Playing with Patchwork

Today I thought I would post a card that I made at the weekend using a lovely Time For Tea Digistamp from Polkadoodles, couple with a lovely pastel coloured paper from Bearly Mine Designs.

I seem to be having a bit of a thing for the decoupage at the moment, so once again, i have printed out the digi a number of times and coloured and layered her up.

This time around I picked the paper first and coloured the image to match, which makes the colour decisions so much easier as it's just a case of comparing my hand made colour chart to the paper and going with the closest matches....easy peazy!!!

I also used some of the different coloured patches to punch out my flower embellishments, which I then finished off with a generous dab of Stickles Pearl paint.

Finally, I followed the Saturday Sketch challenge for the layout of my card.

So now on to my bunch of challenges for today:

Cutie Pie - Lots of Layers
Love to Create - Punches or Dies
Penny's Challenge - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Stampin for the Weekend - Dies and Punches
http://sketchsaturday.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/week-256-with-stamp-fairy.html
Eclectic Ellapu - Anything Goes
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/mim-138-with-meljens-designs.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/challenge-4.html
http://totallypapercrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/challenge-164-flowers-and-lace.html

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sharon x

April Showers

Well it seems to me that it's more like April downpours rather than showers at the moment. Unbelievably I was soaked by a downpour and hailstorm at the same time this weekend......now that's just not right for the end of April is it?

But the subject of April showers certainly gets me digging around amongst my stamps and digi's as I have a bit of a thing for characters holding umbrellas...don't ask me why!

Look what I came up with...this little beauty from Prairie Fairy which I bought for Easter 2012 I think!

As you can see, I thought this lovely image was worth spending a bit of time on, so I printed her out 3 times and coloured and decoupaged her for that 3d effect.

I also tried a new technique for me...adding clouds to the background and I was really please with the result....much better than loads of plain white everywhere.

Finally, in honour of the showery season, out came the diamond glaze to make the raindrops and of course those fabulous glasses...job done I think!

So there are a few challenges which I would like to enter with this one and here they are:

Papertake - Weather with you
Passion for Promarkers - Animals
Penny's Challenge - Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday - Can't Stop the Rain
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Ecclectic Ellapu - Anything Goes
Cutie Pie - Lots of Layers
Make it Monday

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sharon x

It's a Dog's Life

I thought it was about time that I posted something related to Men today, as it's been a while since I have done anything like that, as I have been immersing myself in girlyness.

This card was made for my FIL's birthday and I picked the image specially from Digistamp Boutique, as it reminded me very much of their family dog, Marty.

Like my own family's much loved dog, Marty was unfortunate enough to spend some time in a dog home in his earlier life. Luckily he was adopted by my In Laws and his life changed from that of a Pauper to a Prince overnight. He is a lovely dog, but, as result of his experiences in life, he craves security and when he first arrived, he would always have to be touching a human.....I think it was a comfort thing. Quite often, if you sat down, he would sit on your feet and that's why I thought this image was so perfect.

So that's the story behind the card... I think it's nice to have a story, but I hope that I haven't sent you all to sleep now!

For this card, I started with some paper from one of my CD's - it was left over from a previous card, so unfortunately I can't remember where it came from :o(

I created some faux ribbon with Bazill card and also used it as a base for my nestie matting.

The image has been printed 3 times and decoupaged, and finally I created some faux ribbon with my card stock.

I hope that you like my card for today. Here are the challenges that I would like to enter:

Cutie Pie - Clean and Simple
Passion for Promarkers - Animals
Penny's Challenge - Anything Goes
Stamp n Doodle - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Paper Shelter - Anything Goes
Stampin for the Weekend - Die Cuts
Card Crafters Circle - Boys to Men
Make it Monday

well that's all from me for now. I am about to go for a walk and brave the weather....hoping to avoid the hail storms!

Have a good weekend everyone.

Sharon x

My Exciting News

I have been having a very good few weeks, craft wise, and I am so excited and honoured to announce that I have been lucky enough to be asked to join the Design Team for Lili's Little Fairies!

I have had to keep this under my hat for a couple of  weeks, but now I'm OK to shout it out loud!!

