Tuesday 29 September 2020

New DT position at Pinksy Doodles

 



I have the absolute pleasure of announcing that I have been invited to be a designer for a new digital designer Pinksy Doodles.



Clare had seen a card I had submitted for a challenge she was sponsoring and approached me to design for her. There is a growing selection of digital papers, cutting files and digital stamps. They are so crisp and clear which makes them super easy to work with. I was immediately inspired as they suit my bright and bold style of cardmaking.

This is my first card using these designs. I have used the beautiful Cosmos Flower Circle frame as the basis of my card. You get 2 designs in the pack. I used the 3 flower ensemble and rotated it so the flowers were in the lower corner. I found image of Cosmos flowers on the internet and they come in so many colours and have variegated two-tone styles so I coloured the outside ones in a bold pink and the middle one in a lighter pink with dark pink edges. I added a decoupage layer to the middle flower, cutting between the petals so I could curl them individually. This was popped up with a small foam square. The centre has metallic gold puffy stickers.


I used one of the Butterflies in the centre from a lovely set which has an open butterfly and a side on one in 2 designs. It is an amazing value set for only £1.49


Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE butterflies so this had to be included in the first card I made, after all this is my wallpaper in my craft room.....


My favourite colour is purple so this was the perfect colour for me to use. In fact I have a butterfly tattoo on my shoulder and it is purple and pink, the same colours as my card.

I positioned the butterfly so it looks like it is about to land on the flowers. That is one of the things I love about digital stamps. With only very limited skills you can create a scene by changing the positions of your elements, rotating, flipping,  you name it. I had planned that the butterfly would be in 3 layers. The flat background, the medium layer with top wing, the top layer with the bottom wing. The body is glued together on all layers. The wings are curled to add dimension. You can see all the details in the 2nd image. I used Promarker and Spectrum Noir pens to colour each layer.

I have highlighted the three circles in the frame by using small self adhesive gems. One frame in purple, one in bright pink, one in clear crystals. This gives separation to each circle and show how they intertwine with one another like an armillary sphere.

The image has been matted onto pink card and I used a pen to run a darker pink around the outside edge.

The patterned paper is one of my favourites from DCWV. I of course love the colour and the fact it has spots of glitter all over it. The tiny flowers are a perfect compliment to the Cosmos Flower Circle.

I added some bright pink ribbon, a butterfly crystal sticker and a Craftwork Cards foiled sentiment to complete my card.

My card has been used as an example in the Etsy store and I let out a huge eeek of excitement when I saw it. I imagine that is how designers feel when they see their cards on Create and Craft or that sort of thing LOL

Anyhoo, I am really excited by this new venture. Since I joined the team Clare has already designed some fabulous stamps and some really intricate cutting files. I don't have that kind of a machine but they are honestly so beautiful. I am already inspired by some of the digi stamps that have been designed and really looking forward to creating with them.

It would be lovely if you could come and check out the ever growing range in the Etsy store. The items are such fabulous prices. As new items are added myself and the other designers will be creating beautiful projects which will feature on all our Social platforms pages such as Instagram, Facebook and Blogger.


Card Details -

Size - A5
Colouring Medium - Promarkers & Spectrum Noir
Embellishments - Gems, butterfly gem sticker, padded gold domes


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


Thursday 24 September 2020

Happy Anniversary

 


It is my 49th birthday on the 28th and also our 19th wedding anniversary. I was dreading turning 30 so my husband married me so I could count 30 birthdays and however many wedding anniversaries. As I have got older I can't believe I felt that way so many years ago.... I think looking back it was to do with other things that weren't quite right in my life and I transferred it to a big birthday. Silly really.... I am much happier being my age now than when I was younger. Thankfully me and Paul have been together 31 years through lots of ups and downs and we are still very happy with one another.


The starting point for this card was the Heart Confetti Edge'able die from Crafter's Companion. I had seen this on several projects when it first came out and bought it specifically to make a card for my hubby.

I have some large sheets of card from Aldi that are 24cm x 34cm wide. This die is 15cm high so I cut the red card to 15x34cm. I cut the edge'able die from a scrap of black card and then folded the card to suit the placement of the black section so the red from the inside came through. This is then adhered to the front section and the finished card is like an A5 size on it's side.

I have used some heart paper in pink and added some of the black hearts that are leftover from the die cut edge. The heart holographic 'ribbon' is a scrap of paper that has been cut so the heart was placed in the centre.

Stamper's Delights do a Progressive Freebie challenge on Facebook. If you have made a project using one of their images then the following month you get a free digital set, sometimes two.

