thin squares of card and then embossed in the Cuttlebug using the Kimmy-luvs heart folder and the Sissix Tim Holtz Alterations Damask Texture Fades folder.
I rubbed Palette Belle Rose ink over the heart embossed squares to emphasize the pattern. I then stamped some hearts by Hampton Art in VersaFine Crimson Red ink on white card and embossed them with red pearl powder. I cut them out and stuck them on the damask squares.
I then cut a square of white card and stamped on a border design from the Impression Obsession Ornate Borders WP130 clear set in the red ink. I stuck this to a dark red card blank and then glued on the squares.
This evening my hubby and I are going out for a meal and then we're off to the movies to see a film. I'm really looking forward to this as we don't seem to get out as much these days. I think you get out of the habit once you have children but hopefully this will change in the autumn when we have 2 girls at uni.

Polka Doodles Challenge - Card For A Boy

Hello all on this fine sunny day which is why I'm sneezing loads lol. It's time for the new challenge over at Polka Doodles and this week Brenda has chosen the theme which is to make a Card for a Boy .

Before I show you my card, I need to let you all know that on Sunday Nikky will be on Create and Craft TV with the brand new Polka Doodles CD which is being launched at 2pm (very lucky as the footie starts at 3pm so you can wrestle the remote off those footie fans to watch her!!!). Do watch if you can as there's some fabulous stuff on there which the DT have all been working on over the past week and I'm still covered in glitter (it seems to get everywhere!) so you can probably guess what the new CD's about.

Here's my card for the challenge which is very simple to show off the cute image I chose with my middle niece's little boy in mind as he will be 3 years old soon.

I just know he'll love this little fellow who reminds me of Brian from the Magic Roundabout which I still remember after so many years.
He's from the All Around & Everywhere CD (says she pausing to sneeze lol) and I printed him out quite large, cut him out and stuck him with foam tape to a card blank made from background paper from the Candy Doodles CD - don't you just love that dotty effect.
To finish off all I did was print out a piece of background paper from the Not So Plain Plains on the Not For Girls CD (these have a lovely linen texture print) and computer genetated my sentiment which I printed on the paper and punched out.

Don't forget to watch the show on Sunday and you will find all the details on the Polka Doodles website.

Age Is Just A Number

Hello everyone, hope you're having a lovely weekend with some good weather. It's sunny here although rather windy at the moment and I've been suffering with hayfever all week due to wind from the North blowing something off the South Downs.
I'm here today with an entry which fits 3 challenges, the first being Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stamper with the theme of Numbers as she's just celebrated a milestone birthday. The next is Gingersnap Creations GC56 Colour Theme, Burgundy, Ivory and Black which I've just managed to scrape into as it closes tomorrow. The last one is Hilda's Lots To Do Challenge with a theme of Quotes for which I've used one of my ever useful Penny Black stamps. I think along with Tim Holtz, they do some of the best quotes I've come across.
The card I've made was inspired by my very lively mother in law who is now in her 80s. She had an operation a couple of weeks ago to clear a blocked artiery. This took 3 hours during which time she was conscious and aware of what was happening, and it apparently took a long time because the surgeon said her artieries were looped like a roller coaster!!! She had a rest in bed the next day but I was astounded to hear that the day after this, less than 48 hours after the operation, she went out shopping with my father in law!!! The quote I've used here is perfect to describe her and I have great admiration for her determination to get on with life no matter what it throws at her.

The colour is a little washed out in the photo as my camera always struggles with yellowish tones so the ivory is really a little stronger than you can see here.
The card was quite simple to make. I embossed 2 ivory and 2 burgundy 7cm squares with the Sissix Tim Holtz Bingo folder numbers and rubbed burgundy ink over those on the ivory squares. I stamped Paperbag Studios Laugh PBS-004-1 in black on ivory card and layered it up on burgundy, ivory and black card. I stamped the quote, Penny Black's the Life 2709F in black on ivory card, cut it out and inked the edges with black.
I stuck the squares to a square of black card, stuck this to an ivory textured card blank and then glued on the remaining elements as shown.
All that remains is for me to say thank you to the Gingersnap Team who have been kind enough to give me 2 Ginger Gem awards in the last 2 weeks, a really great surprise and honour for which I can't thank you all enough.

Polka Doodles Challenge - Fathers Day/Male Theme

Good morning folks, it's time for the next Polka Doodles challenge and this week's theme has been chosen by Dee. As it the day for all those dads on Sunday, Dee would like to see something for Fathers Day or male themed and what you make is up to you.
I've just realised that it's a week since I last blogged, unfortunately having been very busy with my work and no time for crafting! That will change over the weekend though as the new Polka Doodles CD comes out on 27 June on Create and Craft TV and Nikky has been working very hard to get all the new images over to the DT so that we can make samples for the show.
Anyway, back to this week's challenge and I've made a very vintage style card on a music theme.

