First card of 2025!...

 Hey there, crafty friends...well isn't this a turn up for the books?! I have actually sat at my crafty table (a couple of times now!) and made a few cards...I can't say that it came naturally or whether I completely enjoyed it or not but I've found that breaking things down into pieces helps. So I sat one afternoon and coloured some images, then I stamped and cut some sentiments, then made up some cards...I found it much easier to do like this and didn't feel that I was taking a whole afternoon or evening creating...

So for my first card of 2025, I have used a Tiddly Ink stamp called "Flying High" (which is now available as a digital image in Christy's Etsy store HERE) and coloured the girl and balloons image up with my Pro/Flexmarkers :

Skin - Blush, Dusky Pink, Sunkissed Pink, Coral

Hair - Pastel Yellow, Cappuccino, Umber

Yellow - Buttercup, Tulip Yellow, Gold

Truquoise - Cool Aqua, Duck Egg, Surf Blue

Pinks - Pale pink, Baby Pink, Cocktail Pink, Watermelon

 I used a printed thank you card that I picked up in The Works for a bargain price in the sale last year as my card base and added a simple white panel for the image to sit on. I added a strip of candy stripe paper matted onto dusky pink and then some of my favourite dies - clouds (of course!) and my Yana Smakula sentiment dies - I think I could add these to most of my creations (and have recently!)  I finished off with some crystal stars and pink enamel dots (courtesy of the lovely Marianne)...

I would like to enter my card into the Passion for Markers Week 771 Challenge - For the Girls

I hope you like my pretty, girly card and will be back soon to share some more creations...long may the craft/life balance continue! 

Hugs,

Passion for Markers - Favourite colours...

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

The lovely Marlene is in the hostess chair and she's given us a nice, easy theme of 'Use your Favourite Colours'...for some of you this may be a difficult choice, but for me it was pretty obvious that it had to include pink?!...

We're being sponsored by Star Jam Lines who are offering one lucky winner a choice of 2 digital images form their online store and there's a lot of cuteness to choose from!...

My all time favourite colour combo has to be pink and aqua - I am very much a fan of contrasting colours (all be it in pastel form!) and it worked perfectly with the pretty image that I got to play with...

This little cutie is called Newborn Bear and I thoroughly enjoyed colouring him up using my Promarkers and a touch of added detail with my Prismacolor pencils. I love the way the inked cloud background turned out and must try to use more colours for clouds than just blue in the future. I popped the image up on foam pads, after fussy cutting leaving a white border and added a few die cut sparkly stars...

As well as my favourite colour combo, this card has one of my favourite crafty elements - CLOUDS, plus it's in my favourite CAS style...so you can pretty much guess that I was rather pleased with how it turned out!

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

Hugs,

Passion for Markers - Happy...

 Good afternoon, dear crafty friends! I am back as promised to let you know about this week's brand new challenge, which started today over at Passion for Markers...

The lovely Julie is in the hostess chair and she's given us an easy challenge theme of 'Happy', so we'd like you to use the word Happy somewhere on your project - happy birthday, happy anniversary or even just wishing a happy day!..

We are being sponsored by The Paper Shelter 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 as it's Julie's week, she picked out the super sweet Trekking Girl...

I really enjoyed colouring this fun image and here's the colour list of Pro/Flexmarkers that I used :

Skin - Blush, Putty, Tan

Hair - Cinnamon, Shale, Umber

Hat and Shorts - Denim, Cornflower, Cadet Blue

T-Shirt - Champagne, Honeycomb, Spice

Backpack and Boots - Khaki, Olive Green, Moss

Sleeping Bag - Pastel Green, Soft Green, Marine

Glasses - Honeycomb, Sunset, Cool Grey 5, Black

Grass - SN Willow, Bamboo, Camo Green

I added a little extra definition with Prismacolor pencils

I used a fab page from the Make & Create World Travels 12 x 12 paper pad from The Works, as it did most of the background work for me and then added some die cut clouds (of course!) in a small, blue, grid pattern paper. I used the sentiments from the Sail Away stamp set that came with Simply Cards & Papercraft and the Happy day was originally a Happy Birthday stamp that I only partially stamped. I drew and cut out the orange arrow shape before matting onto white card.

