Sketch Saturday #258

I am all at sixes and sevens at the moment and I haven't been blogging or crafting. It's been two weeks since I even looked at my e-mail.   I'm just all over the place physically, mentally and logistically and I so need to get back in the groove.  Please forgive me.  I appreciate my blog buddies coming by to see me especially now that I'm feeling so out of sorts.   I even missed my SS challenge last week but

it's Saturday again which means another fab sketch from

Sketch Saturday

Sponsored by the wonderful

Simon Says Stamp

and I was determined to have a go...

I needed a card for my FIL's 92nd Birthday and I decided to use this fab "Special Delivery" DigiDoodles image which sadly is no longer available.   I used my wonderful My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Portobello Road papers and paper pieced this fun guy's shirt.  I also popped up the hat and apron on silicone.  My sentiment is, I think, PTI in a nestie frame and the image is coloured in Copics.

 Do visit my teamies' blogs and share some love and then come and play along with us this week!

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

My Mum's Craft Shop Spots or Stripes

There She Goes Paper piecing

Papertake Weekly and Loves Rubber Stamps (both) Anything Goes

Sketch Saturday #256

It's Saturday which means another fab sketch from

Sketch Saturday

This week we are sponsored by the wonderful

Stamp Fairy

We had a brewery in England called John Courage and the strap line for the adverts for the beer was "take courage".  I used this as the basis for my card which, to be honest, looked better in my head but which still worked out okay I think.  This cute little lion from Stamp Fairy is called Lionel 2 and you can find him here and I printed him onto a photographed image of one of my own empty beer glasses.  I had to cut his tail off and twist the end of it in order to centre him on my tankard and then I coloured him and the beer in Copics.  Lionel has been cut, coloured and mounted in several pieces to give him more dimension.

My papers are DCWV Citrus and the sentiments have been Word processed.  The little crowns (instead of the stars in the sketch) were cut with my Cricut and topped with gems.  I used a Stampin Up cloudy embossing folder behind my tankard.

And here is Jen's fab sketch which I rotated:

There is fabulous inspiration from my team mates and it would be great if you could share some love with them individually.   Then why not come and play along with us?

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Tuesday Throwdown "Make Your Own Background" 

(I made my own beer glass on which to mount Lionel);

Simon Says "Anything Goes", and

Aud Sentiments "Happy Birthday"

Sweet Stampin' Christmas #5 Mid month inspiration

Our challenge this month at 

Sweet Stampin' Christmas

is 

Krafty Kristmas
so we want you to make a card or project using Kraft card

and we are lucky to be sponsored by 

My Mum's Craft Shop
and also by
Iva Nova Chest

I used Bauble Tilda merged with a separate Magnolia bauble stamp and coloured my images with Copics.  The  hanging thingys on both baubles have been coloured with Spica pens to give them a little metalic sparkle but it is not evident from my photograph.   My papers are Dovecraft with the snowflakes cut with a Martha Stewart punch.  The little tag is by Crafty Bitz and the sentiment is LOTV.

My teamies have made some wonderful cards using Kraft card and I know they would love you to visit their blogs.  And we would all love to see you join in the Krafty Kristmas fun with us at Christmas at Sweet Stampin this month.

Once again, I'm sorry if I haven't been to visit you recently.  Life has got in the way of my crafting and blogging and I have struggled to do anything this month aside from my DT duties.  Next month will be better I promise and I will for sure be around in May to catch up with my blog buddies.

Sketch Saturday #255

It's Saturday which means another fab sketch from

Sketch Saturday

Sponsored by the wonderful

Bugaboo Stamps

Boy have I been poorly recently and not in the least bit motivated to craft or blog.  So I'm very sorry that I haven't been visiting my friends.  Please don't abandon me.   Thankfully, I am finally feeling better and this week's sketch is so lovely - it was perfect to get my Mojo out of it's funk.  

