Passion for Promarkers - Glitter & Sparkle...

Good morning, crafty friends! Another Tuesday appears and it's time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers! The lovely Julie is in the hostess chair and she has given us a topical theme of Glitter & Sparkle...Julie would like you to include something sparkly or glittery on your creations this week i.e. glitter paper/card, stickles, sequins, gems and with the festive card making season in full swing I’m sure this will prove to be a super easy challenge this week!  We can’t resist some glitter and sparkle on our creations at this time of year can we?

We're being sponsored by The Paper Shelter who are offering one lucky winner 3 digi images of their choice from their online store...

The DT all got an image to play with this week and Julie picked out the ever so sweet 'Fairy Christmas Eve'... 

As this super cute image is so detailed, I decided to keep my card clean and simple! I printed the image in PS, after adding the night before Christmas verse and decoupaged the head and stocking of that little sleeping fairy.

I added some Tim Holtz Festive branches and a die cut paper bow, before adding glitter to the fairy trim, wings and candle and the pine branches and snow. There seemed to be a lot of empty space in the bottom right corner, but I needed something simple, so added some die cut snowflakes for texture more than anything.

As you can probably tell from my well spaced posts, things are still rather busy in our household and priorities have to be made to try and build our new business. I am working two jobs, completing card orders, DT cards and workshops, plus trying to keep on top of the housework and feeding the family! As you can imagine, my days are pretty full and I certainly sleep well at the end of it!

I hope that you can join in with our fun challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations! Thanks for stopping by and I hope tobe back soon!

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Promarkers - Fancy Frames...

Hi there, crafty buddies! Our brand new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers this week is being set by the lovely Lorraine, who would love to see your 'Fancy Frames'...they can be die cut, stamped, embossed or created from ribbon/lace or other embellishments. Plus it doesn't have to be a card, it can be any creation you like, as long as you've used your Winsor & Newton/Letraset mediums and follow the challenge theme...

This week, we're being sponsored by Bugaboo, who are offering one lucky winner a $12.00 gift voucher to their online store...

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out a seasonal one  called 'Christmas Tree Row '...

Traditionally, this image has 6 trees in a row, but I decided to just frame 3 of them as a shaker element on my card, with some old white embossing powder as snow in the bottom...I used my Creative Plus scalloped rectangle dies to make the frames and then created a garland at the top from various foliage dies. I added liquid pearls to the scallops of the larger frame and finished with an organza bow and sentiment.

I am having a crazy busy time of it at the moment, so must apologise for my crafty absence, but there has been a lot of changes in our home life and time is in extremely short supply! I am currently trying to juggle setting up a new business with hubby, work (both with him and my 'real' job), keep things going at home, card orders and workshops, plus fitting in DT cards! So life is a little hectic, to say the least!

I hope you're finding more time than me to craft and would love if you could play along with our fun challenge this week!

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Promarkers - Use Black and/or Purple...

 Good morning, Blogger buddies! It's that time of the week again, when we start a brnad new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers!...

The lovely Sue is in the hostess chair and she has given us a topical theme (but not Halloween!) of 'Use Black and/or Purple'...so your creation can be for any occasion, as long as you use either or both of these colours!

 We're being sponsored by Crafty Sentiments who are offering one lucky winner a choice of 3 digis from 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...

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out the ever so fun 'Henry, why not'...

He really is a great image for boys' cards and I teamed him up with a mix of papers from my stash, including the skull paper from the November set of A Year in Cards and the purple polka dot from Another Play on Words, House set. I coloured Henry with my Pro/Flexmarkers and added the skateboard image and sentiment from the November set of A Year in Cards...

I hope you can play along with our fun challenge this week - and don't forget, your entry can be for any celebration...

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Promarkers - Make it Festive...

Good morn-afternoon, my lovelies! It's Tuesday, so you know what that means, don't you?  Yep, that's right! It's the start of a brand new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers...

This week it's the lovely Marie in the hostess chair and (unlike my challenge) she would like to see all of your festive makes for that event that happens in December! So get out your markers and Make it Festive! We're being sponsored by JMC Designs who are offering one lucky winner a digital collection of their choice from the online store...

 Just remember that to be in with a chance of winning the prize, you MUST use your Letraset/Winsor & Newton mediums (although they can be mixed with other mediums) and follow the challenge theme...

I decided to use the ever so fun image 'Edna' and had her trying to tackle her tinsel, with limited success! It was a good challenge to use a non Christmas image for a festive make and I think it's made a really fun card with a difference!

I coloured Edna with my Pro/Flexmarkers and coloured some fluffy wool before adding crystal glitter, for my tinsel. The papers were all from my scrap drawers - I always try to go to my scraps first, but it seems that I make more than I can use! I created the sentiment in Photoshop and added some die cut snowflakes with crystal gem centres...

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

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Promarkers - Anything but Christmas...

Good morning, crafty friends! Another Tuesday rolls around, which means a brand new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers! It's my turn to host this week and I've picked a really easy challenge theme for you all...it is far too early for me to think of that event that happens at the end of the year, so I want to see 'Anything but Christmas'!...

Put away the snowmen and hide the holly, I would like to see all of your non-Christmas makes - whether it's Harvest or Happy Birthday, Easter or Anniversary, as long as it's not festive, I want you to play along...