I was really pleased with how this card turned out and as I love walking, thought that it represented me a little...only a little since I've put half a stone on over the Winter lockdown - roll on Spring!

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

Ssssh! Don't tell anyone, but I have the house to myself for an hour - you don't know how lovely this is after the last year, so I'm off to get a cup of tea and read my latest issue of SC&P which has not long dropped through my letterbox!

Crafty hugs,

 

Mini Slimline Cards...

 Forgot to share my latest makes here on Blogger - these are my first ever mini slimline cards! I don't know why I don't make smaller cards and it seems to be a trend with fellow crafters here in the UK, so when the latest craze from the US for slimline and then mini slimline cards came, I just had to jump on the bandwagon!...

I have to admit that I think that the card size is really cute and is great for sending cards 'just because', which is something I am going to try and do more often!

The floral cards use a layering stamp set from Papercraft Essentials magazine, which I picked up off the lovely Marianne and I coloured the outline stamps with my alcohol markers. I created a stencil for each of the flower base stamps from the floral set, as I was struggling to get a good finish with the layering stamps and thought that the finished background on the blue card looked a lot like succulents, so used the herb stamp set from Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine for the image topper.

I am sending these mini cards out to family just to let them know that I am thinking of them and wishing them well...I hope they like them!

Right, off to work and then I'll be back to share this week's brand new Passion for Promarkers challenge...catch you later!

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Promarkers - Springtime...

Good morning, crafty friends! Hope you all survived the weekend and storm Hannah?! We had major flooding around our area and it was hit and miss whether I would be able to get home from our card workshop on Saturday due to high water levels leaving our little village like an island with most of the roads inaccessible...hubby had to go and rescue my eldest son who knew his car wouldn't make it through the flood waters (that's what you get for having a sporty Fiesta!), but my trusty little Suzuki Ignis wasn't phased by it all (not to mention hubby's driving skills - the water was waving over the bonnet on his way home!)...

But it's all calm now and there's even a hint of Spring in the air...which leads me aptly onto this week's challenge theme over at Passion for Promarkers! The lovely Shelly has given us the easy theme of 'Springtime', so think Spring flowers, chicks, baby lambs, fresh colours...
We are being sponsored by Bugaboo, who are kindly 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 went with the ever so sweet Sun Bonnet Flowers...

I kept my card quite CAS, so that the image became the focal point. I coloured this cutie with my Pro/Flexmarkers and paper pieced her dress and hat, for a bit of interest. Some pretty pink loop edged ribbon, a themed sentiment and bit of doodling finished the card off, plus my signature three pearls!...

I hope you can find the time to play along with our challenge this week and look forward to seeing how you all interpret the theme...

Crafty hugs,

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

Pennys Paper-Crafty Challenge
Anything Goes
Southern Girls
Flora and Fauna
Love to Craft
#32 March Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday
Celebrate!

Passion for Promarkers - Happy Birthday...

Good morning, crafty friends! Gosh, these Tuesdays are rolling around quickly and we're already into the third month of the year!

We have a brand new challenge starting over at Passion for Promarkers today, with the lovely Nic (aka Coops) giving us the easiest of challenge themes with 'Happy Birthday'...so whether it's for a guy or gal, young or old, cute or grungy, we want to see your creations to celebrate Birthdays...

We are being sponsored by Dr Digi's House of Stamps who are offering one lucky winner the chance to get their hands on 2 digi stamps of their choice from the online store...just remember that to be in with a chance of winning the prize, you MUST use your Winsor & Newton/Letraset mediums and follow the design brief. (it always helps us DT members if you can state where you've used your pens, for example, image coloured with Promarkers)...

 For my card I used Altenew's Beautiful Day floral stamp set - I have been contemplating getting some of these pretty layering stamps for a while and thoroughly enjoyed colouring up this rose...

Colours used :

Blender, Primrose, Tulip Yellow, Sunflower, Gold

Meadow, Leaf, Grass and Forest Green

I used Distress Inks and Oxides to create the background which was then spritzed with water to soften. I stamped the accent flowers in the background and used water to create a faux bleach effect, before mounting my focal flower over the top using foam pads. The sentiment stamp is from a magazine set that I had...