All of the papers are My Minds Eye Lost and Found Blush.  I replaced the banner in the sketch with an  EK Success punched row of buttons and added a miniature thread spool button embellishment and an LOTV sentiment which just happens to be the exact shape of the motif on the paper. There is also a little safety pin button poking out from behind my sentiment. A Memory box die cut bow in the corner perfectly mimics the bow on the waist of the dress form in the picture.

There is lots of lovely inspiration on our blog and I just know that my teamies would love a visit from you to their own blogs.  Why not come and play along with us?

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

There She Goes "Just because"

Tuesday Throwdown "Focus on the Sentiment"

Sketch Saturday #254

It's Saturday which means another fab sketch from

Sketch Saturday

Sponsored by the wonderful

Simon Says Stamp

Sadly I needed to make some sympathy cards recently when my Auntie died.  Jen made a fabulous sketch for us this week but I thought it was just a little too trendy for a sympathy card so I have varied it just a little. By extending the horizontal panels I was able to centre my image beneath the birds pictured on my embossing folder.  I embossed both the black and the white card and have attempted to line them up.

My image came from some on-line colouring pages here.  It was my Auntie Marigold who passed away and I thought the image was very appropriate.   The flowers are coloured "no-lines" which was very difficult and not entirely successful but I do feel that the soft blurry feel of them was perfect for the sadness of the occasion.   My sentiment is Stampin Up.

And here is our sketch.  Do come and play along with us and don't forget to check out my teamies' blogs and share some love.

I needed a second card for my Aunt's sister.  This image which is of a different variety of Marigolds came from here and was coloured with copics.  The sentiment is Stampin Up and I used my Tied Together  embossing folder.

Sorry if I haven't been visiting you.  I have had a horrible cold and sinus infection this week and I've been feeling pretty awful.   I hope to be back to normal soon!

Sketch Saturday #253

It's Saturday which means another fab sketch from

Sketch Saturday

This week's it's Carrie's turn to host the challenge

Sponsored by the wonderful

That Craft Place

When I first saw Carrie's sketch my first thought was "Wow, that's different!".   My next thought was "Gosh, how am I going to use it?"  but you know - it was a really easy sketch to use and I'm really pleased with my card which is for my soon to be 11 year old nephew who is not only celebrating his birthday but has also recently been told that he has won a much coveted place, following some tricky exams and an interview, to a VERY good school later this year.   We couldn't be more proud of him!!!

I used this fabulous little guy called Overload At School which is in a set here by Cheryl Alger at Sassy Cheryl's and he was an absolute dream to colour with my Copics.  My background DP is DCWV Texted  and the paper in the semicircles is Basic Grey Wanderer.  I cut the number 11 digits on my Cricut and used some Stamps Away sentiments cut with a Stampin Up Jewellery Tag punch.  Some school-style buttons were added as a nod to the funny tiny motifs surrounding the central circle of the sketch and I skipped the ribbon because I didn't think I needed it on my card.   Oh, and I added a tiny emblem to my book bindings - it's the emblem and the colours of my nephew's new school.  I do so like to personalise my cards!

Please come and play along with Carrie's fabulous sketch and don't forget to drop by my teamies' blogs to share some love.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments - For a Child

There She Goes Clear Stamps - Masculine

Kaboodle Doodle - Use 2 Different DPs

Simon Says Stamp - Happy Birthday

Sketch Saturday #252

It's Saturday which means another fab sketch from

Sketch Saturday

Sponsored by the wonderful

Milk Coffee

Jen's gone and done it again with another rectangle.  It's a fab sketch though.  Just right for the sentiment on the inside of my card to read "You're a Star".  For those of you who read my blog occasionally you may know that I have a cat whom I love to the moon and back.  Whenever I go away, his Auntie Pauline looks after him and I sometimes need a card and gift from my cat to thank her.  Aside from the card we gave her with a mouse on it (because kitty had left one in the hall for her), these thank you cards always have an image of a cat on them and the cat is always coloured black because that's the colour of mine.    When I saw this fab image from Milk Coffee called Tiffany in Victorian Gown (which you can find here), I knew I had to use her for one of kitty's thank you cards.

