Tuesday, 30 July 2019

Passion for Promarkers - Going Dotty...

Good morning, my lovelies! I think the theme for this week's challenge at Passion for Promarkers is just about how I'm feeling!!...I seem to have a lot going on at the moment and am trying to fit everything into a day...usually without success! But one thing I have managed to do is finish my latest papercrafting disc/USB!!...although I'll do another post later, to share some of the sample pics and give details of how to order...

For now, I'm here to tell you about this week's challenge over at Passion for Promarkers! It's my turn to host and I've given you a nice easy theme to use one of my favourite pattern types...dots - so whether it's dotty papers, dotty ribbons, or dotty dresses on images, I want us all to be 'Going Dotty!'...
We're kindly being sponsored by Dies to Die For this week, who are offering one lucky winner a £15 voucher...how cool is that?!...can I enter??...
https://www.diestodiefor.com/

Just remember that to be in with a chance of winning the prize, you must use your Letraset/Winsor & Newton mediums and follow the challenge theme...it also really helps if you let us know where you've used them, so for example, coloured with Promarkers...

Right, onto my DT project...I decided not to make a card this week and although it may seem that I've missed the boat with this one (with Summer holidays having started) I created a little teacher gift, using the Acorn digi stamp from my latest disc 'Words at Play'...
I have made a little sliding pencil box, which holds 6 pencils...the perfect thank you gift! I have often seen posts where teachers ask parents not to spend too much on gifts, or ask them not to buy the usual personalised mugs, etc (as I'm sure there are only so many you can have!) and that pens, pencils and notebooks were appreciated, as it's something they use and so this little project came about! I loved colouring the acorns and have decoupaged them up to give more dimension, but if you wanted something a little speedier, you could always use the precoloured image from the disc...

Well, I have a pile of ironing with my name on it (I wish it had somebody else's on it, but there doesn't seem to be any takers!), mugs to print for our campervan club and notebooks to decorate...just because I love my new Tim Holtz Wildflower dies...and after reading back over this post, I think I may have to do one to coordinate with this project too!...

I hope you can find the time to play along with my easy challenge this week and I look forward to visiting all of your blogs to see what wonderful creations you've made...

Crafty hugs,
I'd like to enter my box into the following challenges :
Summer until 9th August
Anything Goes optional On the Beach closes 1st August
July Anything Goes closes tomorrow

Tuesday, 16 July 2019

Passion for Promarkers - Colours of Summer...

Good morning, crafty friends! Another Tuesday appears, which can only mean one thing...a brand new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers!

This week it's the lovely Julie in the hostess chair, giving us a nice, easy theme of 'Colours of Summer'...you can interpret this however you like, whether it be bright and hot or sunny yellows - whatever make you think of Summer! We're being sponsored by the fabulous Bugaboo Stamps, who are offering one lucky winner a $12 voucher to their online store...just remember that to be in with a chance of winning the prize, you must use your Letraset/Winsor & Newton mediums and follow the challenge theme...
https://bugaboostamps.com/
We were allowed to choose an image to play with and I picked 'Tulips and Bugs'...


I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed colouring up these pretty tulips and it was nice to use some bolder colours for a change! I kept my card quite simple, as I wanted the bright colours of the tulips to be the focal point and just added a generic sentiment before decoupaging the tulip heads over the top. A couple of butterflies from Say it with Flowers and a sprinkling of glitter, before signing with my three pearls, finished the card off...

That's it from me today....I will be back soon with some samples of my latest craft collection, Words at Play, which will be available on disc and USB in the very near future..watch this space!

Hugs,

Tuesday, 2 July 2019

Passion for Promarkers - Make it Square...

Good morning, my lovelies! Gosh, another Tuesday comes around quickly and we're already in July?!! How did that happen? Over half the year done and dusted and we're back on the slippery slope to Winter...here's hoping that Summer isn't over yet, although I think Mother Nature seems to have turned down the thermostat here in North Wales!

Right, well you know why I'm here? Yep, you got it...we have a brand new challenge starting over at Passion for Promarkers! It's the lovely Sue in the hostess chair and she's given us a nice and simple theme of 'Make it Square'...now I'm normally a huge fan of square cards and it is my most made card shape, so how on earth did I manage to make something that didn't fit the theme?! But more on that another time...

For this week, we are being sponsored by Dr Digi's House of Stamps, who are offering one lucky winner a choice of 2 images from their online store - if you haven't checked them out, they have some really different and fun images...
https://www.doctor-digi.com/
We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked the fun, Cosmo Nut and came up with this...
As I mentioned, this was my second creation after managing to get the simplest of instructions wrong...to 'Make it Square'! But anyhow, I went with a shaker card, as I've not made one in AGES and created a galaxy background with my distress and Oxide inks, before spritzing with water. I coloured up two of the fun Cosmo Nut images so that I could put the space pod in the back of the shaker and the astronaut on the front for added dimension. I made a moon by inking with Pumice Stone DI and spritzing with water for the mottled effect, then shaded the edge with Tuxedo Black Memento. A sentiment backed with a pop of the lime green which accents the image and a couple of peel off stars and I was done!

I do hope that you can find the time to play along with our fun challenge this week and look forward to seeing what you all create...

Right, need to get a shift on - I have to get my crafty table cleared so that me and Mum can shuffle some paper around for next workshop...now that is a task and a half, if only I could see my table?!!
Crafty hugs,
I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :
Birthdays until tomorrow
Anything Goes until 11th 
Anything Goes until 4th

Sunday, 30 June 2019

A day of two halves...