I was inspired by a certain musical which came straight to mind when I saw these gorgeous grungy, vintage style papers on the Not For Girls CD in the Sounds Good section.
My card is very simple to make. I resized the music background paper and printed it on the right side of a piece of A4 card which I scored and folded in half to make my card blank. I then resized the jazz player twice and printed this out. I cut out the whole panel of the smaller on and matted this on dark red card with a wide border at the base. I added 3 tarnished silver star brads on one side. I then cut out the larger jazz player round the image and added him with foam tape. I assembled the card as you see with some cut out music notes from the instrument sheet and text printed with a Dymo.
You have until 12 noon on Sunday 27 June to upload your creations and good luck if you decide to enter. Don't forget to have a look at the other DT creations as there's some fabulous stuff there.

Polka Doodles Challenge - Nursery Rhymes

It's Friday again so it's Polka Doodles time and this week the challenge has been set by Nettie who is looking forward to a very happy event and her chosen theme is Nursery Rhymes.
I chose to base my card on Mary, Mary Quite Contrary as my 2 girls really loved this particular one when they were little.

I picked Polly from the Sugar Birdies CD as my image as I think she looks a bit cheeky and naughty which is how I imagine Mary.
I've used one of the lovely shaped elements from the Back To Nature CD to make the card blank itself. I printed it out, cut it out and glued it to a folded card so that the shaped top remained scalloped.
The toadstools and butterflies are from the All Around & Everywhere CD and the flowers from the Paper Boutique CD, the Floral Bouquet collection.
As you can see, all the CDs work very well together, giving you even more projects to make if you have more than one CD.
You have until 12 noon on Sunday 20 June to upload your creations and please remember the rule that you can only combine your entry with 9 other challenges, making 10 in total. We get entries every week that we have to disqualify because they're entered in too many challenges which is a real shame.

She's Got The Look

Hello folks and I hope you're all doing OK this week. I'm here with my finished entry for the latest Ready, Steady, Stamp challenge with the ingredient list below:

Some of you probably know that my younger daughter has been doing an Art Foundation course prior to her degree and she will be studying for a Fashion degree at Kingston in September. As I'm always surrounded by her works in progress and various fashion magazines, this particular challenge is right up my street so I hope you like what I've made.

I found a fascinating Good Housekeeping book about the 1950s a little while ago so my card was inspired by the fashion adverts in there. I've used a couple of them on the card as they fit my theme perfectly.
I made 2 background paper panels, the first being Tim Holtz's Old Paisley stamped in black on white card. The second uses Hampton Art's Scratch Pattern 2635J and was stamped repeatedly in Distress Crushed Olive and then black to make a plaid pattern. I glued these to my card blank.
I then added to 2 cut out images, some small fabric swatches and sequins. I added a text panel from the book and a Dymo text strip at the top.
I made my half flower embellishment by punching 2 black and 2 white hearts and sticking them together in an overlapping fashion to make the shape you see. I then embossed the piece with the Tim Holtz Alterations Sissix Damask folder and stuck a green sequin in the centre.

A Little Bird Told Me

Here's my second post with a card I've made for this week's Sunday Stampers Challenge and Hels' theme is Wings of A Dove so anything with wings goes.
I decided to stick with the birds and have made a card from bits and pieces in my experiment box. Happily I found a few using different techniques that I think work well together (I hope you do too!). Here's the card:

Here are the techniques used:
Diamond Paper - Twist on Resist Technique using an Impression Obsession border stamp, crystal embossing powder, Vintage Photo and Spiced Marmade Distress ink and Palette Landscape permanent ink.
Scroll Paper - simply hammered texture card rubbed with Olive VersaColor ink and stamped with Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz flourish.
Butterfly Paper - thick watercolour paper rubbed with Topaz VersaColor ink, stamped with a butterfly background in Vintage Sepia VersaFine ink and then sponged with Distress inks in Spiced Mamalade, Crushed Olive and Vintage Photo.
Tiny Border Strip - a small scrap of Watercolour Crayon Technique paper which was embossed and well as stamped on.
Flower Embossed Panel - simply cream card embossed with the flower scroll folder from the Sissix Floral Flourishes and Vines Set. This was then sponged with Spiced Marmalade, Crushed Olive and Scattered Straw Distress inks and swiped with Vintage Photo.
The bird stamp is Crafty Individuals CI-193 and was coloured with Prisma pencils and a little Distress ink to blend the colours.
The flower is by Crafty Notions and was painted with Twinkling H20 paint in Garnet.

