Tiddly Dogs...

 Hey there, crafty buddies! So it seems that I forgot to post the card that I made for my eldest son's birthday earlier this year and thought it would be good to play along with Lorraine's 'Use Red and/or Pink' challenge over at Passion for Markers...

 I made this sweet A6 card (not a size I make very often but should try and do more of, if only for storage space?!) using Tiddly Inks Flying high stamp set - which is now available as a digital download from their Etsy store HERE...

 I kept my card clean and simple, just stenciling a cloud background with some simple mats and layers, a few cloud die cuts and my favourite script sentiment dies....

 I finished with a few gem sprinkles and decorated the inside to match with one of the balloon stamps fussy cut with a white border...

Colour List :

Dogs - Cappuccino, Umber

Balloons - Pale Pink, Cocktail Pink, watermelon, Red, Berry, Burgundy, Dolphin Blue, Cornflower, Storm Cloud, Tea Green, Pebble Blue, Blender 

I'd like to enter my card into the Passion for Markers #775 Use Red and/or Pink challenge 

and I Love Promarkers challenge #576 Anything goes with optional Down on the Farm

 

Thanks for dropping by and I may be back soon with some creations from my crafty Sizzix haul....

 

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

 Good evening, crafty friends! I am a little late to the party with this week's challenge over at Passion for Markers - life is pretty hectic at the moment and I am trying to get my house sorted after emptying Mum's. It is definitely a case of cluttered house, cluttered mind and I have been busy building flat pack furniture and decorating to store the multitude of stuff that I brought home. I cannot even get into my craft room properly, so this card was created mainly on a board on my knee?!...

The lovely Marie is in the hostess chair this week and she always gives us a nice, easy theme - this week being 'Use Dies and/or Punches'...

We are being sponsored by Dr Digis House of Stamps who are offering one lucky winner 2 digital images from their online store...

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out Bob's Balloons...

I just used a portion of the image and created a CAS card with some paper piecing and doodling. I coloured Bob with my Pro/Flexmarkers -

Skin - Blush, Dusky Pink, Rose Peach

Shirt - Pebble Blue, Blender

Jumper - Marine, Surf Blue, Blender

Hat - Wild Orchid, Purple, Red Violet

Balloon - Meadow Green, Apple, Forest Green

I added a strip of polka dot paper to the bottom third of the card and freehand drew some doodling around the white area before mounting Bob using foam pads for a bit of dimension, I also paper pieced his jumper with a striped paper. I die cut some balloons in a gold and blue glitter and drew the strings using a fine line pen. I used my favourite Yana Smakula Birthday sentiments die and stamped 'wishes' underneath, then finished with some sprinkles of gems and pearls...

I hope that you can find the time to play along with our fun challenge this week (and as for me, better late than never?!)...

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Markers - Use Red and/or Hearts...

 Good morning, crafty friends! So we're into February and the days are slowly starting to get longer (yay!) but Spring still seems a long way off....my crafty mojo is still nowhere to be seen, but I think that's because of the fact that the house is in complete disarray after having to empty Mum's and not being able to resist bringing a lot of stuff home! I need to be ruthless and then to get organised, but it's a slow process and one that requires motivation (something which I am very much lacking at the minute!)...

Anyway, it's Tuesday! So that means it's time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Markers and I did force myself to sit at my crafty desk and create something?! We have the lovely Lorraine in the hostess chair this week and she has given us a topical but easy theme of 'Use Red and/or Hearts'...

We're being sponsored by Dies to Die For who are offering one lucky winner a £15.00 voucher to their online store...awesome right?!...

I decided to take the opportunity to make hubby's card for next week and was inspired by a card that the lovely Deborah Hellman created with a fabulous and relevant sentiment!...

With everything that has happened over the last few months, I can't imagine that I have been the best of company at times, so I thought that this sentiment was the perfect way to say thank you for being there...

I used a heart stencil which I dry embossed first and then used my Versamark pad to heat emboss with white embossing powder to create a resist. I inked with Festive Berries Distress Oxide and then added my fussy cut cactus image on foam pads -

Plant - Apple, Forest Green, Ivy (SN)

Pot - Soft Peach, Honeycomb, Spice

I added the sentiment which I created in PS and a couple of red, heart gems to follow on with the theme...

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 makes...

