Anything Goes

There are plenty of 'Anything Goes' challenges out there this week, so I thought I would enter this card that I made a while ago, using some lovely Gnome stamps from Stamp Addicts.

Not much to say about this one really except that everyting is coloured with Promarkers and the papers are all from Do Crafts.

Looking at this now, I guess that, with a few colour changes, this image could easily be used for a Christmas card as the little guy could easily be one of Santas Helpers with the naughty or nice list!!

Anyway, here are the challenges that I am entering today.....

Make it Monday
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes
Natalie and Amy - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by today!

Sharon x

My new favourite thing....

There have been a few challenges around lately where you colour a black and white image, and add a splash of colour. I really like the look and it seems to be an up and coming trend so I thought I would give it a go.

I thought it would be really hard to do, but it turns out that it's not half as bad as I thought, and it's really easy to match up your backing papers when you are just focussing on one colour.

So, I had a lovely time yesterday, colouring some black and white images, and here is my second attempt, using a gorgeous Teddy Bo stamp that came free with a magazine, a few months back.

So for this card I have focussed on Orange.....she looks a bit like a pumpkin!

The gorgeous papers are frmo the Milton range at Wild Rose Studio, and they are all backed up on to plain black card.

Here's a close up of the teddy.

I made this card to enter the following challenges:

Teddy Bo - Black and white with one other colour
Make it Monday
Bearly Mine - Anything Goes
The PaperShelter - Anything Goes

Well that's my last crafty offering for now. Sadly it's back to work after a lovely week off, so I'm pretty sure that my crafting 'me time' is going to be depleted now as I try to catch up with all the madness and mayhem at work.........oh to win the lottery and get out of the rat race!!!

Wishing you all a happy week ahead, and thanks for stopping by.

Sharon x

Monochrome with Unusual Coloured Hair

I have seen some great stuff in mags lately where images have been coloured in a monochrome colour with a focal point in a different colour. I was so impressed with the look, and really wanted to have a go myself, so this week's Promarker challenge of Monochrome with Unusual Coloured Hair was just the incentive I needed to get me started.

I thought my Sugar Nellie Manga Girl would be perfect for this look, plus there was a really nuce sketch on Sketch Saturday , which I thought would be just the job!

Here's a close up of the girl......

I have used some paper from the lovely NitWits Promises Too digi set for bakcing and punched the decorative strip suing a Martha Stewart punch.

A really simple card to put together....but I think that style works best for me!!

Here are the challenges that I am going to enter today.....

Passion for Promarkers - Monochrome with unusual coloured hair
Sketch Saturday
Bearly Mine - Anything Goes
Paper Shelter - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by today!

Sharon xx

I wanna be a good 'colourer inner'!

I love how Leanne Chivers always talks about being a good 'colourer inner'......I think it's such a great name for that thing that we love to do!

Anyway...I spend so much time admiring other people's colouring and wish I was as good as they are.....I guess the only way to improve is practice, practice and more practice!

Since I was on holiday this week, I was able to devote a bit of extra time to colouring and here is what I came up with, using a lovelt Saturated Canary digi.

I often look at these in my digi stamp folder, but think I will never be able to do them justice. That said, they take a bit of time to colour, but are really not as scary as I thought!

I think she is such a cutie with her big boots and ballerina tutu!

Hopefully you can see that I have printed and colured her a number of times sothat I could decoupage her up a bit. Here's a close up......

I have also used a variety of dies for this card - a gorgeous Memory Box border for the flowers around her feet (I still can't belive how perfect and delicate those things come out when you run them though the Calibur!) Also the stopper is made from Spellbinders flowers, topped off with the little pink nuggets that you can get from Polka Doodles.

So.....after all my efforts, I thought I would enter this card in to a few challenges:

Make It Monday (cos I love to receive feedback from all the other lovely crafters who visit that blog!!)
Saturated Canary - Photo Inspiration (the first time I've been brave enough to enter an SC challenge!)
Bearly Mine - Anything Goes
Paper Shelter - Anything Goes
Crafters Companion - Best Friends

Thanks for stopping by today, and enjoy the rest of your Bank Holiday weekend!

Sharon x

Another sketch challenge....

Here's the second sketch challenge that I have been following this week.......