A Man Of Words

Hello everyone, hope you're having gorgeous weather as we have here today. I woke up this morning to 20 degrees and the warmest day so far this year.
This is my first post today as I had stamping club this morning so managed to finish off a couple of cards. This one is for my father in law's birthday next month and has just scraped into the Gingersnap Creations GC54 Spicy Supply Challenge-Pencils as it uses the pencil stamp that I bought about a month ago. My father in law is the published author of a book about military defence in Sussex and has another one about to come out so the pencils were perfect for him.

I stamped the pencils, which are by Lost Coast Designs and from Happy Daze, in VersaFine Toffee ink on beige card and cut them out. I stamped the man (from Paper Artsy Man Of Numbers Plate 6) in black on beige card and trimmed to a panel.
I embossed some olive green card with my new Tim Holtz Sissix Alterations folder (Patchwork) and rubbed Umber and Atlantic VersaColor inks on.
I assembled the card as shown with the text made from Dymo printed on black tape and copper steel letter stickers.

Polka Doodles Challenge - Modern/Retro Anniversary

Morning folks, it's Polka Doodles time again and the theme set by Lou is to make an Anniversary card with a Modern/ Retro style.
It's Lou and her hubby's anniversary so Happy Anniversary to both of you and hope you share lots more.
I've gone rather cute for mine as I couldn't resist the gorgeous owls on the Love & Cherish CD from The Twoo of Us collection.

I've chosen to make an easel shape card in shades of pink. mint green and chocolate brown (I'm thinking Neopolitan ice cream here lol). I made the card sections from pink Bazzill card and added a mint green panel to the front, embossed with the Cuttlebug Kimmy Luvs folder. I managed to emboss this on the whole of the panel by a bit of nifty lining up on the second go through the Cuttlebug and the slightly squished bit is hidden under the owl panel.
I added a second panel of owl paper and a border made with the Martha Stewart Doyley Lace double edge punch glued on to chocolate brown paper from the Not for Girls CD for contrast. I stuck the owl panel from the toppers section to more of the brown paper and trimmed the edges with deckle scissors. I added this to the card front and put pearls in the flower centres.
I finished off by adding another embossed green panel to the base, together with a pretty border from the topper sheet and a greeting cut out with the Nestabilities scalloped oval set and matted on brown.
I can also now tell you that we have 3 brand new Polka Doodlers from the recent DT call so welcome to:
Jenny, Lisa and Tracy
Looking forward to working with you ladies and seeing what you create with your Polka Doodles stash.

Flower Girl

Hello everyone, hope you're having a good weekend and that you've got better weather than we've had as it's been raining most of the day - typical Bank Holiday weather!
I'm here at last with my entry for this week's Sunday Stamper and Hels' theme is Ripped and Torn. Managed to finish it earlier but stopped to watch Dr Who which was a bit sad this week. I'm really enjoying the new series as Matt makes a great Dr to replace David Tennant who was my fave one ever. Any way, enough of that and here's what I made:

Sorry about the slightly wonky photo which I had to take in the sun lounge as it was the only place the light was good enough. I had to balance and try not to fall over the piles of bathroom tiles in there.
I made the background paper by stamping a flower from Crafty Notions Blossoms and Leaves all over in Versamark ink then embossing with clear powder. I rubbed Distress inks in Tumbled Glass, Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet and Scattered Straw over the top. I then tore all the edges.
I then tore the bottom of a piece of corrugated card and painted it in streaks of green, blue, white and copper. I stamped the butterfly from Crafty Notions Pansy stamp plate and painted it with Majestic Blue H20 paint.
I used one of my own vintage images from an old postcard and put this on a mat of coppery foil. If you like the image, you can download her via the Vintage Downloads label on my side bar, along with another vintage postcard.
I finished off with a greeting from Butterfly Kisses Art Collage clear stamp set.

In Gear

Second post of the day with my finally finished card for the current Ready, Steady, Stamp challenge. I have to admit I had a real struggle with this one as it's racing themed and that's not something the men in my family like that much so I was a bit stuck for ingredients.
Here's the recipe:

And here's my card:

I made a stripy background paper using Distress inks in Barn Door and Mustard Seed and 2 stamps - Anita's Distressed Stripes and Hampton Art Scratch Pattern 2635. I inked over the scratch pattern with the yellow ink.
I stamped the car - Inkadinkado 91406X - in black on mount board and embossed it with clear UTEE. I inked round the edges with permanent black. I inked some of Maya Road's chipboard gears with Black Soot Distress ink.
I made a small journalling panel with a Paper Artsy script stamp and inked it with the red and yellow inks. My Polka Doodles Not For Girls CD came to the rescue with some car themed background paper and I assembled the card as you see after inking the edges of the pieces with black.