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 - Gems and/or Pearls...

Good morning, crafty friends! Another Tuesday arrives and with it a brand new challenge over at Passion for Markers!...

This week it's the lovely Marlene in the hostess chair with a super simple theme of 'Gems and/or Pearls'...you can use either or both on your creations and we all love a bit of bling, surely?!...

We're being sponsored by Stamper's Delights who are kindly offering one lucky winner a choice of 3 digital images from their online store...

Just remember that to be in with a chance of winning the prize, you must have a marker coloured element on your creation and it really helps if you could let us know where you've used them, for example, coloured with alcohol pens...and follow the challenge theme, which this week couldn't be simpler!

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out the modern 'Art Tools 5'...

With my love of CAS cards not waning, I thought this image would be perfect for a simple creation and resized the digistamp in Photoshop to fill most of the card base. I printed a couple of layers so that I could decoupage some elements and positioned the wording so that the sentiment worked. I inked the card base with Cracked Pistachio and Salty Ocean Distress Oxides and paper pieced the pocket with a denim colour polka dot.

To follow the theme, I added some gem sprinkles in various colours and some grey pearls to underline the word Art. This is definitely my favourite style of card making and I love the way this one turned out, plus the image was easy to colour too!

Colour List :

Bristles - Gold, Honeycomb, Spice

Metal shafts - Champagne, Sandstone, Cappuccino 

Handles - Red, Poppy, Burgundy, Cool Aqua, Duck Egg, Surf Blue, Pastel Green, Soft Green, 

Peacock Green

Heart - Cocktail Pink, Watermelon, Lemon, Canary

I hope you can play along with our challenge this week and look forward to seeing your wonderful creations!

Crafty hugs,

Ruth Hamilton - Fuschias...

 Good afternoon, crafty friends! I am popping in today to share a card with you that was inspired by a wonderful card creation by the talented Ashley Ebben on behalf of Pretty Pink Posh, although I cannot for the life of me find the original post that she shared to credit it properly (but please check out her fabulous creations by clicking on her name or HERE!)...

I actually used two of Ruth Hamilton Design's digistamps in this pretty pink card - Fuchsias and Rose Bud...

I resized the Fuchsia flowers to 30% and the Rose Bud to 35% in my graphics program and coloured  with my Pro/Flexmarkers in Cerise, Shocking Pink, Vermillion, Pale Pink and a Blender pen. The leaves were coloured with my Spectrum Noir pens in Willow, Bamboo and Camo Green - I also coloured in the leaves and buds from the Rose Bud image to look like those on a Fuchsia plant and cut them all out leaving a white border. 

I cut a panel of white paper to 15 x 10cm and ink blended the edges with Tattered Rose Distress Oxide and spattered with Picked Raspberry and Peeled Paint. I attached the flowers and foliage using a combination of glue and foam pads, then stamped the word Happy from the freebie stamp set of Issue 212 of Simply Cards and papercraft using my stamp platform. 

I stamped and cut out the Birthday sentiment from my favourite Waffle Flower Crafts Happy Birthday Sentiments and attached with foam pads, then finished with a touch of glitter on the stamens of the flower and some pink dew drops...

I mat the panel onto black and white before attaching to a hot pink card base (thank you Gina K for encouraging my use of coloured card bases!)...et voila!

I love the way this card turned out, it is definitely my style and a HUGE thank you to Ashley for the inspiration...I hope you like it too!

Thanks for dropping by and have a fabulous weekend! Hugs,

Passion for Markers - Anything Goes...

 Good afternoon, dear crafty friends! I'm a little late as I forgot to write my blog post last night and was working this morning...but as they say, better late than never?!...

We have a brand new challenge starting today over at Passion for Markers (don't forget that you can enter using any type of marker and any type of creation!) and a super simple challenge theme of 'Anything Goes'...

We're being sponsored by Bugaboo Stamps who are offering one lucky winner a $12.00 voucher to their online store...

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out the ever so sweet Birthday Elephant and went with my preferred CAS style of card...

I coloured the elephant up using my Pro/Flexmarkers and then fussy cut him out, leaving a white border. I inked a piece of white cardstock with Broken China Distress Oxide around where the image would sit, wrapped a couple of layers of string around and then popped my elephant on using foam pads. I stamped a Happy Birthday sentiment and added some sprinkles before attaching to a 6x6 inch card base in a green swirl pattern - this type of card will be a great way for me to use up some of the patterned card that is too heavy for mat and layering...