I love the way this card turned out and hope it gives you inspiration to play along with our challenge this week. I look forward to seeing what you all come up with and don't forget to cjeck out what my talented teamies have created for your inspiration too!
Crafty hugs,

Wild Roses...

Good morning, crafty friends! I have been trying to get back into doing a bit of drawing lately, though always find it hard to get back into the swing of things after the festive season...and this is what I came up with...

 

This project kit has been added to my Craftsuprint store HERE and consists of 9 printable sheets including :

Predesigned CAS card front and mat

Precoloured topper sheet with decoupage

Digistamp sheet

4 Coordinating papers

2 printed inserts for 6x6 square and 5x7 cards

 For just £2.40

First up is the CAS card front with coordinating green mat - simply print off the sheet, cut out the layers and embellish to your hearts content, then add a printed insert for that finishing touch...a really quick card but with a lovely elegance...

...These two cards were made using the precoloured toppers and papers...

And with this one, I changed up the colours by using the digistamp individual flowers, coloured with Promarkers, then fussy cut leaving a small border...
I hope you like my new floral creations and will be trying to create some more designs in the coming weeks..
Hope you all have a terrific Thursday - we've got Parents Evening this afternoon, to see how the 'not so little' man is getting on, but whatever you're up to, have a good one!
Hugs,

Passion for Promarkers - Let it Shine...

Good morning, Blogger buddies! Well, it seems that there are forces working against me at the minute...firstly, my PC decided that despite having it's hard drive changed and working for a few days, it had done enough computing and was going to switch itself off...permanently! After a bit of investigation work and testing, it turns out that my memory controller has given up the ghost...I sometimes wonder if this has happened to me?!...and that I need a new motherboard and processor...
So, I am currently using my laptop as my main computer, which admittedly is better than nothing, but it's just not the same when everything is set out differently and you have to go about things in a whole new way...it's a bit like losing a comfy pair of slippers or having to give up that old threadbare cardigan that you love...
But I'm still here (and hopefully that's the main thing)...and it's Tuesday!...so you know what that means...it's time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers! Now it seems that our challenge for this week is set by the lovely Nic (aka Coops) who has given us a nice, easy theme of Let it Shine - so we want to see all those magpie things like mirror card, glitter, Glossy Accents, metal...but then those forces came into play again and somehow I managed to make a card using our next challenge theme, despite the fact that I had checked the folders to see what the theme was and used the sponsor image and everything...yes, everything but the right theme!! So this creation came into being at about 11pm last night...

I went a bit off piste with this one and decided that, rather than colouring an image, I would use my markers to create a patterned background.  I used Blue Pearl, Vanilla, Sandstone and a Blender pen to make this plaid...and then spent this morning panicking, wondering if it is okay for me to put in a card without a coloured image...if so, I'll be back later with another card to share?!

For my shine, I used a lovely silver glitter card as a matt and for the large star die cut.  I also used a silver glitter ribbon, but it doesn't show very well, a few coloured diamantes and a pretty glitter heart added a bit more bling...
Right, I'm leaving it there before anything else decides to go against me and I look forward to seeing what you create to join in with our fun challenge this week...
Don't forget, to be in with a chance of winning the prize...which by the way is a fantastic £15.00 voucher for Dies to Die For...you must use your Letraset/Winsor & Newton mediums and follow the challenge theme...
Crafty hugs,
Lisa x

Passion for Promarkers - 7th Anniversary Challenge...

*** WARNING – LONG POST ***

Grab a cuppa and a biscuit (or two) and make yourself comfortable!

Good morning dear crafters. I hope you had a wonderful week last week and managed to fit some crafting into your busy schedules.
We have a very special challenge for you this week at Passion for Promarkers as it's our 7th Anniversary. Can you believe it's been 7 years since Gina and Denise started their little blog to share their love of all things Letraset?  As it's a special challenge we have a really easy theme for you of "spots and/or stripes", you can create anything you like as long as it has either spots or stripes or both. 
Please note we are only accepting a maximum of 3 entries per person for this one challenge only.  To be eligible for our prize draw you must use your Letraset products (i.e. pro, flex, tria, aqua, metallic or neon markers) and of course follow the theme.  As always we have some fantastic prizes up for grabs and our sponsors have been very generous as usual .  Here we go....