Black cats are extraordinarily hard to colour! I have to confess that in the original Milk Coffee image, the cat is looking downwards so that the top of his head was more visible that his face and because it was so difficult to colour the head in black without obscuring his face altogether, I actually popped a photo of my cat's face on the drawn body and just coloured the body.  So this is my cat held in the arms of this gorgeous girl.

My DP is K&Co.  I cut the stars with my Cricut and the "thankful" is a PTI die. I wish I had inked it around the edges before sticking it down.  I'll do that next time I use it! Tiffany is coloured in Copics, Promarkers and a Letraset Tria with a little Prima pencil applied to highlight the white in her ribbons. And here is Jen's fab sketch:

Don't forget to go for a visit to my teamies and share some love.  It would be particularly great if you would share some love with Anat (tshupile) whom I chose to be our guest designer in March.  She has done a wonderful job every week and her card this week, using the same image (with the original face of the cat) outshines mine by a mile!    And do come and play along with us.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Milk Coffee - anything but square (a rectangle is not a square!)

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Girly

And just before I go, I thought I'd share a couple of pictures of an interesting bird who has appeared in my back garden on two different days this week:

Happy Easter Everyone!

Roast Pheasant for lunch?

Sweet Stamping Christmas #4 in March

and April and May and June and July...    I was so delighted to have been chosen to be on the design Team at Sweet Stampin' Christmas and now I get to make Christmas cards every month which should hopefully help to get me ready for the big day which, incidentally, is only 272 days away!  My very first DT was on the original Sweet Stampin' site and it's great to be back with some of my ol' teamies and to be able to play along with some equally talented new teamies too!  Thank you so much for having me, ladies!!!

Our challenge this month at 

Sweet Stampin' Christmas

is to make a card or project using non-traditional Christmas colours with 

No Red or Green

and we are lucky to be sponsored by 

Flat Friends 

I used this sweet Tilda - I have no recollection of ever having coloured her before but she called out to me today and I opted for pretty pink and aqua for my colour theme.  My papers are Dovecraft and Papermania (I think).  The sentiment is LOTV and there is a fair bit of Spellbinder action with dies used for these lovely Poinsettias and for framing Tilda and the sentiment.  There is a tiny bit of cheese cloth tucked behind my pink panel, just curled over here and there, and I cut a little matching candle and dish with my Cricut.  Tilda has been coloured with Copics and Promarkers.  I tried to sparkle the flowers after attaching them to the card by using a mask but my mask wasn't big enough and the spritzer spritzed way outside my intended area so I ended up spritzing the whole card!   I really like this colour combo and I'm going to use it again.  BTW, the dark stripe on my vertical panel is dark pink and not red as it might appear in my photo!!!

If you'd like to start early on your Christmas creations - we'd love to see what you come up with and there is lots of fabulous inspiration from my sweet stampin teamies.  Do go and visit them and share some love and then grab your stamps and join us.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

ABC Challenge Anything Goes

One Stop Craft One image, 2 'bellies, 3 DPs

Bunny Zoe's Crafts Girly

And before I go, I would just like to say a big hello to my new followers.  I've lost 5 followers since Christmas but I've gained some lovely new ones.    I've been trying to come by to visit you all so if you haven't seen me yet it is because I can't seem to find your blog.  Do please drop me a line and point me in the right direction as I would love to come for a visit!

Sketch Saturday #251

It's Saturday which means another fab sketch from

Sketch Saturday

Sponsored by the wonderful

Prairie Fairy

I always struggle so much with sympathy cards; what layout to use, what image, what words of comfort?  But today's sketch leant itself perfectly to my needs and I found an image of poppies, which I always think are perfect for sympathy cards, on line here which I coloured in Copics, using a Letraset Tria for the tiny bits.