Polka Doodles Challenge - Sew and Sew

It's Friday folks so it's time for the next Polka Doodles challenge which has been chosen by Lou and is called SEW AND SEW. Lou would like to see stitching on your projects whether it be real or faux, the choice is yours.
My card has both as there is hand stitching involved as well as some drawing. I've also been a bit sneaky here as the card is one of the samples I made for Nikky for the TV but as it fits the theme perfectly, it seemed a shame not to use it.

All the elements here come from the All Around & Everywhere CD and I chose a blue and brown colour theme as I wanted to use some pretty lace that I found in a local shop where the owner has a passion for ribbon. She has the largest and cheapest selection of ribbons, braid and lace I've ever seen.
I printed out one of the pretty stacking roses and cut out the pieces, layering them up with foam tape and curling the edges upwards. I added a punch out button to the centre and covered it with a clear dimensional sticker. I then took a piece of lace and stitched down one long edge, gathering it up into a pleated circle which I attached the rose to.
I cut a piece of polka dot paper to fit the card blank and drew faux zig zag stitching all around the edges with a fine brown pen. I stuck this on and then added a central strip of lace and one of the pretty borders. I stuck the rose on then added pearls and one of the circular punch out sentiments to finish.
You have until 12 noon on Sunday 6 June to get your entries in and good luck.

Elusive Flower

Hope you've all had a gorgeous day like we have here. It's been hot and sunny all day which has been fabulous after such a long cold spell.
I'm here with my entry for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge, no 30 would you believe, and here's the inspirational photo and colours that Mona wants everyone to use:

I was totally inspired by the beautiful bed linen with such a gorgeous print and wanted to create a background paper for my card with a fabric look. The first thing my daughter said on seeing the finished card was that the paper looked just like fabric! She hadn't seen the challenge photo so I'll be interested to know what everyone else thinks.

I made the card with a set of Elusive Images stamps which I got free when I subscribed to Craft Stamper magazine a little while ago.

The background paper was made using my Watercolour Crayon Technique (see Tutorial link on side bar) and I used Pale Yellow and Pink Neocolor 11 crayons. I stamped the flourish design on top with Crushed Olive Distress ink.
I stamped the flower with black dye ink and coloured it with Promarkers to match in with the colours of the challenge. I ran a green ink pad round the edges and stuck pink pearls in the corners.
I made a central border with toning Bazzill card trimmed with the Martha Stewart double dot scallop punch and added a strip of pearls. The greeting is Hobby Art GC1676B and was stamped in black dye ink.  I overstamped with the flower and pink ink to soften the effect a little and ran the green ink round the edges.

Dreams

Hello folks, hope you've all got the gorgeous sunny weather we have here on the South coast today. It's certainly made the birds happy as they're being very noisy outside my window.
I have a card here which fits 2 challenges, the first being Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stamper  with a theme this week of Red and the second is Gingersnap Creations Random Redhead Challenge GC55 with a theme of Quotes.

I really enjoyed making this as it gave me a chance to use a gorgeous family photo taken in 1926 of my mother's much older cousin, May. I scanned the photo and gave it a red wash in Photoshop which really brought out some of the details not quite so prominent in the original sepia.
The background paper is a square of watercolour paper which I first stamped on with 2 squares of Ranger Cut 'n' Dry with Barn Door and Spun Sugar Distress inks. I then stamped on them again to add just a touch of Aged Mahogany and Fired Brick.
I then stamped on the lighter squares some of the images from Impression Obsession's Ornate Squares CL120 clear set with VersaFine Crimson Red ink. On the darker squares, I stamped a further design in black. I then stamped the small flower in the gaps with the VersaFine ink.
I stamped B Line Designs Large Butterfly FF115D in black and coloured just one side with Distress inks. I stamped the quote, Penny Black ...Dreams 2711F in the VersaFine ink, cut it out and sponged with Distress inks.
I assembled the card as shown in the photo.

Polka Doodles Challenge - Something For Mum

Hello folks, it's time for this week's Polka Doodles challenge which is my turn to choose the theme and I want to see Something For Mum as yesterday 20 May was my dear Mum's birthday and as those of you who know me are aware, we lost her 5 years ago after a few years battle with Alzheimers' Disease. I always think of her a lot around this time so that's why I chose this theme.
You can make whatever you like whether it be a card, a gift, a scrapbook layout and so on as long as it has Mum in mind. I also want you to use her favourite colours of Blue and Peach/Orange.
I decided to make a keepsake with the best photo I have of my Mum when she was 21 years old. As you'll see it was taken around 1950 so she has the hairstyle of the day which really suited her.