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Letraset are offering one lucky winner an amazing prize of a 25 pce Mixed Media Set.

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Michele R Designs are offering one lucky winner a prize of $10.00 worth of digi papers

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DigiStamp Boutique are offering one lucky winner a £10.00 voucher to spend in their online store.

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Bugaboo stamps are offering one lucky winner a $30.00 voucher to spend in their online store.

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LC Designs are offering one lucky winner a mini paper pack called ‘Dinkies nice and stripey’.

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Sassy Studio Designs are offering one lucky winner a prize of a $20.00 gift certificate to spend in their online store.

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Di’s Digi Stamps is offering one lucky winner a $12.00 gift voucher to spend in their online store .

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Clearly Besotted Stamps is offering one lucky winner a £15.00 gift voucher to spend in their online store.

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2 cute ink stamps is offering one lucky winner 3 digi images of their choice.

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Uniko stamps is offering one lucky winner one in-stock stamp set of their choice.

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Little Things from Lucy’s Cards is offering one lucky winner 8 shaker selections of their choice.

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Wow we told you there were amazing prizes didn’t we?  Definitely lots of reasons to join in the fun this week!! To give you lots of inspiration we have both Team 1 and Team 2 to share their creations, so there's plenty of cards to get your crafty juices flowing!...

For my card this week, I wanted to show a different way of using your alcohol pens to colour embossing folders.  I speak to so many people who have pens of whichever sort and don't use them because they feel that their colouring isn't good enough, so here's a nice, easy way of using them and the finished result is so pretty!...

To create the embossed panel I cut the piece to size then placed in my embossing folder to be able to position my oval die in the right place to cut the aperture (these frame style folders work brilliantly for this type of card) I attached it in position with low tack tape then REMOVED IT FROM THE FOLDER before cutting the aperture!  Place it back in the folder and emboss then round the corners, ink edges if preferred and punch a hole for the ribbon to thread through...

...The Promarker colours I used were Meadow Green, Dusky Rose and Buttercup but any pastel tones would work well.  Just follow the lines of the embossing with your pen (don't try to colour the lines particularly as the ink bleeds slightly anyway)  I finished off with lots of pearls, sentiment, organza bow and a lovley pink polka dot from the Makeup set of Another Play on Words.

You could get a real production line of these cards going with different colour tones, backing papers and ribbons and it's also a great way to make backing papers too...

I embossed this chevron design then coloured with Dolphin, Powder Blue and Cornflower, using the chisel end of the pen.  You have to get used to the angle to hold your pen at to get clean lines but that's why lighter tones are much easier as you don't have to be as accurate! Don't forget that you can then use your pens to create your coloured mats by simply colouring the edges of your white paper!  That means 100s of different coloured papers, if only I could remember to do it!?!

Hope you get chance to join in with our Anniversary celebrations this week and I look forward to seeing all your wonderful creations!

Hugs,

Lisa x

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

Petal Lu Challenge

#14 Anything Goes until 1st June

Crafting from the Heart

#112 Anything Goes until 22nd

Card Mania

#80 Flowers until 30th

613 Avenue Create

#176 Anything Goes until 22nd

Beach hut frames...

Good afternoon, dear Blogging buddies and a super Saturday to you all!  We've had a glimpse of Spring here in North Wales today with some lovely sunshine, so hubby and I decided to tackle sorting out the garage...again!  We've made a new workbench and sorted and moved everything around, so that hubby now has his router set up to start making our LED lit, framed lithophanes...more on those another day!  There's even enough room to swing a cat (if you were so inclined!?!)
I managed to get an hours colouring in the other night, whilst hubby and the little man were busy being entertained by Lara (Tomb Raider)!  Inspired by one of my favourite cards of last year, created by the lovely Donna, I coloured up a couple of the ever so pretty Beach Hut images from Digistamp Boutique...