You will see from the sketch that it called for two different elements on the top and bottom half of the card but because I wanted to keep my card clean, I opted simply for two different embossing folders and plain white linen card stock.  The top folder is a Cuttlebug swirly frame and the bottom folder is Tied Together.

My Stampin Up sentiment was stamped directly on to the image after I had spent over an hour colouring my poppies. I held my breath, used my Stampin Up Stamp-a-majig to line it up and got a perfect print.  Phew! 

Don't forget to go and visit my lovely teamies' blogs and see the lovely creations they have made this week and then come and play along with us.

Sketch Saturday #250

It's Saturday which means another fab sketch from

Sketch Saturday

Sponsored by the wonderful

Bunny Zoe's Crafts

A special blog buddy with a penchant for sweet things had a birthday yesterday and I just had to get my hands on Cupcake Thief from Mo's Digital Pencil as it seemed so apt for the occasion.  I love the fiendish expression on this little fairy's face as she makes off with her stash of sugary goodies.

My papers are K&Co and my image is coloured with Copics and Promarkers.  I paper pieced the dress using the same paper as the horizontal strip, added a doily, a simple Word processed sentiment, a ribbon and pearls.

My teamies at Sketch Saturday have made some wonderful creations with today's fabulous sketch.  Do pop over to see them, share some love, and then come and play along with us.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

DP2  Pearls and ribbon

Tuesday throwdown - paper piecing (dress); and 

Cute Card Thursday - anything goes

Sketch Saturday #249

It's Saturday which means another fab sketch from

Sketch Saturday

Sponsored by the wonderful

Simon Says Stamp

Our amazing Jen - sketch designer extraordinaire - has gone for another rectangle but I'm pretty sure I cracked it with this one which is my second attempt, using A little Birdie told me by Mo Manning at Digital Pencil.  I absolutely LOVE this image which I paper pieced using My Mind's Eye Lost and Found "Blush" papers, coloured with Copics and then cut out various bits and popped them up on silicone glue.  When I was a very little girl, I used to have a dress in fabric very similar to the paper I used for her dress.

My back ground papers are Prima Botanical and I used one of the embellishments from my wedding invites years ago for the floral bouquet.  The sentiment is word processed and cut with a Stampin Up Jewellery Tag punch and the scallops were cut with a Fiskars punch.   

I struggled with my photography today on account of the fog and drizzle but this side view which was intended to show the popping a little better looks a little less blurred.  And here is Jen's fab sketch.  Do check out all of the DT's blogs including our March Guest Designer Anat (tshupile) who has made a dream of a card for us this week and come and play along with us.  If, like me, you struggle with rectangles - it's perfectly okay to make your card as a square.

And before I go I wanted, once again, to apologise for my lack of visits to your blogs.  I have been back to Prague again for business reasons.   They were shooting a film outside where we stay and I thought I would share a few pics with you.  There was a ton of snow in Prague while we were there and the crew obviously had to clear it all away before they could shoot!!!

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

DP2 - Anything Goes with a Mo Manning image

The Ribbon Girl - Add Ribbon or Twine

Creative Inspirations - Happy Mother's Day

Creative Card Crew - Ribbon

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Sketch Saturday #248

It's Saturday which means another fab sketch from

Sketch Saturday

and it's My turn to host our sketch.

This week we have the hugely talented Mo Manning of Mo's Digital Pencil as our sponsor!

Mo has very generously agreed that we can have not just one but THREE WINNERS this week and each of the lucky winners will win a $5 voucher to spend in her store.

I have been a HUGE fan of Mo's wonderful work for as long as I have been blogging. Her images have so much character and are so versatile and lovely to colour.   

This week I have chosen Dream G for a dear friend who happens to be going flying soon with The Blades - the world's only commercial acrobatic flying team. 