I do hope that you can play along with our easy peasy challenge theme this week and look forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations! Right, off to stencil some more tulips...but if anyone asks, I'm doing the ironing?! Ha, ha!

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Promarkers - Make it Manly...

Good morning, dear Blogger buddies and a Happy Tuesday to you all! It seems to be that this is the only day of the week that I manage to post anything these days, but there is reason to my absence - I am trying to get some samples made for possible upcoming shows and I am also busy, busy drawing and designing! These weeks are passing by in a blur and it won't be long before we're back on the slippery slope after the Summer Solstice - just where has this year gone?!...
...But I am here...and it's Tuesday...so, you know what that means?!....it's time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers!  Yay!...
This week it's the lovely Nic (aka Coops) in the hostess chair and she's given us a fab theme of 'Make it Manly' (which works out very well for me as it's hubby's birthday this week!) We're being sponsored by Di's Digi Stamps who are offering one lucky winner a $12.00 voucher to their online store...

As it's hubby's birthday, I went with an automotive theme - we are all a bit car mad in our house (although I HATE driving?!) so I thought it quite apt...

I coloured up the vintage car from A Year in Cards and decided to challenge myself by going red!  I was quite pleased with how it turned out and decided that it would be best to show it off in my favourite CAS style.  I used my craft knife to cut around the corner of the roof of the car and slotted the sentiment behind to add a bit of depth and added a couple of large pearls for the headlights...

The red combo I used was Sunset, Red, Crimson and Burgundy.  I am finding that quite a few of my pens are starting to run out - I probably shouldn't complain as I've had some of them for about 6 years but it just seems that they're happening all at once...and more so my Flexmarkers too! I store them flat and was wondering if I should switch to storing them upright as I mainly only use the smaller nib end for colouring...any suggestions?!
Right, I have a couple more ideas for samples, so am off to sit at my EXTREMELY messy craft table to play and will share them with you soon...
Crafty hugs,

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

Open Minded Crafting

Might Men in May closes 9th June

A Bit More Time to Craft

#44 Anything Goes until 30th

Crafty Catz

Anything Goes twist more than 2 layers

The Crafters Cafe

Birthday until 30th

Passion for Promarkers - Clean and Simple...

...My favourite style!!
Good morning, lovely Blogger friends!  It's Tuesday which means the start of a brand new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers!  This week it's the lovely Shelly in the hostess chair and she has chosen my favourite theme of 'Clean and Simple'...We're being sponsored by the fabulous Bugaboo who are offering one lucky winner a $21 voucher to their store...how cool is that?!

For my card this week I was TOTALLY inspired by the uber talented Faye Wynne Jones of Stampin' Fluff 'n' Stuff fame's gorgeous card HERE and this is what I came up with...

...I printed the wording using PS, then cut out the word SNOW by hand...I know! I added the Snowman snowflake paper behind and coloured up the Snowman digi using my Pro/Flexmarkers...

...I outlined the word snow with some crystal glitter and a touch on the band of the snowman's hat then finished with a couple of punched snowflakes and 3 sparkly gems.  A really simple card but such a lovely effect...so thanks to Faye for the inspiration!
I have a list as long as my arm to try and get done today, including 2 wedding cards, a pile of ironing, kitchen and bathroom to be scrubbed and a hoover through...so what am I still doing here?! Hope you all have a fab day, whatever you are doing and that you can maybe find the time to join in with our fun challenge this week! Don't forget to see what my talented teamies have created for your inspiration over on the Passion for Promarkers blog...
See you soon,
Hugs,
Lisa x
I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :
Simon Says Stamp
CAS closes tomorrow
CRAFT challenge
Christmas closes tomorrow
That's Crafty
Christmas in September closes 29th
A Bit More Time to Craft
Anything Goes closes 29th

Look Mum, clouds!...

Good afternoon, lovely peeps from a sunny, but showery North Wales!  I saw this card over on Pinterest and thought that I could make a variation using some of the embellishments from Another Play on Words.  As my Mum knows, I have a bit of a fetish for clouds at the moment - I don't know what it is, but I love to put them on cards! So here's my take on that pretty bunting card...

