Passion for Markers - Mega Christmas Challenge 'Use Die Cuts'...

 Hello there, dear crafty friends! I can't quite believe that it is this time of year already, but here we are at the beginning of December, preparing for Christmas and the start of a New Year! It also means that it is time for our Mega Christmas Challenge over at Passion for Markers...

This challenge will run for a whole month and ends on 3rd January 2023!  This gives all of our Design Team members a chance to take a little break over the festive season and catch up on their last minute cards and gifts...however to make up for the lack of challenges we have some fantastic prizes up for grabs!

Our theme for the Mega Christmas challenge is “use die cuts”.  We don't mind what you create for this challenge, as long as you use some die cuts and colour with your markers!  You are welcome to make Christmas creations but as the challenge will still be running after the ‘BIG’ day you can of course make any type of creation.  As time is precious for our DT at this time of year we are limiting the number of entries you can make to just 3 for this month long challenge.  

* Please remember to be eligible for our prizes you must use your markers such as Promarkers, Copics, Spectrum Noir, Karin, Zig Clean Color etc *

So now for the exciting bit – the prizes!

Dies to Die For are offering 1 lucky winner a £20.00 gift voucher

Uniko Stamps are offering 1 lucky winner 1 stamp set (must be in stock)

Leann’s World 101 are offering 1 lucky winner 2 digi images

Crafty Sentiments Designs are offering 1 lucky winner 3 digi images

Colour of Love digis are offering 1 lucky winner 3 digi images

All Dressed Up stamps are offering 1 lucky winner 2 digi images

Polkadoodles are offering 1 lucky winner 3 digi images

Di’s Digi Stamps are offering 1 lucky winner a $6.00 voucher

Sheepski Designs are offering 1 lucky winner 3 digi images

Wow, we are sure you’ll agree our sponsors have been super generous once again this year!  We are so grateful to have their continued support. 

We have asked both design teams to share some inspiration with you but as it such a long challenge we will be posting the inspiration from Team 1 today and then in two week’s time we will be posting inspiration from Team 2.  

So here's a look at my contribution... 

Once again, I managed to avoid that event that is looming on the near horizon and went for a pretty floral creation using a new stamp and die set that I picked up in one of the various sales?! I coloured the little flower sprigs with my Pro/Flexmarkers :

Flowers - Pink Pearl, Sorbet, Fuchsia Pink, Orchid, Wild Orchid, Amethyst, Apple Green

Vase - Pebble Blue, Blender  

I kept my card in my ever favourite CAS style with an inked background and although somewhat happy with the result, I feel it is a little off balance and everything could have done with being lower on the card...but hey, ho! I'll know for next time!...

So to re-cap the challenge will run until 3rd January 2023 and you can enter a maximum of 3 times.  Unfortunately during the Mega Christmas challenge we will not be choosing a Top 5 Passionista but this will re-commence for the first challenge in 2023.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and wish you every happiness in the coming year!

Crafty hugs,

 

Passion for Markers - Traditional Christmas colours...

 Good evening, crafty buddies! I'm a little late posting today, but am here to let you know about this week's new challenge over at Passion for Markers...

The lovely Sue is in the hostess chair this week and has picked a topical theme of 'Traditional Christmas colours'...As the title suggests Sue doesn’t mind what you create or what theme you follow (so it doesn't have to be a Christmas card, as you can see?!) as long as you use traditional Christmas colours i.e. red, green, gold etc along with any neutrals you want to use...

We are being sponsored by Colour of Love digis who are offering one lucky winner a choice of 2 digital images from their online store... 

As you will see, I avoided the theme of 'that event that happens in December'...Christmas starts early enough for me, so I'm being the rebel of the Design Team?!...

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out Aiyanna Indian Maiden...

I coloured her up with my Pro/Flexmarkers and used my Prismacolor pencils for some added detail in a traditional red, gold and green colour combination...I know....you're singing it in your head now, aren't you?! ha, ha!

I hope you can find the time to play along with our fun challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations...

Crafty hugs,

Lisa x

Passion for Markers - Make it Digital...

 Good morning, crafty friends! We're into November and speeding towards the end of the year at an alarming rate! I am struggling to find time to fit everything into a day at the moment and my to do list seems to get longer by the hour!...

I did find some crafty time yesterday morning though...well, it was more a case of needing to and so I'm popping in to tell you all about the brand new challenge that's starting today over at Passion for Markers! The lovely Marlene is in the hostess chair with a simple challenge theme of 'Make it Digital'...so whether it's a digital image, papers or sentiment, we want to see them on your creations...

(REMEMBER, IT REALLY HELPS IF YOU CAN LET US KNOW WHERE YOU'VE USED YOUR MARKERS AND DIGITAL ELEMENT)

We're being sponsored by LeAnn's World 101 who are offering one lucky winner a choice of 2 digital images from their online store...

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out Adriana...

I kept my card relatively clean and simple, with an inked background, die cut leaves, simple sentiment and Glossy Accents for bubbles.

I coloured Adriana with my Pro/Flexmarkers and then added texture with my Prismacolor pencils...