Visit Mo's:

SHOP

http://mosdigitalpencil.com

BLOG

http://digitalpenciltoo.blogspot.com

HELP PAGE

http://digitalstampfaq.blogspot.com/

FACEBOOK GALLERIES

http://facebook.com/mosdigitalpencil

This little cutie has been coloured in Copics with a little Glossy Accent for her aviator goggles.  My DPs are Prima Pixie Glen.  I used my favourite embossing folder bought for me by best matey Julie who also bought me the die that made the lovely paper bow and I added lots of bling because I want to enter my card into the "Bling" challenge at Mo's DP2.

And here is my sketch

One of my jobs as hostess this week was to choose a Guest Designer and I selected Anat (tshupile).  Anat makes lovely cards and regularly participates in our challenges and I am delighted she agreed to be our guest designer for March.  Do pop over to visit all of our lovely designers this week and share some love and then why not come and play along with us.

I am additionally entering my card into the challenges at  

Kaboodle Doodles "Any Bling"

CraftsandMe "Dies or Punches"; and 

SimonSays "Anything Goes"

Sketch Saturday #247

It's Saturday which means another fab sketch from

Sketch Saturday

Sponsored by the wonderful

Wings and Willows

We have another fab sketch for you this week which I flipped horizontally and rotated too.   My image which is coloured mostly in Copics, is a Kraftin Kimmie called Miss Lillith which sadly I think may have been retired because I just couldn't find her on the KK site.  

I love the expression on her face and of course being a big fan of all things froggy, I just adore this stamp although I found it quite hard to colour.  Some of the elements are very tiny for my pens and  I just couldn't get my folds right in her skirt and gave up in the end.  All papers are Prima Reflections.  I added a Memory Box bird cage and placed the frog that accompanies this image in it.   Unfortunately I stuck him down too high so now he is floating in the cage.  

Do check out my teamies' creations and share some love with them and then come and play along too.

Sketch Saturday #246

It's Saturday which means another fab sketch from

Sketch Saturday

Sponsored by the wonderful

Sassy Studio Design

I'm late today!   This week we have a rectangular sketch for you.  Streuth!  I don't normally do rectangles and when I do I am never happy with the results but this is a challenge, right? So I had a go!  Last Saturday I held a little Stampin Up party at my house with ten lovely ladies which was great fun.  My order hasn't arrived yet but I was nevertheless inspired to dig out my SU stash for this week and this is what I came up with.

I have quite a lot of SU toys - way too many not to be actually using them so in this project all the papers are SU as is the ink, the sentiment, the embossing folder and the blossom stamp and the punch with which I cut the stamp.  I just added some card candy and a button.  The leafy die cut is by Marianne. I need a great deal more practice at making these kind of cards and I think next time I won't go for such bold colours but I'm reasonably happy with the way it turned out.

Come and join in with us this week, why don't you!

I am entering my card into the "Anything Goes" challenge at Charisma Cardz

Guest Bar Tending with Leanne Ellis

Hello Peeps!  I was lucky enough to have a card last month selected for the Top 4 at Raise the Bar which means I have the great pleasure of being a guest bar tender for this week's challenge where the talented team are paying homage to the late great Martin Luther King Jnr and his "Free at Last" speech which I always think of as "I have a Dream".  So you are free at last to make any paper craft project that you want in this week's "Anything Goes" challenge.

I have used this lovely Sugar Nellie Leanne Ellis image suitably called "Dreamer" which you can find at Funky Kits here.   She is coloured up almost entirely in ProMarkers for a change. I do neglect my ProMarkers sometimes.  Her wings have Spica glitter pen over the top of the ink and the green flowers have been Stickled.  My frame is a Nestie die and papers are DCWV Whimsy.  They come in a 6.5x4.5 size hence the slightly patchwork background.  The large leaf swirl is the Fanciful Flourish by Cheery Lyn and the little flowers - EK Success.   The larger flower and skeleton leaves are Marianne Design and the sentiment which I also thought was very apt is from LOTV.
I want to say a great big THANK YOU to the Raise the Bar Team for inviting me to play along this week.  I am additionally entering my card into the following challenges:
Deep Ocean "B is for..."  Button and blooms, in my case
The Sugar Bowl "Anything goes"