I have to say I am rather pleased with how it turned out and it's definitely 'my style'!  The clouds and bunting were both from the embellishment sheets and the rainbow coloured sentiment is from the Weather sentiments.
I know I am a bit of a tease showing you all these samples, but a) I can't help myself when I get an idea and b) just think of the inspiration that you'll have once the disc is available! Not long now!
Have a fabulous Wednesday, whatever the weather!
Hugs,
Lisa x

Passion for Promarkers - Blues and Purples...

Good morning, my lovelies! It's that time of the week again which sees another fab challenge begin over at Passion for Promarkers!  This week it's the talented Lou Mac in the hostess chair and she has chosen a colour theme of 'Blues and Purples', so these need to be the dominant colours in your project...

...you can enter using any type of creation, it doesn’t have to be a card, but as always, to be eligible for our prize draw you must use your Letraset products (promarkers, flex markers, tria markers, aqua markers or metallic markers) and of course follow the theme.
Our generous sponsor this week is Bugaboo and they are offering one lucky winner a prize of a $21.00 voucher to spend in their online store. 

  

For my card I used the Scarecrow Digistamp from A Year in Cards  and went really CAS...

...The polka dot paper is also from the Scarecrow design set of A Year in Cards and I added a touch of lace along the joining edges...

...I stamped a sentiment using my small alpahbet stamps and matted everything onto lilac cardstock.  I then finished off wth a small string bow, a touch of crystal glitter and some pearls.

A short and sweet post from me today - we have family down from Scotland this week, so we're off to the Ironworks Centre in Oswestry for a nosy and maybe some lunch out! Have a terrific Tuesday and I hope you can find the time to join in with our challenge this week!

Big crafty hugs,

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

The Paper Shelter

Lace closes today

I Love Promarkers

Anything Goes closes today

Crafty Catz

#278 CAS closes 15th

Super CAS...

Good evening, my lovely Bloggers!  I know, I know, where have I been?!  Well to be honest it's just been a week where life takes over...there isn't one specific thing that has taken up my time, just a lot of little everyday things and then to top it off, my little man had to come home at lunch time and is lay on the sofa with a fever!  It's not right having an unhappy Joshua, he is always such a smiley boy!
Mum and I have been trying to get ahead with workshop cards, what with Easter coming up and she's been here again today so that we can brainstorm (though it would probably help if we had a brain between us!?!)

 Anyway...I do have a little card to share with you which is of the super CAS variety!...

...I saw this pretty little stitched flower die over on Sue Bearhouse's blog and just had to have it - then when I found out that it comes with a lovely picot edge circle die too, I was sold!!...

...The paper is from First Edition Love Letters and the flowers are made from scraps.  I decided to use the leaf die from my Marianne button flower set and added some buttons to the centres of the flowers.  I stamped the sentiment with individual alphabet stamps, so not a computer in sight! 
I love the way this simple card turned out and will probably be knocking some more up with some of the innumerable scraps that I have!  Hope you like my clean and simple creation and that it gives you some inspiration!  Thanks for taking the time to come and see me today and I'll be back tomorrow with the start of a brand new challenge at Passion for Promarkers!  Take care!
Huge crafty hugs,

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

Stampin for the Weekend

Spring Colours (closes 10th)

(I have stamped my sentiment)

Brown Sugar Challenge

Clean and Simple (closes 9th)

Papertake Weekly

Anything Goes (closes today)

Divas by Design

Anything Goes (closes tomorrow)

Fickle crafter...

Good morning, dear Bloggers!  The sun is shining...and it's raining?!  Work that one out?!! 

Some of you may know that I am a bit of a fickle crafter and my style and likes tend to change with the weather (which is quite frequent!), but I am finding more and more that I am swayed towards the clean and simple style of card making!  I have also found a love of colour and really love the clean lines of a simple design with bold colour schemes.  Until recently, I would never have dreamt of making a card without mat and layering...God forbid!  And I felt a card was not complete until every inch was covered in something!  But now, I embrace the white spaces and modernity of a CAS design, I love the crispness of the geometric shapes and the lack of 'foofiness', the simplicity of  the layout and the way it focuses on the image or sentiment......well, for this week anyway!!! 
So with this in mind, I have a little creation to share with all you lovely peeps!...