...I coloured them with my Promarkers and decoupaged a layer before adding them to a simple box frame - these are another item to go on my craft stall table in the Spring.  (Slowly but surely I am adding to my offerings)
I added a few other digis to my basket when purchasing this one, so will have a few new images to play with!  I hope you're all having a productive weekend and enjoying yourselves, whatever you have planned...think we may need to have a quiet day tomorrow as I can feel my muscles starting to stiffen now that I've stopped!
Thanks for dropping by to see me,
Big crafty hugs,
Lisa x

Passion for Promarkers - Flower Power...

Good morning, lovely Bloggers and a happy Tuesday to you all!   Can't quite believe that we're already over half way through the first month of 2016 - I have a lot going on with home life at the moment, so crafting for pleasure is at a premium at the moment!
It is however, the start of a new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers and the lovely Marie has chosen a nice, easy theme of Flower Power! So whether it be flowery papers, a floral image or flower embellishments, as long as it has flowers on...and you've used your Letraset mediums....you'll be in with a chance of winning this week's prize, which is a set of 6 Letraset pens and a 10 euro voucher for Michele R Designs!  Fabulous, so what are you waiting for?! Hop on over to the Passion for Promarkers blog to join in ...

I decided to go with a floral image using this pretty Anita's iris stamp and kept the layers white to give a real spring feel and focus on the image...

...I coloured the image and coloured layers with my Pro/Flexmarkers, here's the colour list for all you Letrasetters...
Flowers - Soft Mauve, Orchid, Amethyst, Purple, Sunflower, Gold
Leaves - Lime Zest, Pear Green, Moss, Olive Green
I hope you get chance to join in with our easy peasy theme this week and look forward to seeing your wonderful makes.  Don't forget to see what my talented teamies have been up to by clicking on their names on the Passion for Promarkers blog and I hope to be back with you soon!
Hugs,
Lisa x

Passion for promarkers - Autumn/Fall...

Good morning, dear Blogging buddies!  Another Tuesday has rolled around, so it's time for a new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers...this week it's the lovely Julie in the hostess chair and she has chosen a seasonal theme of 'Autumn/Fall' so whether it be Autumnal colours or something that reminds you of Autumn, we'd like to see what your creativity comes up with...

We're being sponsored by Sassy Studios who are offering one lucky winner 4 digital images from their store...But don't forget....to be in with a chance of winning the prize, you MUST use your Letraset mediums!...Good luck!...

For my card I was inspired by Taylored Expressions Share Joy Challenge #7 with it's fun sketch and tic-tac-toe board (unfortunately the challenge ended before this post, so I couldn't enter but maybe next time!?!)  I also took inspiration from the fabulous squashes that I saw in Lidl whilst out with my Mum and sister...

...The image is the pumpkin digi from A Year in Cards which I pasted into PS and manipulated to create the different shape squashes.  They were coloured with my Pro/Flexmarkers and here's the colour list for all you Letrasetters :

Left pumkpin - Ivory, Vanilla, Mustard, Moss, Forest Green, Sea Green

Centre pumkpin - Gold, Honeycomb, Pumpkin, Bright Orange, Spice

Right Pumpkin - Sunflower, Gold, Honeycomb, Nutmeg

Stalk - Pastel Beige, Khaki

I decoupaged the two outer pumkins using 3D glue gel and added some die cut Cottage Cutz oak leaves inked with Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge and Mustard Seed.  The paper is from the House set of Another Play on Words and the sentiment was made using individual letter stamps. To embellish I added some orange polka dot ribbon, wire twirls, a printed insert and my obligatory pearls!
So there you go!   I hope you can join in with our seasonal challenge this week and look forward to seeing all your Autumnal makes.  Don't forget to hop on over to the Passion for Promarkers blog to see what my talented teamies have created for your inspiration!
Crafty hugs,
Lisa x
I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

The ABC Challenge

U is for Unlimited until 12th

Fab n Funky

Die Cuts and/or punches closes today

The Paper Shelter

Layer on Layer closes today