This week we're being sponsored by Uniko who are offering one lucky winner a choice of stamp set from their online store (has to be in stock)...

Just don't forget that to be in with a chance of winning the prize, you MUST use your Letraset/Winsor & Newton mediums and follow the challenge theme...so NO CHRISTMAS!

For my card I went with a really simple design, giving focus to the pretty poppy image which we get lots of here in Wales. I coloured them up to look like the Welsh mountain poppies that seed all over our grass verges and gardens and fussy cut them out, leaving a white border.

Colour List - 

Primrose, Lemon, Sunflower, Gold

Gold, Pumpkin, Bright Orange, Mandarin, Firebrick

SN Willow, Bamboo, Camo Green

I inked the background with Broken China Distress Oxide, using a blending brush and stamped a pretty sentiment from Card Making Magic Layered Floral stamp set. I doodled a border and added the panel onto a rich, sunflower yellow cardstock. I have to admit to being rather influenced by Gina K's card style these days and love her simple design and use of bold colours and black mats...

I do hope that you can find the time to play along with my easy, peasy challenge this week and look forward to visiting you all and seeing all of your wonderful creations...

Crafty hugs,

More Wordart cards...

 Good morning, Blogger buddies! So, who says poinsettias have to be red?!...

I have to say, I really like the way this card turned out...probably because I am a sucker for frosty colour tones when it comes to festive makes. I printed two copies of the Christmas Wordart digistamp at 4" x 6" and then coloured with my Pro/Flexmarkers...

Colour list - 

Poinsettias - Pastel Blue, Denim Blue, China Blue

Holly - China Blue, Navy Blue

Mistletoe - Soft Green, Marine

Happy word and berries - Cool Grey 2 & 4

I cut out the image leaving a white border and also cut away some of the inner areas to give it a more open look. I then mounted the image on to a 5" x 7" card base that had been lightly inked with Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink and added some corners using the aqua polka dot from my Fuchsia mini kit. I decoupaged the words and used my Quickie glue pen to colour in before sprinkling with crystal glitter.

I finished off with some Liquid Pearls on the white berries and dots and added small crystal gems to the flower centres.

But what if I don't do colouring, I hear you say...well this next card is loosely coloured using Distress Inks (or any other ink pads or even chalks)...

Once again, I printed off two copies of the Christmas Wordart at 4" x 6" and gilded the word on one using my Quickie glue pen and gilding flakes, before fussy cutting with my scissors. For the second image, I used a cotton bud to apply ink over the different areas, not worrying too much about staying in the lines (but still being a little controlled in my application) and gilded the holly berries.

I added some border strips from the bonus red polka dot paper onto a 6" x 6" kraft card blank and then attached the image on top, decoupaging the wording. I added some gold line border peel offs between the layers and a couple of green polka dot corners, then finished with gold pearls, white pearls and a die cut gold bow (that just happened to be lying around on my crafty table!)

I hope you like my festive creations and that I have given you the inspiration to try different colours to the 'traditional' ones...

There's a definite Autumn nip in the air today but I'm still going to make the most of the cool sunshine and get the washing line filled. Have a fabulous Friday, whatever you're up to...

Crafty hugs,

 

Christmas Wordart...

 Good afternoon, crafty friends! I have a new design to share with you today which is great for making quick and easy Christmas cards...this is now available in my Etsy store HERE...

I was totally inspired by the new Gina K incentive stamp and wanted to create my own festive version for those batch card makes...

This card uses the precoloured image and the green bonus paper that comes with it. I printed the image off at 3.5 x 5 inches and thought I would give a step by step of how I print my images for all those digital newbies or those who need a little more confidence...

 Firstly, I cut my A4 printing paper down into quarters (14.8 x 10.5cm) although this isn't exactly the same as 4x6 inches, it is close enough (for me, anyway!). I have a separate tray for smaller sizes but if you don't, just place your paper in and adjust your guides so that it is held straight for printing.

I use the default Windows program for viewing  by double clicking on the image and then click the print icon (usually looks like a little printer). In the screen above, I have highlighted the two boxes that I set in the Print window - the Paper Size to 4" x 6" and the Photo Size box to 3.5 x 5 in. You can change the copies if you wish to print multiples for batch making, or if you want to decoupage elements.

For my card - once printed, I cut the image down to 13 x 9.5cm and added a black mat just 3mm bigger (13.3 x 9.8cm). I printed the polka dot paper to A4 size (changing the photo sizes will scale the print) and cut a piece 17 x 12cm, then inked the edge with Black ink. I attached the image off set to one side and added some thin burgundy ribbon around the left side with a small bow. You can then bling up your image by adding glitter, gems and pearls...

Next I printed off the digistamp and coloured it with a slightly darker colour scheme...

At first, I coloured the 'Happy' in a light brown tone, but wasn't sure about it, so added some gold glitter...I still wasn't sure, so printed off another copy and coloured the word in a contrasting aqua tone and decoupaged it over the top...

...much better! I think aqua is probably my favourite colour  - I love to use it in my crafting (especially teamed with a contrasting pink!) and it's a colour that I like to wear, plus it's one of my favourite colours for Christmas too!

I hope you like my new image and cards, and that you found my little step by step helpful. If you purchase my design and create, please send me a link to see how you've used it either in a comment here, through Facebook, Craftworld or even send me an email contact@ellasdesign.co.uk...

Crafty hugs,