This time it's the latest offering from Sketch Saturday. For this card I have used everything from the Strawberry shortcake range. There is the lovely stamp of course and the backing papers and embellishments have all come from the Strawberry Shortcake CD Rom.

It's a very short post today as it's getting a bit late and I didn't want to miss the boat on the challenge.
So I'm entering this card for the following:

Sketch Saturday
Make it Monday
Bearly Mine - Anything Goes
Paper Shelter - Anything Goes.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sharon x

A Little Bit Sketchy

This week I decided to make a couple of cards which followed some of the sketch challenges out there, and here is the first one......

For this card I have followed the sketch from the latest Friday Sketchers challenge, and I thought that this little stamp from Denami would be perfect for the challenge. I love these cute little chicks as they are so quirky, but also easy to colour in.....it's literally a five minute job with alcohol pens.
I have coloured them to match with my backing papers which come from a DoCrafts Forever Friends 6x6 pad called Party Time. There is actually a bear on the base layer but I had to cover him over.......how cruel!

Anyhoo I thought I would enter this card in to the following:

Make it Monday
Friday Sketch
Bearly Mine - Anything Goes
Paper Shelter - Anything Goes

Finally - a little confession to make - I have been to the cinema today to watch.......A Diary of a Wimpy Kid Dog Days. It's OK - I had my son with me for cover, but this is normally the type of film I would wait to come out on DVD and then watch covertly at home! I have to admit though....whilst not the most complex of stories (it's designed with pre teenage boys in mind after all!!) - I did laugh my head off on a number of occasions.....I think it's good to be a bit of a child sometimes!

Well it's back to adult life for me now though....dinner to sort out, house to clean - bla, bla, bla!!!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sharon x

It's all about the words...

Joanna Sheen has a challenge this week which is called 'Totally Sentimental' where the object of the challenge is to use a sentiment as the main focal point of your card.

Now this is quite an unusual thing for me to do, but it just so happens that the Stamp Addicts Etched Flowers sets, which I was playing about with a while ago, happen to contain a number of 'flowery; quotes which, I think are just perfect for this theme.

So here is something I have created ....

For this card I stampd the quote on to vellum, using Stayzon, and edge the vellum with a green fine line pen, before mounting on to another piece of card which I had prestamped with the little star flower from the same set. I covered up my 'sticking' with some lovely flowery candy dots.

Sorry for the quality of the picture, which is paericularly rubbish - even by my standards - but hopefully you get the idea!

I would like to enter this in to the following challenges:

Joanna Sheen - Totally Sentimental
Make it Monday
Anything Goes - Make your own background
Bearly Mine - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sharon x

Back to School

We're not quite there yet, but inly a couple of weeks left until the kids go back to school, and the autumn sets in. It's hard to believe when I'm sitting here in 30 degree heat, but, no sooner will they be back, and we'll be on our way to Hallowe'en, Bonfire night, and of course the big 'C' word.

No wonder my life seems to fly by so quickly!

Any, the thing that made me amble along with my little musings was that Cute Card Thursday have a 'Back to School' challenge, so I thought I would enter my last remaining 'schoolish' card for this challenge.

So here we have it. Once again I have used my gorgeous digi paper set from NitWits and teamed it with another school boy from Digi Stamp Boutique, which I have printed a number of times and decoupaged.

I also decorated the inside of the card with some of the nic nacs from the Digi set,

As usual I have coloured everything in with alcohol pens (Promarkers this time!)

So I have just one challenge to enter this particular card in to, which is

Cute Card Thursday - Back to School.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sharon x



The fastest card ever......

Here it is - the fastest card I have ever made! It was literaly a 5 minute job, but I am so pleased how it turned out....

This is on a 4x4 inch card once again, and I have been digging in to my older stamps once again. The three little owls are all on one stamp and are from Denami (which you can get over at Stamp Addicts).

I simply stamped them straight on to the card and coloured with Spectrum Noirs. The greeting is from a Personal Impressions set that I have, and of course I have finished off with a little bit of squiggly doodling to bring it all together.

Originally this was intended for the Less is More challenge, but I missed the boat due to a few connectivity probelms last night!

So , I'm going to enter for the following challenges instead....

Make it Monday
Bearly Mine- Things with Wings
Simon Says Stamp - Animal Antics
Paper Shelter - Clean and Simple
Pink Gem - Animals or Teddies

Well at least I have got my Saturday post in a bit earlier than usual for a change! It's a lovely sunny day here in MK, so I'm off to make the most of it while it lasts!