*This post is also shared on my Facebook page*
 
Yesterday was definitely a day of two halves...the morning saw us baking in the high twenties and hubby said I was like Wonderwoman with all the outfit changes to try and keep cool, but by mid afternoon, it had clouded over and was more bearable! Today, I started with shorts as the sun was trying to shine, then quickly reverted back to trousers and a fleece...is Summer over already?!
 

Being in the garden, I had to post a picture of my fabulous Philadelphus, which is absolutely glorious at the moment...it is absolutely smothered in the most beautiful hibiscus type flowers and the scent is just wonderful! This next pic is my new flower bed which got dug up last month after I was fed up of not having enough plants in my garden! 
 
The garden got split in half earlier this year, so the boys get their car park at the bottom and I get some prettiness at the top...it's a work in progress, but it's lovely to have some flowers again...where to dig another flower bed next?!...
I hope to be back at my crafty desk in the next day or two, although it's mainly to fulfill a couple of card orders and try to come up with ideas for next workshop, but maybe I can grab an hour of playtime along the way?! Until then, enjoy what's left of the weekend and I hope the sun is shining for you...
Hugs,

Tuesday, 25 June 2019

Workshop cards...

Good afternoon, crafty friends from a soggy North Wales! Hope you're all staying safe if you have the thunderstorms and heavy rain...we've managed to miss most of it (except the rain!)...
Just thought I would pop in and share the cards that we made at Saturday's workshop...The first two card bases are made from a single piece of A4 cardstock and was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest HERE, but just shows how the same card shape can look so different...

 

The floral card, we had in a landscape orientation...



  


And the vintage car in a portrait orientation... The images on the cards hide the sentiment when closed and the inner rectangle allows for space to write a message. Although they're only C6 cards, they seem to have a lot more to them because of the multiple layers and flaps, but still don't take too long to create, plus because we chose the papers carefully, to ensure we could use both sides, it is economical on papers too!...

Our third card is one of my favourites of the moment and I think it could be used for so many occasions...
I think it would be great as a card for doing well in exams or graduation, a Birthday card and even, done in pastel shades of pink or blue, would work well as a baby card too! Of course, I am biased because there are clouds, but it's also a good way of using those papers that are a little busy to be used on a standard cards too...
All in all, a really economic and yet impactful set of cards that could be adapted in so many ways...hope you like them and take inspiration...
Crafty hugs,

Wednesday, 19 June 2019

Playing with Oxides...

Good afternoon, my lovelies! I have been saying for a while how I need to find some time to play with my distress Oxides...it seems lately as though I only craft out of necessity, either for card orders, design work or for workshop, so yesterday morning, I sat and had a play for half an hour...
(some of you may have seen my post on Facebook)


Within minutes, my table looked as if there had been an explosion of inks, paint and mica powders...but I thoroughly enjoyed it and quite liked the end result...


Although this was the state of my fingers!...


I inked a second piece of card and die cut some cogs in preparation, then had to clear my table so I could sort out kits for this Saturday's workshop...

I managed to grab an hour or so in the evening and this is how my project turned out...


Now the critic in me can see that there isn't enough contrast in colours, but all in all, I was reasonably pleased with the result...although, I feel that I still need some practice and maybe to be a little braver with my colours...but it's a start and it was nice to make something, just because...

I created this photo frame with this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme in mind and after being encouraged by my lovely, crafty friend Jane to just have a play and being inspired by her backgrounds...and the amazing work of both Emma Williams and Kath Stewart (if you haven't seen any of their work, you should seriously go check them out!) I decided to play along...

Right I'm off to cook some tea...feeling a little Hank Marvin...oh, that sounds wrong?!! Ha,ha!
Hope you can find some crafty time, just because...
Hugs,
I'd like to enter my frame into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which has the theme of Transport It







Tuesday, 18 June 2019

Passion for promarkers - Beautiful Borders...

Good morning, crafty friends! Another Tuesday rolls around, which can only mean one thing...yep, that's right, we have a brand new challenge starting over at Passion for Promarkers!
This week it's the lovely Shelly who is in the hostess chair and as she has a love of all things doodle, she's chosen a clever theme of 'Beautiful Borders'...so whether it's a doodled border, ribbon border, die cut border, fancy or straight, we'd like to see them on your creations...
We're being sponsored by The Paper Shelter who are kindly offering one lucky winner a choice of 3 digital images from their online store...
Just remember, to be in with a chance of winning the prize, you MUST use your Letraset/Winsor& Newton products and follow the challenge theme.
(It also really helps if you state where you've used them, for example, coloured with Promarkers, etc)

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and as a team, we chose the ever so pretty Glittery and Sparkling. I decided to step out of my comfort zone and give her coloured hair and it actually fades from purple to pink, which doesn't show very well in the photo...although I blame the photographer?!
Colour list :
Skin - Blush, Dusky Pink, Coral (my trusted colour combo)
Hair - Blossom, Sorbet, Fuchsia Pink, Wild Orchid, Amethyst, Purple
The card base is one I found on Pinterest and we will be doing a variation of this at our next workshop on Saturday (sorry, Karen!)...
I decided to have my borders as doodled ones, taking inspiration from our lovely Shelly - she often adds hand drawn borders to her creations, although does it with much more confidence!
Some glitter, sparkly stars and sentiment, finished everything off and some coordinating paper panels on the inside too.
Right then, I'm off to prep kits for this weekend's card making workshop and shuffle some paper around...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,