I've chosen to use some of the pretty peach and blue papers from the latest Polka Doodles CD, All Around & Everywhere with lovely Summer themed collections.
I covered a 20cm square of mount board with peach dotty paper and then made a patchwork pattern at the bottom with 4cm squares of co-ordinating papers. I cut a piece of the flower text paper, following the lines of the text for a lovely wavy effect. I stuck this on the upper half.
I mounted my photo on some blue polka dot paper and added this along with some stitched ribbon, a flower coloured with Promarkers, some peach pearls and the text panel using letters from the Back To Nature CD printed out on blue paper and cut out.
You have until Sunday 30 May to get your entries in and I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
You'll also like to know that Polka Doodles is having a DT CALL  at the moment as we've lost a couple of teamies recently and Nikky wants a new creative member for the team. Pop over to the challenge blog if you're interested as there's not much time left to apply.

Blog Candy Winner !!!

Morning everyone, sorry to be so late with posting the winner of my candy. As there are such a lot this time I thought I should use the Random Number Generator and the doing bit was easy, but the getting the result to show on here is not!!!
I entered the maximum number which is 111 after taking out double ups and the number it came up with is 79 which is:

          TAMMY

Many congratulations Tammy and if you email me your snail mail address, I'll pop your candy in the post.

Commiserations to everyone else but I'm afraid there can only be one winner.

Thanks go to everyone who has become a follower over the last couple of weeks. It's lovely to have you all on board and leaving such kind comments.

Butterfly Plaque

Well here's my second post today with my finally finished entry for this week's Play Date Cafe challenge set by Sarah with these colours below to use on your creation:

It's such a lovely photo and gorgeous natural colours even though it's actually peeled paint that I decided to go with nature and have made a round plaque to be hung on the wall or displayed on an easel.

The plaque is made from part of a box which I wanted to recycle as the card is quite thick and ideal for this sort of thing.
I inked all around the edges with VersaColor Lime and then stamped on a small Anna Griffin rose in VersaFine Olympia Green to make a textured looking edge. I then cut a circle of pale blue card and stamped a large Rubber Stampede flower all over in lime and green tea inks. I stuck this to the plaque.
I then stamped the smaller butterfly from Stamp Scapes 14B Butterflies on pale blue card with the VersaFine ink and embossed it with Crystal powder. I cut it out and embossed on the reverse with a large ball tool to make the wings curve.
I stamped one more flower and cut it out, embossed on the back as for the butterfly and stuck over the central flower on the plaque with foam tape. I then stuck the butterfly on with foam tape.
Many thanks due to my dear friend Brenda for pointing out that this fits the May challenge over at Sir Stampalot so I'm entering it in that too.

Angel Art

Hello everyone, it's a gorgeous sunny day here today and much warmer at last so let's hope it decides to stay this time.
I have a card to share with you that I made for the current Ready Steady Stamp challenge which is to use these ingredients:

I really enjoyed doing this one as it gave me the chance to break out my lovely set of Oxford Impressions angel stamps which are fabulous quality and look like photos rather than a stamp.

I made the background paper by stamping Clearly Inspired Stencil Flowers roses in blue metallic pigment ink and embossing with Renaissance Aquatic embossing powder by Enchanted Creations. I then sponged Tumbled Glass Distress ink over the top. I stuck this to my card blank with a piece of embossed silver card from my stash and stuck white crochet lace and silver ribbon over the join.
I stamped the angel (isn't she cute!) on Judikins glossy coated paper in VersaFine Onyx Black and left her to dry. I made a background for her by applying Silver and Stream alcohol inks to acetate which I glued to white card. I put this on a mat of the silver card and then black paper trimmed with the Martha Stewart dot scallop punch. I glued the angel on.
I then inked a wooden heart (I could hear Elvis singing in my head whilst doing this lol) with silver Encore ink and then stamped roses on with blue and embossed with clear powder. The roses went a darker shade of silver when I did this.
I altered a slightly garish metal flower by dabbing on the alcohol inks to tone it down a bit and stuck this to a paper flower (Prima). I finished off by assembling the card as shown with a quote I found and loved which I stamped with the roses in turquoise ink to blend in more.

Dance

Here's my second post today with my entry for this week's Sunday Stampers challenge We Are Golden which is only just in time after a very busy week working on accounts. You can guess what I'd rather do!
For the challenge, Hels wants to see gold on your creation and my entry is the card here:

My first background was made by stamping B Line Designs SE125K Ribbons and Flowers Background on Southfield Stationers parchment paper (the old fashioned kind not the sort used for Pergamano) and embossing it with Ranger Tarnished Gold powder. I then sponged on Ranger Distress inks in Victorian Velvet and Crushed Olive.
The second panel was made by embossing pale lilac card with the embossing folder from the Cuttlebug Ornamental Iron set and then swiping Brilliance Pearlescent Olive ink over the raised areas. When this had dried, I sponged  some VersaColor Lilac ink in the spaces.
I stuck the panels to a gold card blank I made and put a piece of Laura Ashley Love Sonnet ribbon over the join. I printed out the golden ballerina from the Golden Collage Pack by Dezinaworld which I bought from my lovely friend June and then cut her out. I ran the Cool Grey 2 Promarker round the edges for definition.
I printed the text out from the computer, cut it out and then stamped on it using the background stamp and Khaki and Split Pea VersaColor inks. I then added a little Lilac. I assembled the card as shown, adding flowers secured with a gold brad and a gold border sticker from Anitas.