I'm really looking forward to joining in with the lovely DT ladies and creating card for the upcoming challenges, plus I get to indulge my Lili of the Valley Addiction!

I hope that you will come and visit me and the Lili's Little Fairies Blogspot to see the lovely new challenges each week. I will be joining in from 2nd May so look forward to seeing you there!

Sharon x

My first Bearly Mine DT card

well, as you may know, I was lucky enough to be selected to join the Bearly Mine Design Team, so I had a lovely time this weekend going though all my lovely papers.....oohing and aaahing all the way!

So, here is my first card made using The Boyz Zone digital paper set which you can find right here.

There are about 40 different papers to chose from but I managed to decide on just 3 to enable to make this card. As you can see, I also teamed them up with a lovely LOTV image and coloured with my Promarkers to match the papers (or at least I hope that's the effect that you get).

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I followed the Sketch from the Sweet Stop this week.

My official term on Bearly Mine starts in May, so I am looking forward to designing for my first challenge with them, which is coming up on 7th May.

In the meantime, I hope to be bringing you some Bearly Mine loveliness every week, so watch this space.....

Now on to the challenges for today......

Stamp n Doodle - No embellishments
Penny's Challenge - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Make it Monday
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Sweet Stop - Sketch
Cutie Pie - Clean and Simple
Passion for Promarkers - Animals

Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to stop by tomorrow as I have some exciting news that I can't wait to share!

Sharon x

A little Sunshine in our Lives

Well it's day 2 of sunshine and blue skies where I live...really nice - especially as it is the weekend too!

So since I was feeling particularly 'sunny' today, I thought I would showcase a card on a sunny yellow theme, made with a beautiful Angelica's fairy.

I know I say this often, but once again I have to marvel at the lovely expression achieved on her little face with a few well placed lines...just perfect.

I have kept this card really simple, focussing on the image, which I coloured in with my Spectrum Noirs, and pointing on to some coordinating card stock, finished of with some lovely polkadot ribbon and one of my 'cheats' bows.

Finally - I tried something new, having seen Leanne do it on the TV, and painted over the wings with pearlescent H20 to give a bit of a glimmer. It certainly does the trick, but I think I may need to make the paint a little bit thinner the next time...trial and error - I will get there in the end!

So, on to the challenges to go with this post, which are:

Crafters Companion - Flowers
Cutie Pie - Clean and Simple
Paper Shelter - Make it Bloom
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Sweet Stampin - Buttons, Bows and Polkadots
Allsorts - Flowers
Make it Monday
Spectrum Noir - Spring

Thanks for stopping by today, and enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Sharon x

Bright and Breezy

I think that 'bright and breezy' is a good description of the weather and my mood right now. It's Friday afternoon, the sun is shining but still a bit chilly, and work is over for another week, with the weekend to look forward to.

Continuing on with the general 'brightness', here's a card that I made using unusually bright colours for me (I am much more of a pastel gal as you have probably realised if you are a regular visitor to my blog!)

However, on this occasion, I needed to make a card for a 1 year old boy........hmmm...little boys / bright colours......the perfect excuse I think!

So I decided to stamp up one of my lovely Humphrey stamps, which was particularly gratifying, as I don't know that I will get too many opportunities to use this little fella.

I coloured everything nice and brightly with my Spectrum Noirs and, as luck would have it found a paper which really matched nicely amongst my Forever Friends 6x6 pads, which very rarely get to see the light of day.

I had a lovely time colouring this image and found that the bright colours weren't so scary as I thought. as you can see, I also stamped out a few parcels and decoupaged them on to the card, as well as, quite unusually for me, including a sentiment.

Once all that was done I didn't think it really needed anything else, so I have kept the rest of the card very clean and simple with the main image simply mounted on to one backing paper.

So...on to the lovely challenges for today:

Sister Act - Anything Goes
Come and Get It - Kids Birthday Cards
Cupcake Craft - Cute and Cuddly
Cutie Pie - Clean and Simple
Papertake - One Papertaker
Penny's Challenge - Use a Sentiment
Delightful Challenges - Colour My world
Make it Monday

Well that's me done for today. Time to get ready for a lovely Thai meal for a family celebration later on.
Have a lovely, restful Friday evening everyone.