Skin - Putty, Tan, Cinnamon

Hair - Cinnamon, Auburn, Henna, Umber

Tail - Fuchsia Pink, Sorbet, Pink Pearl, Tea Green, Cool Aqua, Duck Egg, Surf Blue

I hope that you can find the time to play along with our fun challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations.

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Markers - Embellish it!...

 Good morning, crafty buddies! I hope you're all having a good week and enjoying the milder weather we're having here in the UK? I'm glad of it today, especially, as we're having our double garage built...this has been a long time coming since it's order in the Summer and I am so looking forward to getting everything organised and having a good clear out of STUFF. I'm also looking forward to being able to get my garden back to some sort of prettiness in the Spring as with all the construction work it has turned into a bit of a quagmire and dumping ground!...

But for now, it's Tuesday, which means the start of a brand new challenge over at Passion for Markers...the lovely Marie is in the hostess chair with a super simple challenge theme of 'Embellish it!'...so whether you add a few gems to your design or like me, chuck the embellishment box at it, we'd like to see all those wonderful additions - gems, pearls, bows, buttons, glitter, flowers, etc...

 We're being sponsored by Star Jam Lines who are offering one lucky winner 2 digital images of their choice (arranged with Olya as her Etsy store is currently closed)...

 We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and this one's called Gnome Christmas Decoration...

Marker colour list -

Skin - Blush, Dusky Pink, Sunkissed Pink, Nutmeg

Beard - Cool Grey 2 and 3, Prismacolor pencils for texture

Hat - Pale Pink, Dusky Rose, Red, Poppy, Crimson, Burgundy

Top - Apple, Bamboo SN, Camo Green SN

Star and shoes - Ivory, Buttercup, Pastel Yellow, Sandstone, Cappuccino, Umber (shoes)

Baubles - Cool Aqua, Duck egg, Surf Blue, Red, Crimson, Burgundy, Pebble Blue

Although my card is pretty clean and simple, I added a lot of various embellishments for bling!...

Embellishments - Pink and Blue Pearl Stars, Adhesive gems and pearls, Red star gems, Gold peel off stars, Red, aqua and crystal glitter

I hope you can find the time to play along with our fun challenge this week and look forward to seeing all your wonderful creations!...

Crafty hugs,

 

Passion for Markers - Anything Goes...

 Good morning, crafty buddies! Another brand new challenge started today over at Passion for Markers with the lovely Lorraine choosing a super simple theme of 'Anything Goes'... (it doesn't get any easier than that!...as long as you remember to use your markers (alcohol or watercolour) somewhere on your project)...

 We're being sponsored by Uniko Stamps who are offering one lucky winner a choice of stamp set from their online store (must be in stock)...

 

For my DT card I used a super cute image from Wee Stamps and created a card for a little girl's first birthday...

I coloured her up with my Pro/Flexmarkers :

Skin - Putty, Tan, Cinnamon

Hair - Pastel Yellow, Champagne, Sandstone

Babygro - Pastel Pink, Cocktail Pink, Watermelon

Cake and bears - Sandstone, Cappuccino

Flowers - Blue Pearl, China Blue

Shadows - Pebble Blue

 I used papers from my ever increasing scrap stash and added die cut clouds, hearts and the number 1. I dotted round a few gems and peel off stars and added a name and sentiment...

I hope you can find the time to play along with our easy peasy challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations!

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Markers - Food and/or Drink...

 Good morning, Blogger buddies! It's Tuesday (again!) which means it's time for a fun new challenge over at Passion for Markers!...

 I'm playing hostess this week and was inspired by all the Food festivals and markets that seem to be happening at this time of year...so I went with a theme of 'Food and/or Drink'. We're being sponsored by the wonderful Polkadoodles who are offering one lucky winner a choice of 3 digital images from their online store...

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out the pretty 'Ruby Birthday Cake'...

I coloured Ruby with my Pro/Flexmarkers -

Skin - Putty, Tan, Cinnamon

Hair - Cappuccino, Umber, Coffee Bean (SN), Pencils

Dress - Yellow, Mustard, Gold, Cocktail Pink, Watermelon, Antique Pink

Shadows - Pebble Blue

I used an old layout from 5 years ago (where does the time go?!) and wanted to incorporate yellow into my make as I see so many lovely creations using yellow, but never seem to make anything myself! I did have to pair it with a touch of pink, of course...just because I find it such an easy colour to work with. I resisted the temptation to add a couple of clouds, like in my original creation...but only just?! Ha, ha!

The sentiment was part of a stamp set that came free with SC&P and I used the Happy from my WoW! stamp set, fussy cut with a white border.

I hope you can find the time to play along with my fun challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations!

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Markers - Favourite Tool, Product or Embellishment...

 Hello there, crafty friends! My these days are whizzing by and we are sliding our way into Autumn with speed! The days are getting shorter and we'll soon be digging out the cardigans and 'big' coats...

But before we do, it's time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Markers and the lovely Julie has given us a clever theme to use our 'Favourite Tool, Product or Embellishment'...