Sunny

Morning everyone, hope you've all got a lovely sunny day like we have here on the South coast. I've found it very inspirational and I have a card to show you that I've managed to make to fit 3 challenges.
In keeping with the lovely weather, I've used warm, sunny colours and my new clear stamp set, Build A Sunflower from Papermania. I saw this in our newly opened branch of The Range and couldn't resist it as I have some of their others and they always stamp so beautifully.

You'll have to excuse the photo which is slightly wonky as I was dodging bright sunlight when I took it so it came out slightly askew (I'm not drunk, honest!!!).
I stamped the sunflower sections in Memories Artprint Brown dye ink and coloured them with Promarkers (Sunflower, Gold and Amber).I cut them out leaving a narrow white border and then went round all the edges with the Amber Promarker to ass emphasis. I stuck them together with ds and foam tape and stuck a dimensional circle over the centre.
I used a mix of papers from the Papermania Sunshine Capsule collection together with a polka dot paper by Polka Doodles from the Paper Boutique CD. I trimmed the edges with small scallop scissors and the polka dot paper was made into a central band by trimming both edges with the Martha Stewart Arch Lattice edge punch.
I covered a small white tag with odd bits of the papers, stamped text from the stamp set on, then inked round the edges with Umber and Marigold VersaColor inks. I wound old gold thread around the top and bottom and finished off with a metal button.
I'm entering the card in the following challenges:
Pink Elephant Challenge - Yellow, Decorated Paper and Buttons
One Stitch At A Time - Going Dotty (my yellow polka dot paper)
Stamp Something - Celebrate

Tilda

Hello everyone, I'm here with something you probably thought you'd never see me doing. I decided to enter Sally's theme at Tuesday Taggers which is to Step Outside your Comfort Zone and boy have I done that today!
I've had a couple of Magnolia Tilda stamps sitting in my stash for quite a few years now, having bought them from Sir Stampalot at a show thinking that I must see what all the fuss is about. As they're so not me, they've been unused ever since so with Sally's theme to encourage me, I've made a card with them.
It certainly wasn't easy as I also made myself use decorated paper which I'm still learning to use after years of making my own.
So here it is:

 I stamped Tilda and her cat and coloured them with Promarkers. I cut Tilda out using the Nestabilities Label 2 Set (available from Polka Doodles), off setting her slightly to the left side. I cut the cat out to set at her right side as she looks as though she's gazing down at him.
I cut a label shape mat from K & Co Recycled Rose Reds paper and stuck the panel to this. I then cut a panel from Papermania's Sunshine Capsule Collection and stuck this to a slightly larger panel of the K & Co paper. I added another panel of yellow paper to a large card blank and added the other panels as shown.
I finished off with some flowers altered with H20 paints, centres made from brass stampings from Empire Beads and attached with metal brads. I added a sentiment from Hobby Art's clear stamp set CS013D Anna's Collection Floral Greetings, stamped on the yellow paper and stuck to a mat embossed round the edges using my M & F score board.
I'm entering my card into the following challenges:
Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - Metal Mania - my flower centres
ABC Challenge - Unused Stash - my stamps
Tuesday Taggers - Step Outside Your Comfort Zone - my stamps
I Love Promarkers - Sketch

Polka Doodles Challenge - Dimension and Texture

Morning folks, it's a special week at Polka Doodles as it's the challenges' first birthday so Happy Birthday Polka Doodles and here's to many more!
The challenge this week has been set by Enfys and she would like to see Dimension and Texture on your creations - there are plenty of ways to do this so it's out with the embossing tools and embossing powder etc. There's also the added challenge that as it's the birthday week, Nikky has put together a fabulous FREE download with Dad in mind and you NEED to use this for your creation. Pop over to the challenge blog and you'll find the link there.
There are also some fabulous prizes on offer this week as we will have a Top 5 and each one will receive a set of Polka Doodles Rubber Stamps and a CD, although the winner will receive 2 CDs and a set of stamps. How fantastic is that!
And now on to my project for this week for which I've once again used the new All Around & Everywhere CD as I've been wanting to use the particular papers since I got my hands on them and this week is perfect.