Have a good weekend everyone.

Sharon x

A bit of a hoot.....

I am so in to my 4 x 4 inch cards lately!

Here's another one that I made using an old stamp that I found way deep in the coffers at Goold Crafty Towers!!

I was so nice to just stamp this out and colour it in with the Spectrums as the lines are so clean and simple and I just love those little mice.

There's not too much to say about this card really, so I will just enter it in to the following challenges:

Make it Monday
Sweet Stampin - Things with Wings
Bearly Mine - Things with Wings
Simon Says Stamp - Animal Antics

That's it for me today.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sharon x

A bit of Nostalgia and......

......just recovering from a little panic attack!! I don't know why, but on my first attempt at loading up this image I found that my pictures, and I mean ALL my pictures had completely disappeared!

After searching all over the place, I eventually found them lurking in the recycle bin, so I restored them.....or so I thought. However, I went back in and...still no sign of them!!! Eventually I did a search, which located them and then, as if by magic, my shortcut reactivated and, so far, everything seems to be OK again.  I put it down to being the 13th  :o(

Anyway, back to my card and the little bit of nostalgia that I promised yesterday. This card was made using the Adorables Summer range from Crafter's Companion, and is completely different to my usual style.

The boy, donkey and little sail boat are all stamped and watercoloured whilst the background is taken from the CD and decoupaged.

This reminds me so much of the good old days when, as a kid, we used to go to the seaside and enjoy all the simple things in life!!

I made this card especially for a challenge this week, which is:

One Stop Craft - Summer Holiday

I would also like to enter the following:

Make it Monday
Papertake - Anything Goes
Crafters Companion - Best Friends

That's me done for today.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sharon x

Second Post of the Day!!

Here's another quick post from me to show one of the cards that I made for Stamp Addicts latest C&C show.

This was sooooo quick and easy to make, but I am really pleased with how it came out.

Here's what I did.

• I printed some digital paper, which reminded me of a starry sky, and trimmed it down to size.
• Usings the Bethlehem set I stamped the Three Wise Men and camels directly on to the paper, using memento.
• I then matted the paper on to Silver and then black, before attaching to the base card.
• Finally I stamped a sentiment from the set using a dark blue distress ink and mounted this on to silver card, before sticking it to the base card ewith sticky fixers.

See......,... simples!!

I would like to enter this in to the following challenges:

My Mums Craft Shop - Christmas in August
Papertake - Anything Goes
Secret Crafter Saturday - Gold, Silver or Bronze

Thanks for looking (again!!) That's it for me today.....

Sharon x

They'll be back before we know it!

I can't believe that we are already half way through the Summer Holidays. I remember, as a kid, the Summer Holidays seemed to last forever, and I always remember them as having sunny weather too......maybe that was just mt kiddy rose tinted glasses!!

Luckily, my son seems to be completely oblivious to the passing of time, and has managed to fit in quite a lot of fun stuff so far. I hope he is making the most of it as, all too soon, it will be back to the grind as he starts his final year at Primary School (OMG!!!)

So here's a card that I made, which I think depicts how he is now.....although I know this won't last much longer!

The lovely image is from Digi Stamp Boutique and I have coloured him in with promarkers, before decoupaging his head for a bit of lift. The lovely papers are from NitWits - The Live and Learn FQB...and I have to say I think they are the best 'schooly' papers that I have ever come across.

I also decorated the inside of this card, and here it is......

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:

Make it Monday
Papertake - Anything Goes
Totally Papercrafts - Frame It
Catch The Bug - Photo Challenge

Thanks for looking. I hope to be back with something a little different tomorrow as I have been playing with something a little more nostalgic today.....watch this space.

Sharon x

Going Round in Circles

This title seems to summarise my life at the moment....it seems that there is too much to do, and too litlle time to do it in! As a result, I have been burning the midnight oil a little bit lately and I am starting to feel a little bit jaded. But now, here we are, halfway through the weekend and I'm taking a bit of time out to catch up on my blogging!

But the theme of my post wan't really meant to be about me, it's more about some of the lovely challenges that are out there this week, on a circular theme.

So here's a card that I made using the Santa set, recently released by Stamp Addicts......