...I found this AMAZING sketch over at Deconstructing Jen - I have noticed her sketches before, but never really used them until now, but I have to say I am converted!  I have only really found sketches in the last couple of years or so, but they are so handy when you're not quite sure where to start and are a real inspiration starter!  I have also discovered YELLOW thanks to the lovely Sue Bearhouse who has been using it a lot lately on her designs, which always looks so bright and cheerful! Thanks Sue!...

...The sketch I used is Deconstructed Sketch #139, the yellow polka dot is from Prima's Hello Pastel paper pad and the gingham is one of my own.  The rest of the papers are just scraps from my stash.  The sweet image is another from the Digistamp Boutique's Rosie Collection and she's coloured with my Pro/Flexmarkers.  Here's the colours I used :

Skin - Blush, Dusky, Sunkissed Pink, Coral

Hair - Caramel, Cappuccino, Champagne, Light Fawn

Dress - Buttercup, Canary, Sunflower, Gold

Hairband - Honeydew, Pastel Green, Soft Green

Shoes - Pastel Beige, Cappuccino, Umber

Flower - Blossom, Sorbet, Fuschia, Meadow, Leaf, Bright Green

The little Hello tag came from one of the sheets in the Prima pad and I added some buttons and pearls to embellish...

...I decorated the inside of the card to match the front and have added a sentiment circle with Happy Birthday on.  I really like the bright and sunny feel of this little card and hope you do too!  Thanks for coming by to see me and I'll be back soon with some more crafty creations!

Big crafty hugs,

Lisa x

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

I'm joining in with The Deconstrusted Sketch #139

Digistamp Boutique

Fabruary Customer Challenge (2nd entry)

Fab n Funky Challenges

Spots or Stripes

MilkCoffee Challenge

Girly (2nd entry)

The Sketchy Challenges

Anything Goes

Extremely CAS...

Good afternoon, dear Blogger friends!  Hope you're having a good start to the week and that the weather is being a little kinder, especially for those of you being affected by the horrendous floods, here in the UK!  We actually had a dry day yesterday and the sun even shone - it makes such a difference to have the brightness, it seems to lift my mood!
Now, I LOVE clean and simple (CAS) cards, but often feel that they are not enough in some way for me to share here on Blogger - I always feel that I should add more to them or show more technique, but for a change, I decided to make something VERY clean and simple...

...I love this little image which is from the Rosie Collection over at Digi Stamp Boutique and thoroughly enjoyed colouring her up with my Pro/Flexmarkers. Here's the list of colours I used :

Skin - Blush, Dusky, Sinkissed Pink, Coral

Hair - Champagne, Sandstone, Caramel, Cocoa, Umber

Top - Soft Aqua, Cool Aqua, Duck Egg, Marine Blue

Leg warmers - Cerise, Shocking Pink, Vermillion (one of my fave marker combos!)

Hairband - Buttercup, Mustard, Sunflower

Grass - Meadow, Leaf, Bright Green

I printed my image quite big (I used the 10 x 15cm print option in Photo Viewer) so decided that I wanted to simply frame the image in some way.  I created the white and aqua frame using square dies and mounted using 3D foam pads to give it some lift.  I then mounted onto a nice hot pink matt to bring in the colour of her leg warmers...

...I have seen paper bows around a lot recently and had C&C on in the background whilst having my dinner the other day - I noticed that the paper bows shown looked very similar in shape to an XCut tag die that I have and so decided to experiment!  I cut 4 of the tag shapes, which have a hole in each end, then cut the ends of two them to create the fishtail ends.  I curled the other two with my pokey tool and then attached them together by threading the stem of a paper rose through the holes and twisting around the centre to secure!  I am really pleased with how it turned out and shall be having a play with some of my other tag dies to see what they look like!

Hope you like my CAS creation and thanks so much for dropping by to see me!  Don't forget there's still a little time to enter into this week's Have a Heart Challenge over at Passion for Promarkers - a new challenge starts tomorrow morning!

Big crafty hugs,

Lisa x

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

DigiStamp Boutique

February Custome Competition

Brown Sugar Challenge

Use a die cut or punch

(I've used my square dies for the frame and tag dies for my bow)

MilkCoffee Challenge

Girly

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge

Girly

Challenges 4 Everybody 

Anything Goes (2nd entry)