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xx Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog - your comments are all greatly appreciated xx

Friday 26 August 2011

Milly - Me And My Cat


This is another of the adorable images from LOTV called "Milly - Me and My Cat" which has been coloured used promarkers.



I've already decided who will be receiving this for their birthday as I've got a good friend who loves cats but her birthday is not until December so will have to store this one away safely until then.

Materials used:

Sentiment - Woodware Janes Script
Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Spun Sugar
Magnolia Doo Hickey Die - Heart Swirl Branch
Glitter glue and backing papers from my stash

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Card Makin' Mamas - pink
The Outlawz - promarkers
Sketches By Carly - sketch
Art Impressions - summertime
Aud's Sentiments - anything goes
Crafts Us Crazy - anything goes
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - anything goes
Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes
Crafting For All Seasons - bingo (die cuts / stitching / glitter)
Paper Shelter - die cuts
A Spoonful Of Sugar - happy birthday
Bearly Mine - bring on the bling
Stamping Boutique - stripes and dots
Stamps R Us - anything goes
The Outlawz - anything goes
Birthday Sundaes - colour challenge
One Stop Craft - bright and bold





Saturday 20 August 2011

Disco Tween


It's challenge time again over at the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge and the theme for this fortnight is to use 3 or more of your favourite embellishments.  You have until 25th August to enter and you could be in with a chance of winning either a $10 gift voucher to spend on digis from Digis with Attitude or a stampset from Inspired Stamps.

For my DT card I've used Disco Tween from Digis With Attitude and coloured her with my promarkers.


Materials used:

Embossing folder - birds and flowers set 
Distress ink - tattered rose
Ribbon, pearls, glitter glue, gems and lace from my stash

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Crafty Ann's - scallops - WINNER
Digis With Attitude - anything goes
Poodles Parlour - anything goes
Simply Create - distress
Stamp Man - anthing goes using summer colours
Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes
Paper Play - recipe
Pixie Dust Studio - tween teen's dream
Truly Scrumptious - lace it up
Bearly Mine - bring on the bling
Papertake - bingo (gems, free, lace)
Crafters Companion - glitter and glitz
Desert Islands Crafts - choose 3 (1,2 & 8)
Freshly Brewed - hot colours
Glitter Fairies - pretty in pink
Paper Playtime - anything goes
Pink Elephant - stitching
Pollycraft - distressing
Shabby Tea Room - polka dots
Pixie Dust Paperie - that's my girl







Friday 19 August 2011

Fussy & Fancy 1000 Followers Celebration


We have a special announcement today over at the Fussy and Fancy challenge blog - we have reached 1000 followers - yeah!!!!!
We have decided to have an additional challenge to celebrate and have some wonderful sponsors who have given us some fantastic prizes for you to try and win - check out the challenge blog for all of the prizes on offer.  Here are the details of how to enter our celebration challenge:
  • Create a project that celebrates something!  It can be a wedding, birthday or any other event that you have need of a card or project for.  As an extra fun challenge, use the Fussy and Fancy Friday color scheme
  • You have until 12 a.m. PST on 16th September to enter your project to make sure you have a chance of winning one of these prizes
Here is the card that I have created for your inspiration:  (my tutorial for the exploding box can be found here)


I am entering this into the following challenges:

Allsorts - anything but a card
Outlawz - anything but a card
Craft Your Passion - anything but a card
Happileigh Scrappin' - keep it cool
Karens Doodles - fancy folds
KB Cute Mondays - babies
Paper Playtime - anything goes
Pink Elephant - stitching
Pollycraft - distressing
Stamp-N-Doodle - fancy folds
Crafty Pad - cute 'n' girly - TOP 3
Dream Valley - distressing
Stamptacular Sunday - fancy folds
Craft Us Crazy - anything goes - TOP 3
Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes
Shelley Images - anything goes
Stamp Insanity - anything goes
Creative Craft Challenges - anything but a card
Papertake - bingo (pearls, ribbons, free)

 


Monday 15 August 2011

Lia Stampz New Challenge and Blog Hop


Hi everyone and welcome to a brand new challenge which starts today over at Lia Stampz and to celebrate we're kicking off with a blog hop to introduce you to the design team members who have a few things of their own to give away on your hop to the prize at the end on Lia's blog.

If you didn't start at the beginning you may want to go back to ensure you collect all of the letters.