As you may have realised, I am a fan of this particular set as I can't get enough of this podgy chap and his wife.....and if you caught the stamp addicts show on C&C last Thursday, you may have seen some of my Santa cards on there....I can't deny it...it's still such a buzz for me.

Anyway, back to the card......This is actually quite a tiny card, but I am quite liking the tag in envelope effect and it is the first time that I have tried out this style, even though I have admired other peoples efforts from afar many times!

I have used a Martha Stewart snowflake punch to create the border and coloured Santa in using my Spectrums.....he's going for his blue look today!

I would like to enter this card in to the following challenges:

Make It Monday
Joanna Sheen - Something New
Paper Shelter - Going Round
My Mums Craft Shop - Christmas in August
Cute Card Thursday - Tag, You're It,
Totally Papercrafts - Frame It
Allsorts Challenge - Going Around in Circles

Well I think that just about covers it for this card. Thanks for stopping by today!

Sharon x

Bearing Gifts

Here is a card that I made using another lovely LOTV stamp, featuring one of their lovely little bears. I love how the image is framed, but the parcels protrude outside of the border......it's such a cheery little image I think!

So for this card I coloured the image with my Promarkers, and used backing papers from the Nit Wits Promises Too set, with a few Candy Dots and some satin ribbon to finish off.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:

Make It Monday
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Gifts
Joanna Sheen - Animal Crackers
CatchThe Bug - Anything Goes
Papertake - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sharon x

A Dinky Card

Well I had a fine old time doing a bit of crafting yesterday evening, whilst keeping half an eye on the Athletics, while history was being made!

Here's one of the cards that I madewhich, contrary to appearances, is very small at only 4 inches square. I have seen a number of timy cards on various blogs and had been meaning to give it a  try, and this cute little stamp from LOTV seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a go.

I wanted a clean and simple look so that the focus would be on the image, and I decoupaged the gorgeous sunflower, just for a bit of wow factor.

So I thought I would enter this in to a few challenges:

Bearly Mine - Anything Goes
I love Prpmarkers - Spots and Striped (well the ribbon is spotty!)
My Mums Craft Shop- Ice Cream Flavours (Lemon Sorbet!)
Cute Card Thursday - Clean and Simple
Make It Monday
Catch the Bug - Anything Goes.

Thanks for stopiing by today......off now to make the most of the rest of the weekend, before going back to the grind tomorrow!

Sharon x

Keeping it Clean.

Time to show a little more of the lovely Stamp Addicts Bethlehem set, which I have been playing with this. Very much on a 'nativity' type of theme, and based on silhouettes, this set really lends itself to that clean and simple look, which is a real bonus at Christmas time!

For this card, I have stamped the main Bethlehem image and coloured in the night sky with Spectrum Noirs, bfore mounting it on to the white mat with sicky pads so that it is slightly raised.

Down at the botton, the camel that you see is actually the back end of a trail of four camels, so I just inked the bit that I wanted and stamped directly on to the mat.

This was a really quickand easy card to make, but quite effective I think.....I may well be churning out a few more like this come Christmas time!!

Not one to miss out on a challenge opportunity, I am going to enter this card in to the following challenges:

Bearly Mine - Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday - Clean and Simple
Make it Monday
Catch the Bug - Anything Goes.

Thanks for stopping by today and indulging my Christmas musings. Don't forget that you will be able to see this, and loads of other lovely cards from my Stamp Addicts Design Team Mates on Create and Craft - August 9th!

Sharon x

A sneak peak......

I think I mentioned on a previous post that I had received some Christmas stamps from Stamp Addicts, so that I could make some samples for their upcoming show on August 9th.

Well I thought that one of them was just perfect for the latest Sktech challenge on Less is More, so the lovely ladies at SA have given me permission to give you all a sneak peak.

The sentiment and the image on this card are both part of a larger set, called Bethlehem. I really like the silhouette images in this set as they are quite traditional, but you can still have some fun with them!

I have coloured the image iwth my Spctrum Noirs, and I used the same pens to edge to white pieces of paper, to create perfectly matching black and gold matting.

As mentiioned, I designed this card around a sketch at Less is More, so I am going to enter for that challenge, and also the Sweet Stampin Challenge, which is Christmas in July.

Thanks for stopping by today and hope you enjoyed the sneak peak.

Sharon x