The image is Cupid 3 from Stamper's Delights. It comes with and without wings and there is a really good value Cupid Honey Bundle which has loads of variations of Cupid images on sale for only £5 at the moment. I have coloured using a combination of Promarkers & Spectrum Noir pens and a very fine black Sharpie pen for fine details. On the wings I have used a grey pencil to add details to the feathers and then lots of glitter to make the wings really sparkle. A gold gel pen has been added to the swirls in the hair. The image has been fussy cut and mounted onto foam squares.

The circle sentiment is also from Stamper's Delights. I think it may have been an old blog freebie as it doesn't seem to be available any longer. I used the same markers and glitter as the image and added some bling to cover some little stars. The sentiment is from Imagine That Digi Stamps and is from an older set called Sweet Tea.

I added some little heart shaped gems to the black hearts and the sentiment and faux stitching in a silver gel pen to the black edge of the die cut.

Card Details -

Size - A5 Landscape
Digital Image - Cupid 3 by Stamper's Delights
Digital Sentiments - Stamper's Delights & Imagine That Digistamp (both retired stamps)
Dies - Heart Confetti Edge'able by Crafter's Companion
Colouring Medium - Promarkers, Spectrum Noir, Silver & Gold Gel pens, Sharpie
Embellishments - Iridescent loose glitter, Papermania heart shaped & round gems

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)





Tuesday 22 September 2020

Deacon Elf Presents

 


It is time for another challenge for Team B at Through The Craft Room Door


The sponsor for this challenge is Bugaboo Stamps
There is a prize of $12 to spend in the store for the lucky winner.


I absolutely adore Bugaboo Stamps images and over the years have built up quite a collection. I chose to use Deacon Elf Presents to make a Christmas card.

The image has been coloured with Promarkers. I added a little smile to the face as I am not overly keen on expressionless faces. I used lots of Stickles glitter glue in red and gold and added some gems to the spotty gift and stars onto the hat. I went round the outside of the image with a light grey Flexmarker and fussy cut. This is then mounted onto some thin 3d foam squares.

I used the latest card sketch from Stick It Down for the layout.



The base of the card is a sheet of white A4 cardstock. I have used scraps of patterned papers and cards for the patterned papers, adding a strip of candy cane stripe washi tape to the centre gold panel. The gold strip, red paper and sentiment have been recycled from shop bought Christmas cards I have received.

I used a Nestabilities die to cut the mats for the image. I used the largest one to cut the spotty paper layer and then used the inside edge of the template for the gold layer and the outside edge for the green. These were drawn with a pencil and cut by hand. I think they can quite often make a nicer size layer than using the next size up or down die.

On a previous card I had used some ribbon 3d stickers that were shaped like gift boxes and decided to have a go at making my own. I used some scraps of card and wrapped some ribbons round them with a contrast on the box 'lid' and a small piece of ribbon for a bow. I am really pleased with how they came out and they add a lovely texture to the card.

Our challenges at Through the Craft Room Door are always Anything Goes so easy to enter. I hope you will join us.

Card Details -

 

Size - A5

Digital Image - Deacon Elf Presents by Bugaboo Stamps

Dies - Nestabilities Labels 25 by Spellbinders

Colouring Medium - Promarkers, White gel pen

Embellishments - Ribbons, adhesive gems, Stickles glitter glue, washi tape


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)




Sunday 20 September 2020

Signs of Autumn

 


Over at the Outlawz Challenge there is a monthly Progressive Freebie Challenge. If you have taken part in the previous month you get a new image to play with. This month we have an image and 2 sentiments from the Signs of Autumn set by Jan's Digi Stamps.

Autumn is my favourite season. I love the slight crispness that you get in the air, the sun is not so hot and burny and the leaves start to turn into the most magical of colours. Also at the end of the month it is my birthday and also my wedding anniversary so lots of good things to look forward to.

This image was an absolute delight to work with. I coloured the image using a combination of Promarker and Spectrum Noir pens. I wanted to use lots of colours to emulate the leaves in yellows, oranges, reds, greens & browns. The jar is coloured a very pale grey with a darker seal. I added some silver gel pen to the metal clasp. The jar has a layers os subtle sparkle from a Spectrum Noir clear glitter pen. This really doesn't show up on photos well at all but I promise it is there in real life.

The base of the card is brown card stock from Aldi cut into a 6" square. This gives a nice strip of scrap card stock so this was used to mat the image.

I used sketch 475 from Try Stamping on Tuesday for the layout


The glittery leaves patterned paper is from a Dovecraft Pack Neighbourwood which has lots of leafy patterned papers in it, perfect for autumn projects.  The 'ribbon' is an offcut of paper from the Papermania Birdsong pad. 

Following the prompt on the sketch I added 3 square brown gems and a little sentiment tag from a HOTP Earthtones Creative Pack. When I first started making cards 20 years ago I bought a few of those pads and still have loads of tags and papers left. I mounted this onto a scrap of gold card and added a gold self adhesive puffy dot. The tag and image are mounted onto 3d foam for added dimension.

Card Details -

Size - 6" Square
Colouring Medium - Promarker, Spectrum Noir, Silver gel pen, Spectrum Noir Clear glitter overlay 
Embellishments - gold puffy dome sticker, square gems

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)



Tuesday 15 September 2020

Say It With a Sentiment


Over at The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up it is the Merry Maidens turn to showcase some fabulous Christmas cards.


The optional Twist for this challenge is to ' Say It With A Sentiment' A sentiment or word art is to be a big part of the focus on the card.

The paper pack Sentimentally Christmas designed by Decosse's Dynamite Doodles is up for grabs to the lucky winner who follows the twist.




If you want the chance to win this month's featured paper pack, be sure to create a card that features the twist.

The Sponsor for this challenge is Decosse's Dynamite Doodles who is offering a selection of Christmas Sentiments to the lucky winner.

As I don't have access to a colour printer at the moment I have made a fully digital card.

For my card I really wanted to use Snowy Scene from the Nature of Christmas Kit.


I laid this on a background of Cranberrry Plaid paper which is a freebie still available here from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles. It is a subtle pop of colour around the edge without being too bold.

 The sentiment is from the White Christmas Sentiment set 


I wanted it to be a large focal area on the white snowbank foreground. I love the font that has been used on this one.

I added some red glitter snowflakes from Snow Much Fun onto the background and made them a 70% opacity to make them less bold and blend into the snowflakes already on the background.


Finally I added a little snowman which was a vector graphic I bought years ago for the grand total of 99p. This was in the days before digital stamps really became popular (can you imagine there was such a time?)

I do hope you will take part in our challenge and look forward to seeing your creations.


Digital Supplies Used :  

Image -  Vector Graphic (no longer available)
Papers - Cranberry Plaid freebie & Nature of Christmas by Decosse's Dynamite Doodles.
Sentiment - White Christmas set by Decosse's Dynamite Doodles.
Embellishments - Snow Much Fun Glitter Snowflakes  by Decosse's Dynamite Doodles

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

Tuesday 8 September 2020

Creepy Cute Cafe Crow

 


It is time for another challenge for Team B at Through The Craft Room Door


The sponsor for this challenge is Oddball Art Co.
There is a prize of $10 to spend in the store for the lucky winner.



We were given this set to use Creepy Cute Cafe Img 523.  I don't really make halloween projects so I chose to use the crow from the set.


I had an idea to position the birdies like a Mommy Bird giving some advice to a baby bird so positioned the digital stamp to suit this. 

I coloured the image using Promarkers in greens as it looked like my Grandad's budgie when I was growing up. I added some detail to the feathers with coloured pencils. I thought I had a die I could make a branch from but the couple I have wouldn't sit right in the circle so I decided I would draw my own. Not sure I will get any artistry awards for it though LOL. The background is coloured with a very pale blue which I have given a mottled texture to with a blending pen. The camera hasn't picked that up very well as it is so subtle.

I decided to make it into an easel card as it is a long while since I made one of those.

On the front the bottom paper has such a lovely dainty design in the corner. The squares of green are a double sided paper so I have turned one over and added faux stitching with a fine line pen. I have added ink to the edge of the paper. The Image I have cut out using a Fiskars circle shapecutter template then a circle of green card. I used a new set of dies Crea-Nest-Lies XXL to cut the scalloped circle. These are brilliant dies as they are a decent size and lots of nesting shapes in one set. Considering how fine the scallops are they cut really well and this was quite thick black card. I have added 3 iridescent sequin flowers and green gems.

The bottom section has used more of the same papers and I trimmed the floral one using a Martha Stewart border punch. The sentiment is an old one from AI Factory who have now retired. As there are so many layers the easel sits behind this sentiment section without any need to put any other raised item to hold it up. Finally for a bit of whimsy I added some googly eyes to both the birdies. 

Our challenges at Through the Craft Room Door are always Anything Goes so easy to enter. I hope you will join us.

Card Details -

 

Size – 6’ Square Easel

Digital Image – Crow from Creepy Cute CafĂ© Image 523 by Oddball Art Co.

Digital Sentiment – This Little Birdie Set 1 by AI Factory (retired)

Dies Crea-Nest-Lies XXL 69 Circle Open Scallop

Punch – Scallop Polka Dot Border by Martha Stewart Crafts

Colouring Medium – Promarkers, Coloured Pencils

Embellishments – Flower sequins, gems, googly eyes

 

 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)