To join in the hop here are the blogs that you have to visit and the few simple rules that you have to follow to be in with a chance to win the prize and you can get a maximum of 3 entries if you follow all of the rules:


1)   Comment on all the blogs along the hop and leave a comment on Lia's blog with the secret word
2)   Post the Lia Stampz blinkie on your sidebar (leave a 2nd comment on Lia's blog)
3)   Follow Lia Stampz on Facebook (leave a 3rd comment on Lia's blog)

****************************************************


The first challenge on Lia Stampz is "add a charm"and here's the card that I've made using one of Lia's stamps which is called June and I've also used the sentiments sheet that goes along with this image.



Materials used:

Tim Holtz distress ink - dried marigold
Nestability die - lacey circles
Martha Stewart edge punch - doily lace
Cuttlebug embossing folder - swiss dots
Ribbon, charm, gems, papers, card scraps from my stash

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Sir Stampalot - whatever you fancy
Crafty Pad - cute 'n' girly
Kenny K Krafty Girlz - summer sparkle
Crafty Calendar - hot colours
One Stop Craft - at the beach
Cooking It Up - recipe


xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx







Tuesday 9 August 2011

The Hotspot Challenge - Subrina

It's time for another challenge over at:


I can't believe another month has just flown past, can you?  This month we are going to be using Pantone's top color trends for fall and winter 2011.  You can enter your card or project using one, all or any combination of the colors below.


Here's my DT card for some inspiration or why not pop over to the other DT's blogs for even more inspiration.


This challenge is open until the end of the month so why not come and join us?

Material used:
Image - Subrina  - McMahon Five Designs
Coloured with promarkers
Martha Stewart around the page corner punch
Tim Holtz distress ink - antique linen
Pearlescent card - PaperMill Direct
Marianne Design Creatables Die - Doily Square
Edged with a quickie glue pen and sprinkled fine glitter 
Ribbon, papers, pearls and bow are all from my stash

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Bling It On - A, B, C (Antique linen, Bow & Circles
Passion For Promarkers - diva's with glam & glitter - TOP 5
Sweet Stamps - bling it up
Cupcake Crafts - sew mad
Incy Wincy Designs - something old (ribbon), something new (image)
Stamp 'n' Doodle - recipe
Corrosive Challenge - earth tones
One Stitch At A Time - use a digi
Stampin Sisters In Christ - forgotten stash (bow & paper)
Catch The Bug - anything goes

xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx





Sunday 7 August 2011

Ava - Mistletoe Fairy

It's challenge time again over at the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge and the theme for this fortnight is Christmas in July, so come on drag out all of those Christmas papers and see what you can create.  You have until 11th August to enter and you could be in with a chance of winning either 7 digis from Bugaboo Stamps or a stampset from Inspired Stamps.




For my DT card I've used Ava - Mistletoe Fairy from Bugaboo Stamps and coloured her with my promarkers.

Materials used:

Embossing folder - snowflake
Tim Holtz distress ink - tumbled glass
Ultra fine glitter
Spellbinders Nestabilities - classic scallop circle small 
Sentiment and ribbon from my stash
Backing card taken from a flyer I received through the post 
(see I'm a crafter through and through)

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Catch The Bug - anything goes
CES Challenges - water it
Little Claires - things with wings
Clearly Inspired - things with wings
The Stamp Man - stitching
Stamp Something - use a digi
Wags 'N' Whiskers - sparkly
Aud's Sentiments - merry christmas
Craft Us Crazy - anything goes
Crafty Sentiments - christmas
Delightful Challenges - stitching
Paper Play - christmas in august
Sassy Studio Designs - use a sentiment
Ambers Crafts - sparkle and shine
Crafts And Me - anything goes
I Love Promarkers - things with wings
Simon Says Stamp - christmas in august
Papertake - anything goes
Passion For Promarkers - hugs and kisses
Crafters Companion - glitter and glitz
Craft Your Passion - anything goes
Happileigh Scrappin' - anything goes






Friday 5 August 2011

Box Card Tutorial


Here's another tutorial for you all to try and I hope you have fun with it!  I would love to see some of your completed cards so please pop back and let me know how you've got on.

This type of card is so versatile and can be used for any occassion especially as you can include a small gift or even make your own bouquet to put in the boxed section of the card.

Materials needed:

5 x A4 sheets of card
Wet glue (for the box assembly)
Double sided tape
Craft knife / guillotine
Pencil
Ruler / Hougie board
Bone folder

Instructions on how to make the basic box card:

1)  From your first sheet of card cut a 24cm x 12.5cm rectangle and score at 2cm intervals along the long edge (see diagram 1 below).  This will be the top of your box card aperture.