I fell in love with these papers and the pretty lacey embellishments as soon as I saw them and decided to make an elegant pink and grey card.
I printed out a pink and grey paper, cut a square and embossed the left side with the Cuttlebug Textile folder. I then rubbed the raised areas with pink ink. I printed out the embellishments on both white and pink marbled paper and cut out the butterfly from the pink paper. I sponged it with embossing ink and embossed it with Crystal embossing powder for sparkle.
I cut a further strip of the pink and grey paper and trimmed both long edges with the Martha Stewart Scroll Lace Edge Punch (available from Polka Doodles). I then cut out the pink and white round doilies with a circle cutter and printed out a pink and white flower patterned paper and cut a circle the same size.
I cut a narrow strip of this paper and embossed the long edges of this and the circle edges with silver embossing powder. I assembled the card as you see, adding strips of pearls for further embellishment.
You have until 12 noon on Sunday 23 May to link up your creations so good luck!

Blogaversary Candy Offer!

BLOG CANDY NOW CLOSED.  PLEASE KEEP WATCHING FOR THE DRAW RESULTS.

Hello everyone, hope you're all having a good week so far.
Yesterday was my one year blogaversary (can't believe how quickly time has flown) so I have some candy for you as a big thank you for all the support you've given me over the past year.

Here's what's in the photo:
2 sets of clear stamps with a pansy theme
1 pack Papermania Red Hot capsule collection A5 size
1 pack Papermania Rose Garden 6 x 6 paper
Shrink plastic in white and clear
Glitter brads
Small and medium pearl strips
Stickles glitter glue in Fruit Punch and Frosted Lace
VersaMagic Dewdrops in Pretty Petunia, Pink Petunia and Jumbo Java
A lace and ribbon bundle

This post will remain at the top until 11.30pm on Tuesday 11 May so if you want a chance to win this stash then please leave a comment here cos after all, you have to be in it to win it!
Please do spread the word by putting this on your side bar if you can as I know not everyone has the time to keep up with their reading list.
Thanks and good luck!
Fliss xx

AiFactory Blog Hop - You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello

Morning everyone, today's the start of AiFactory's Blog Hop to say goodbye to some of the Design Team and welcome the new members. Just read on for the fabulous prizes if you do the hop and leave comments on everyone's blog hop post.

We've all been given some of Mia's new images to use and mine is the cute Rock Climbing Digital Stamp Set and here's what I made:

I made a gate fold card using a rock background paper which I made myself from a holiday photo of the inside of a cave. I experimented by using the poster option on Photoshop and was thrilled to bits when it turned the rocks gorgeous shades of purple, pink and green (the original was a rather boring brown!).
I printed out the cute little boy and girl climbers and the ropes in the set, coloured them with Promarkers and cut them out. I arranged them on one side of the gatefold and added text to the other.

I'm sure you'd like to know about the prizes and how to get them so here's the all important information:
Prize 1 ~  Drawn from random DT Members comments $20 Gift Certificate. All you need to do here is make sure you leave a comment on each of the blogs you visit to be in with a chance of winning this.

Prize 2 ~ Scrambled Word Prize...Each DT Member has been assigned a letter (mine is T) and to be in with a chance of winning here, you need to collect all the letters and unscramble them to make a phrase. You then need to email the answer to angievcortes@gmail.com and she will be drawing a winner for a $10 Gift Certificate.

Prize 3 ~ There are also random freebies scattered throughout the hop provided by Mia so you need to keep hopping to find those.

You should have come here from Cheri's blog but if you didn't then go to the AiFactory Challenge Blog to find the hopping order.If you did come from Cheri then the next blog in the hop is
Brandy so pop on over and give her a welcome to the DT.
Good luck and happy hopping!

Polka Doodles Challenge - Summer Blossoms

Morning everyone, it's Polka Doodles time again and this week's theme has been chosen by Brenda. She would like you to use Summer Blossoms as your inspiration.
Most of the Design Team, including me, are once again using the gorgeous new All Around & Everywhere CD as we all love it so much.
I've again made an easel card but in a very different shape which I haven't seen anywhere else yet so read on if you'd like to know how I made it.

The flower shape here was made using the Nestabilities Blossom die set but the largest die was a bit small to make a card. I made a template by drawing round the largest one, scanning it into my computer and then adjusted the size so the shape will fit in a 15cm square envelope.
I did the usual thing to make the base by folding the card in half (I used a stripe embossed card for easier folding-by Southfield Stationers) and the drew round the template which was overlapping the fold a little to give a secure fold on the base. I cut a further shape for the front.
I inked all the edges of the card front and the base with pink ink for definition. I added a circle of green polka dot paper to both the card front and the base inking the edges before sticking with green ink.
Using the smallest Nestabilities Blossom die, I cut out some flowers from one of the papers which had rows of pretty pink flowers in circles. I decided the blossom shape is much more in keeping with Brenda's theme and the die was much easier than cutting all the flowers out!
I assembled the card by forming a garland with the flowers which I stuck on with foam tape. I added a sentiment, a butterfly from the CD with jewels on the wings, and finished the base with a punched strip and some pearls.
You have until 12 noon on Sunday 16 May to upload your creations and you'll be pleased to see that we now have a new linking system where you can see small pics of all the entries.

Music

The white rabbit has struck here again cos I'm late. late, late for the current Ready, Steady, Stamp Challenge which I've been trying to get finished for the last 10 days! As usual, there are 5 ingredients and if you use all 5, which I have, there's a fabulous chance to win a Paper Artsy prize kindly donated by Leandra.

Here's what I made which is a little piece of art on mountboard

I've actually used one of the new Paper Artsy Hot Pick stamp sets, HP1005, which I bought at Ally Pally along with the bird die from their fabulous new range of dies which match some of the hot pick stamps.
I've also used one of Hobby Art's fabulous new clear stamp sets CS013D Anna's Collection-Floral Greetings which has some gorgeous flowers and leaf sprigs.
I covered my mountboard with a piece of vintage music score I found in a charity shop and inked it with olive VersaColor ink. I stamped the grass from the Paper Artsy set twice in black on another piece of music score, cut it out and inked with violet and olive. I stuck this at the base of the panel.
I cut a piece of corrugated coffee cup holder, painted it light green and dry brushed on some white gesso. I then stamped a leaf sprig from the Hobby Art set all round the edges in black. I stamped the large flower 3 times on music score and the smaller one once. I inked these with pink and purple inks and cut them out.
I stamped the Paper Artsy bird in black, cut it out with the bird die and inked the white with purple ink. I then stamped song and bird, cut them out and inked them with pink ink. I printed out the computer generated music text, cut this out with scissors and scallop scissors and inked with pink.
For the rubber ingredient, I used a spare piece of red rubber from some unmounted stamps I recently cut out. I trimmed the lower edge with scallop scissors and inked it with olive green Stazon ink although the end result came out almost black.
I ssembled all the pieces as you see in the photo.

Flutterby Fairy

Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend and here in the UK we now have typical Bank Holiday weather as it's now wet and very windy.
I woke up this morning to find an email with the fabulous news that my AiFactory Baby Pram card was picked as one of five cards of the week at SNR Cardiverse and will be at the top of the card gallery for the next week. Really great news which is a lovely start to the week.
I've got a card to share with you today which was made from one of the lovely new Flutterby Fairy clear stamp sets from Polka Doodles which are really versatile as the fairy's wings are a separate design and can be used on their own as a butterfly.

The fairy I used is called Babsie and I stamped her with Memento Tuxedo Black then coloured her with Promarkers to fit my chosen colour scheme of orange and blue with a dash of red. I used Berry Red, Red, Carmine, Mango, Amber, China Blue, Cool Aqua, Sky Blue, Saffron and Dusky Pink.
I used the sketch from I love Promarkers which I do as I never used to like colouring until I discovered these.

The papers I used are from the new CD by Polka Doodles called All Around & Everywhere which came out just over a week ago on Create and Craft TV so you may be able to catch a repeat of the show if you haven't yet seen it.
I cut the circle and the scalloped circles using Nestabilities dies and added a sentiment from the CD, a flower altered to match with Garnet Twinkling H20 paint with a centre of a punched circle covered with a dome sticker and 2 small decorative dots also covered by dome stickers.
I'm entering this in the current challenge at I love Promarkers which is the above sketch and also at Incy Wincy Designs with a theme of Anything Goes.

White Rabbit

Morning all and I hope you've got better weather than here where it's been tipping down with rain.
I have a card to share with you that I made with the lovely white rabbit image shared by June for this week's Dezinaworld Challenge . It's slightly late like the rabbit as I've been really busy with family stuff.

I've used one of June's fabulous backgrounds here from the Mega Background Pack, called Old Cards, and well worth a look for the gorgeous artwork in the set. I printed mine out and inked a little with Raspberry and Topaz VersaColor cubes to add a bit more colour.
I then stamped the Hero Arts Large Harlequin Background S3413 in VersaFine Smoky Gray ink and cut out a diamond shape from the original rectangle. I inked it with Barn Door Distress ink. I coloured the rabbit in parts with Promarkers, cut him out and went round the edges with a grey colour to make him stand out more.
I assembled the card as shown using a mixture of double sided and foam tape for a 3D effect.