We're being sponsored by Dr Digi's House of Stamps who are offering one lucky winner a choice of 2 digital images from their online store...

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out the fun 'Morag the Moo'...

I may be a little controversial in my choice of favourite tool and my Big Shot machine would have to come in a close second, but for me, I love my little orange scissors! I am a real fan of paper piecing and decoupaging images and the way I can make a card really simple but still add interest and dimension in some 3D or paper pieced elements. They are one of those items that if I only had my scissors, some paper and glue, I would be able to while away many a happy hour! I also have developed a love for white borders around my images and sentiments and can't afford to buy every matching die set, so my trusty scissors do the job just fine!

I coloured Morag with my Pro/Flexmarkers and sadly, forgot to write the colour list down :( but hope you like her just the same?! I decoupaged her up with 3 layers and added what's supposed to be an icicle die, but works great as grass! Of course, I had to add in some die cut clouds, a touch of doodling and a great card pun for good measure!

I hope you can find the time to play along with our fun challenge this week and look forward to visiting your blogs and finding out what your favourite tools/products are...

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Markers - Christmas...

 Apologies for the late posting, the Bank Holiday Monday has thrown my ability to know what day of the week it is?!...Turns out it's Tuesday, which means it's time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Markers!...

The lovely Sue is in the hostess chair with a simple theme of 'Christmas' (unless you're me, in which case you find it really hard to think of that event in December until around the 30th November! Ha, ha!) We're being sponsored by Lili of the Valley (LOTV) who are offering one lucky winner a choice of 4 digital images from their online store...

 We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out the pretty 'Woodland Baubles' and went with a clean and simple design...

I coloured the image with my Pro/Flexmarkers and used a Spellbinders wave border die to cut the edge of the cardstock. I layered over some traditional plaid paper, then matted onto red before adding some red grosgrain ribbon. I decoupaged some of the bauble elements of the image and highlighted with glitter and gems. I added peel off waste dots to the border scallops and mounted everything onto a 6x6 kraft card base....

I hope you can find the time to play along with our simple challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your festive makes...

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Markers - Things with Wings...

 Good morning, crafty friends! It's Tuesday, which can only mean one thing...yep, that's right, it's time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Markers!...

 This week it's the lovely Marlene in the hostess chair with an easy challenge theme of 'Things with Wings'...this could be butterflies, dragons, birds, fairies or any other creature with wings....

We're being sponsored by A Colour of Love who are offering one lucky winner a choice of 3 digital images from their online store...

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out the pretty 'Spring Dreamer'...

 I kept my card clean and simple, using up some of the ever increasing scraps that I keep accumulating and coloured in my favourite pink and aqua colour combo...I decoupaged the image for a bit more dimension and added some tiny butterfly die cuts (more things with wings!)

Life is pretty hectic at the moment, so I'm finding it hard to craft in between challenges, but hope to be back soon to share the cards that we made at workshop on Saturday....until then, I hope that you can play along with our challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations!

Crfaty hugs,

Passion for Markers - Dies and/or Punches...

 Good morning, crafty friends! Wow! These weeks are really speeding by and we're already into August...life is so busy at the minute, I don't know if I'm coming or going?!

 It's time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Markers and the lovely Marie is in the hostess chair with a super easy theme of 'Dies and/or Punches'...it doesn't get much easier than that! We're being sponsored by All Dressed Up stamps who are offering one lucky winner a choice of 2 digital images from their online store...

 We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out the super cute 'Play Day'...

 

 I coloured the sweet girl and her dog with my Pro/Flexmarkers and mounted her onto a concertina front card. I paper pieced her wellies, glasses and hair ribbon for a bit of added dimension and used papers from my scrap drawers for the panels. I added my favourite sun and cloud die cuts, some fishtail flags and a couple of stamped sentiments...

I I hope you can find the time to play along with our fun challenge this week (and if you do, can you send some of that time over to me, please?!) and I look forward to visiting your blogs and seeing all of your wonderful creations!

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Markers - Something beginning with 'B'...

 Good morning, crafty friends! Hope you're all coping in this extreme heat that we're having here in the UK...best place to be is indoors crafting?! (If only I had the inspiration!)...

I'm here to share my DT card for this week's challenge over at Passion for Markers. The lovely Lorraine is in the hostess chair with a fun theme of 'Something beginning with B'...maybe bears, bugs, bows, blue, buttons or butterflies...

We're being sponsored by Dies to Die For who are offering one lucky winner a £15 voucher to spend in their online store...

 For my card, I dug out a die that I picked up in the Sizzix sale, possibly 4 or even 5 years ago and have never really known what to do with it, so cut it in white card and decided to colour it up with my alcohol markers...

I attached the bird (my something beginning with B) onto white card with the intention of cutting it out with a border but liked the way it sat on the slim panel and went with it...Some delicate papers and embellishments and a stamped sentiment were enough (I thought) to showcase this pretty die cut, and all mounted onto a light grey pearlescent cardstock...

I hope you can play along with our fun challenge this week and look forward to seeing how you all interpret it...

Crafty hugs,