DIAGRAM 1
2)  From your second sheet of card cut a 24cm x 12.5cm rectangle and score at 2cm intervals along the long edge (see diagram 1 above).  This is not a duplication as you need 2 pieces of the same size.  This will be the bottom of your box card aperture.


3)  From your third sheet of card cut a 24cm x 14.5cm rectangle and score at 2cm intervals along the long edge (see diagram 2 below).  This will be the right hand side of your box card aperture.

DIAGRAM 2

4)  From your fourth sheet of card cut a 24cm x 12.5cm rectangle and score at 2cm intervals along the long edge (see diagram 2 above).  This is not a duplication as you need 2 pieces of the same size.  This will be the left hand side of your box card aperture.

5)  Taking these four rectangles zig zag fold to form a concertina (see diagram 3 below) using a bone folder to crease the folds.

DIAGRAM 3

6)  At this stage I've used distress inks to emboss the edges of the folds as well as all the way around the end fold (see diagram 4 below) as it is easier to do this before the aperture is assembled.

DIAGRAM 4

7)  To form the box aperture take one of the long zig zag folded pieces and, using the wet glue, place a small line of the adhesive along one of the zig zagged edges (see diagram 5 below) avoiding both end folds as one will be your finished edge and the other will be fixed to your base card in a later stage.

DIAGRAM 5
8)  Now take one of the shorter zig zag folded pieces and slot them together (see diagram 6 below) alternating the folds in each piece.

DIAGRAM 6
9)  Your finished corner should now look like diagram 7 and 8 below.

DIAGRAM 7
DIAGRAM 8
10)  Apply the wet glue to the edge of the shorter piece as before (see diagram 5 above) and slot in the other long zig zag folded piece as before (see diagram 6 above).

11)  This last piece is a bit tricky as you have to do both ends at the same time.  Apply the wet glue to both ends as before (see diagram 5 above) and slot together at both ends as before (see diagram 6 above).  The wet glue will give you time to complete both ends before it starts to dry.

12)  You should end up with your aperture looking like diagram 9 below.

DIAGRAM 9
13)  At this stage I have added peel off corners and faux stitching the both the outside and inside edge of the aperture (see diagram 9 above).

14)  From your fifth sheet of card cut a 29.4cm x 15cm rectangle and score at 13.7cm in from both short ends.  This should leave you with approximately a 2cm gap in the centre (see diagram 10 below).  This will form the spine of your box card.

DIAGRAM 10
15)  At this stage I've used distress inks to emboss all the way around the edges of the front, back and spine on the inside and outside of the card and also added faux stitching to all sections apart from the inside section where the aperture will be fixed.


16)  The ribbon needs to be fixed to the back section of the card base in the middle ensuring that it will not be seen when the aperture is fitted (see diagram 11 below) .


17)  You could also add a sheet of backing paper to the back section of the card so that it is visible through the aperture once fitted ensuring that it is cut slightly smaller than the outside dimensions of the aperture so that it cannot be seen.

18)  Apply double sided tape to the aperture and fix to the card base leaving equal distances all the way around (see diagram 11 below).

DIAGRAM 11
19)  Now you can decorate the front of your card but please ensure that you fix your other piece of ribbon to the front of the card before applying your your matted decoration (see diagram 12 below).  I have used the Christmas tree embossing folder through my Cuttlebug onto Core'dinations card, sanded it back and added glitter to hightlight some of the decorations on the tree.

DIAGRAM 12
20)  You have now completed this project.  I've added another couple of pictures below to show my finished box card.









Other box card projects can be viewed here and here.

I hope that these instructions, diagrams and pictures have been easy enough to follow and that you enjoyed making your own box card.  I would love to hear your comments and see your projects.

Please feel free to reference this tutorial, along with your project, on your blog and any craft sites but PLEASE spare a thought for the time and effort that has gone into producing this and a link to this tutorial would be very much appreciated :-)



xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx





Tuesday 2 August 2011

Flower Tutorials

Whilst blog hopping recently I came across this fantastic blog (A Wee Bit of CraftyLoops) which contains some fab flower tutorials by the very clever and talented Lee (aka craftyloops).  Lee loves to be challenged so if there is anything that you would like to know how to make but either haven't got the time to experiment or don't know where to start why not get in touch with her.  Here are some of the tutorials that Lee has on her blog currently, but I'm sure she'll be adding more:






















I've had hours of fun from these tutorials and I'm continuing to perfect the art of flower making.  I'm not connected to Lee or her blog in any way but thought that I would share her talents with you in the hope that you get hours of fun from it too :-)



xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx