Thursday, 15 September 2022

Penguin Huddle


Over at The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up it is the midway point of our challenge. That means it is the turn of the Merry Maidens to share some more fabulous Christmas cards.



The challenge theme is any Any Christmas Card or other December holiday with an optional twist of Fur, Fins or Feathers. The lucky winner's prize is any 2 Winter or Christmas paper packs from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles



If you link up 2 or more cards to our challenge you will get a free digital paper sent to you that our intrepid leader Lisa of Decosse's Dynamite Doodles has designed. 

My card this month features this cute grouping of penguins. This is a digital stamp called Huddle from Sheepski Designs.  This was sized to suit the paper I used from Nature of Christmas which is a great background for an outdoor snowy scene like this.



I coloured the image with Promarkers and fine liner pens. This was then fussy cut (lots of tiny details so this was a bit fiddly). I added to the card and then popped lots of glitter glue and fake fluffy snow to create the snowdrift. I added some pompoms to the hats and earmuffs. I didn't tiny green ones so I coloured 2 white ones with a Promarker. I wasn't sure if it would work very well and I am really pleased with the result.

I added the sentiment which has been recycled from a card I have previously received. As a finishing touch I added some silver peel off snowflakes in the sky.

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

Card Details -


Size - 6” x 6”

Digital Image - Huddle (Sheepski Designs)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers & fine liner pens

Digital Paper - Nature of Christmas (Decosse’s Dynamite Doodles)

Embellishments - Pompoms, glitter glue, fake snow, peel off stickers



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


at 24 comments:
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Wednesday, 7 September 2022

Frozen Fellowship

 


It's time for another challenge over at The Paper Funday.
Our challenges are alway Anything Goes with an optional twist.
The twist this time is 'Thinking of You'


We are very fortunate to have 2 sponsors for each challenge this year which means we get to choose which artist we would like to work with. This is really great as it gives us double the choice. We are very lucky with the amazing sponsors that are lined up this year, many of which are old favourites and some that are new to me.

We are sponsored this month by Newton’s Nook Designs and QKR Stampede both of which I have created with before.

For this challenge I used this super rubber stamp set Frozen Fellowship from  Newton’s Nook Designs. I won a chalenge some time ago and the prize was a gift card so party of my winnings went on this. I do love a snowman and had nothing like this with lots of snowmen and instantly fell in love when I saw it. It had not previously been inked so it was the perfect reason to get my stamping platform out.


I used one of the sentiments from the set and thought it would be fun to isolate just one of the snowmen and make that my favourite. I have never done the spotlight technique before. I used a heart shape frame die as a template and drew around it using a blue pencil. I then coloured the snowman with my pencils in blue to match the paper. Fastest colouring on an image ever I think....

The white card base has some Glittering Snowflakes Vellum from Crafter's Companion. This is a really thick vellum which is very forgiving when you stick it down as it doesn't show through.

The die is Regal Snowflake from Crafter's Companion and is a recent purchase. I have quite a few snowflakes in my collection and really don't NEED any more but I loved how detailed and intricate it is so it kinda fell in my basket ☺

I matted the sentiment and image using some scraps of blue card and then the final touch was using some gems to embellish the snowflake and add eyes to Mr Snowman. This will be the card I give to my hubby at Christmas so look at me being so far ahead. 

I hope you will join myself and our fabulous Team over at
The Paper Funday Challenge.


Card Details -


Size - A5

Rubber Stamp Image & Sentiment - Frozen Fellowship (Newton’s Nook Designs)

Colouring Medium - Arteza Expert Pencils

Dies - Regal Snowflake (Crafter’s Companion), Heart Framelits (Sizzix)

Designer Paper - Glittering Snowflakes Vellum (Crafter’s Companion)

Embellishments - Self adhesive gems (The Works)


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


at 11 comments:
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Monday, 5 September 2022

Mrs Teddy Bear Guest DT

 


I was truly honoured to be asked to be a Guest Designer for the September challenge at 
Jan's Digi Stamps Challenge. 

I love taking part in this challenge and Jan always leaves the most lovely of comments. She really takes the time to make them personal which I do myself so it is really appreciated.



I have been given this cute image Mrs Teddy Bear which also came with the perfect sentiment. This was a new release on 1st September and is available from Jan's Digi Stamps.




I started with an 8" square card base and added a subtle patterned paper in green. This has been edged with a gold self adhesive strip and I mitred the corners to make a neater finish (using my old sewing skills there)

The die is a really large poinsettia frame from The Paper Boutique. I used the main base in red and added a gold overlay with the flower detail. It cut perfectly in one pass in my Gemini which is fabulous considering how detailed it is. I have kept the gold bits to possibly attempt paper piecing another die cut at a later date (please notice the word 'possibly')

Mrs Bear has been sized to fit into the circle inside and has been coloured primarily in Promarkers then I added some Arteza pencils to add texture to the fur and folds to the fabric. I due cut the image with the circle die that comes in the die set and it adds a delicate cut detail to the edge.

The sentiment I split into 2 sections so I could place it in the parts as shown.

Finally I added oodles of small green gems to the centres of the poinsettias to add a bit of sparkle.

Jan's images are always so crisp and clear and it was a true pleasure to work with. Thank you so much for asking me to Guest DT on this challenge.

Card Details -


Size - 8” Square

Digital Image & Sentiment - Mrs Teddy Bear (Jan’s Digi Stamps)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers & Arteza Expert Pencils

Designer Paper - Merry Christmas 12”x12” (Craft Sensations)

Die - Merry & Bright (The Paper Boutique)

Embellishments - Gems, gold peel off line sticker (Lakeland)



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


at 33 comments:
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Thursday, 1 September 2022

Bike 1 - Paul 0 Digital Page

 


Over at Kate Hadfield Designs blog every month there is a digital scrapbook page template you can download completely free. I am very new to this but these templates make it so easy to create and I am having so much fun with them.



This month the template is Pockets and it comes in different formats depending on which program you use to put them together.


I am on a Mac computer and use Affinity Designer to create my digital layouts. The best format for me is to build the page up using the PNG templates. Each page has the element on a different layer and you build it up using each numbered layer. This makes for quite a big file to work with but when you export it out it is like a normal image so quite a bit smaller. Previous to using these templates I never really understood how the layers worked in these sort of programs when watching the photo editing videos my hubby watches so it has really taught me so much.

Talking about my hubby he is the subject of my scrapbook page today. Unfortunately he had an accident on his bike a couple of days ago. He went out with a friend and I had a call to say he had fell off his bike and was hurt. Hubby has epilepsy and a few times I have had the most awful calls that he has had a fit when away from home and he needs to be fetched. The panic you have when getting to the location is just pure adrenaline and fear. In this case I was told he'd not had a fit but he'd hurt his shoulder and had cuts and bruises and could I come and fetch him and his bike.

Fortunately where he did it was close to a hospital so a nurse on her way home had stopped and made sure he was okay. His friend was calling for an ambulance and one arrived in a couple of minutes. They were on the way to the hospital and had seen him at the side of the road so that was really fortunate. He wasn't classed as an emergency so they couldn't take him to hospital so we were advised to take him to Accident & Emergency to get him X-rayed just in case.


He was in a lot of pain by this stage and when they did the initial examination it was pretty clear he had a fracture of some sort. It turns out he has broken the left hand side of his collarbone. A breaks go it is a clean one with no splinters so that is good news but he cannot use that arm for at least 6 weeks.

I used the Jade paper from Also Edgy for the background. I made it larger and cropped the edge off as there is a border in the template.


One of the layers is like splats on the background so I re-coloured this in red to symbolise the blood that has spilt. He has quite a few cuts and bruises, a really bashed up elbow with a pretty large and deep patch of skin that has scraped away and even had some tarmac in his hand so definitely lots of blood.

We took a photo of the X-ray showing his break and one outside the hospital. I honestly had no intention of making a scrapbook page about this but when I saw this template it really fired me up to create it. Even the shape of the photos in the template were made for it.

The border on the edges is the result of playing about with some of the special effects in the Affinity program. It took the basic shape of the diamonds and applied this metallic effect and you change the colours. I don't really know how I did it so probably would never be able to recreate it but like what it did.

The pocket on the longer photo obscured part of Paul's legs and feet (a big no no in photography compositions is you shouldn't cut off a limb) so I made it shorter and translucent so it looks like a vellum pocket.


I added various images from the Bruises and Breaks Doodles pack and the bike from Hip Hip Hipster Doodles to further embellish the page. The great thing about Kate's pack is that you can mix and match to your hearts content from all the different packs and you know that they will work together.


The final stage was adding a title and some journalling.

If you fancy having a go with this template you can find it at the link. I am finding making digital pages a great way of saving memories and doing something creative with them instead of them just languishing in folders on the computer....

At Kate Hadfield Designs there are so many fabulous sets it is really easy to get inspired to use them. There are digital stamps which you can colour, coloured versions you can scrapbook or make into digital layouts. Papers, patterned overlays and doodles galore. No matter what your skill level there are so many goodies to play with.


Kate is really generous with her freebies which are readily available. If you sign up to the newsletter you get access to an extra subscriber area the Doodle Den where there are loads more freebies. There is a gallery full of projects by the Creative Team and customers and so much inspiration for crafters and teachers. I would highly recommend you pop over there and join in the fun.



Digital Scrapbook Page Details -


Template - Pockets Freebie (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Digital Papers - Also Edgy (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Digital Images - Bruises and Breaks Doodles, Hip Hip Hipster Doodles (Kate Hadfield Designs)


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


at 9 comments:
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Sunset Wedding Guest DT

 


One of my cards was chosen as a Top 5 Creation at Scrapping4funChallenge and I was invited to be a Guest Designer for the new challenge that starts today.

The prompt is something beginning with the letter W


This was perfect timing for me as my sister in law has just got married and I needed to make a card for the bridge and groom.

It is not the first marriage for either of them so they wanted to get married on the beach at sunset. They got married in the registry office first and then a sunset ceremony. The attendees were only their children so it was a very private ceremony which was just how they wanted it to be.

Knowing the plans I wanted to create a card which had a silhouette of the happy couple with the backdrop of a sunset in a heart.

The photo has been taken from a family holiday we all went on in 2019 to Tenerife. This has been printed on a Lustre finish photo paper which has a lovely sheen to it. Digitally I placed a template of the heart shape over it so we could get the placement of the sun setting directly above the joined hands,

I found this lovely silhouette of a bride and groom at Clipart Library which I printed onto printer paper then adhered it to some black card. I then used my trusty Fiskars embroidery scissors and fussy cut. I wasn't sure if I would be able to retain the detail so was very pleased with my cutting.

The base of the card has been covered with a lovely wrapping paper from Paperchase which I positioned so that the sentiment would be top centre. Paperchase has long been a source of really beautiful papers that are really good quality and gorgeous designs. You get the equivalent of 8 sheets of A4 paper from one sheet for between £1 and £4 depending on the type of paper you choose. I don't get to go very often but rarely come out empty handed when I do.....

Finally I die cut a Congratulations sentiment from silver card to match the holographic text.

Thank you to Rachelle for inviting me to guest on this challenge and I hope you will pop over to Scrapping4funChallenge to take part.

Card Details -


Size - A5

Digital Image - Bride & Groom Silhouette (Clipart Library) & our own sunset photo

Dies - Congratulations (Crafter’s Companion)

Designer Paper - Wrapping paper (Paperchase)



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


at 14 comments:
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Autumn Girl Reading

 


It is the start of a new month and we have a new image to play with for 
The Outlawz Progressive Freebie Challenge


Our New Blog Home is now up and running and all the challenges are being hosted from there. There is a challenge for each day of the week and we have ones that last for a month at a time. Lots of prizes on offer with individual ones for the specific challenges and sitewide ones for each calendar month.

Come on over and join in the fun at The Outlawz

This month at the Progressive Freebie Challenge we have been given this lovely image 
Autumn Fall Girl Reading by Star Stampz.


This image has a wistful feeling to it and I found a sentiment in my digital collection that I felt fit it perfectly. It is an old retired one from Sentimental Susan that had a medicine bottle on it. It didn't look right in the background so I edited this out. 



Reading has always been a very important part of my from being a small child. Whether it be a physical book or a digital reader the escapism you feel from reading a book, the way you picture characters in your head is something that has fed my imagination over the years. In this super busy world it feels like an indulgence to make time to read but it is important to slow down and have some 'me' time. That is indeed medicine for the soul.

I used a combination of Promarkers and pencils to colour the image. I used fine tipped markers to add delicate detail to the tree bark and around the sun and colour the tiny leaves.

I mounted the image onto some kraft card. The patterned paper is a really old leaves one from Papermania, I just love the Autumn colours as it is my favourite season of all. I used some touchy feely suede ribbon. The flower embellishment has been created with 2 fabric flowers, and opened metal beadcap and a gorgeous gem brad holding it all together.

The Progressive Freebie challenge is a great opportunity to use images from different artists who you may not have used before. It helps to take you out of your comfort zone and introduce you to different styles and I would highly recommend you take part.

Head on over to The Outlawz Progressive Freebie Challenge where you can see all the details of how to request this image if you would like to play along.

Card Details -


Size - 6” Square

Digital Image - Autumn Fall Girl Reading (Star Stampz)

Digital Sentiment - Now Retired (Sentimental Susan)

Designer Paper - Woodland Folk (Papermania)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers, Arteza Expert Pencils, Fine tipped marker pens

Embellishments - Suede ribbon, Fabric Flower, Metal Beadcap, Gem Brad



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


at 20 comments:
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