Sharon x

Stamp Addicts on Create and Craft

I'm back again with a quick heads up to let you know that Stamp Addicts have a show coming up on Monday 22nd April, so it's time to set your Sky Plus, video recorders etc.....

Rather than being labelled as a Stamp Addicts Show, it's going to be a Craft Clinic, so look out for their double bill from 11am until 1pm.

Take a look right here to see some of the lovely cards which will be featuring as samples on the show.

Too bad that I will be at work, but I will definitely be recording it!

Sharon x

Happy Days

I had a lovely surprise earlier this week as I received an email inviting me to join the Bearly Mine Design Team!

Of course I took about one second to consider, before I said a big fat 'Yes Please'!

There are loads of lovely digi paper designs available at the Bearly Mine shop, which you can check out right here and of course there is their equally fab weekly challenge which you can see here.

I will be joining in with the fun from the beginning of May, but I'm looking forward to having a play around with the lovely digi papers this weekend, so watch this space as I will no doubt be back with my creations, to share  them with you all.

Thanks  for stopping by today, and I hope that you will hop over to Bearly Mine and join in with the fun.

See you there!

Sharon x

Nothing like a good book......

I don't seem to be able to find too much time for reading these days, but, in days gone by, one of my favourite things to do was to curl up with a good book. I think that this lovely digi from Saturated Canary captures that idea perfectly..especially when your curled up on your favourite cushion!!

when I printed this digi, I got a bit carried away and printed it a bit large - it's almost A5 size - so I had to go with an 8 x8 card base which is unusually large for me. Thanks good ness I had my grand nesties for the scalloped circle!

For this particular card I had already picked the papers before I coloured the image, but luckily I was able to find the perfect matching colour in my Spectrum Noir set to make sure that everything came together.

There's just a little bit of decoupage on the skirt, but other than that I have kept everything fairly plain and simple so that the focus is on the image.

Unfortunately, due to the size of my digi, her hair was really BIG....and I found it quite hard to colour as a result. I wanted her to have a sort of tousled look, but I think she has just come out with a bad hair day....oh well  - I am no good at styling my own hair either so I guess she takes after me!!

Of course I can't leave without entering some challenges, so here they are:

Paula Holifield - Anything Goes
Creative Inspiriation - Anything Goes
Delightful Sketches - Round Up
Saturated Canary - Anything Goes
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Card Crafters Circle - Dies
My Mums Craft Shop - Easter Colours
Forever Friends - Die Cuts
Make it Monday

Thanks for stopping by.

Sharon x

Tiddly Inks rule!

One of the wonderful things about blogging is that you come across some real talent, that you would never have known about through the usual channels, and, for me, Tiddly Inks is one such lucky find.

I had seen some lovely images on people's cards and could tell from the style that they were all by the same artist.....eventually I realised that these came from Tiddly Inks...I googled it... and the rest is history, as they say.

After much oohing and drooling, I eventually managed to choose a few digi images (restricting myself to 'a few' was a bit of a problem) and they sat on my PC for quite a while before I eventually plucked up the courage to colour one in!

This little cutie pie was the result......man - I so wish that I could draw like that!!

As she was a digi, I printed her 3 times and decoupaged her so that she stands out from the CAS background that I created, inspired by an old sketch from Less is More which I really liked.

I coloured her in promarkers, inspired by my lovely NitWits backing papers and threw in a few die cuts for good measure. I even made the flowers using a lovely little flower die that I picked up from the Hobbycraft show in March.

I was really pleased with how this card came out and I think I will definitely use this sketch again some time as I am quite a fan of the clean and simple look.

Finally, here are the challenges that I would like to enter with this card:

My Mums Craft Shop - Easter Colours
Forever Friends - Use Dies
Passion for Promarkers - Cut out your image
Fab n Funky - Spring Colours
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Card Crafters Circle - Die-ing to Impress
One Stop Craft = Pastels
Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes
Make it Monday
Sweet Stampin - Pastels

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you all have a lovely, sunshine filled weekend.

Sharon x

In the Pink with LOTV

I'm back again for my second post of the day, to reveal the second outcome of my burst on 'Pinkness' yesterday.

As you can see it's a lovely LOTV stamp which is the star of the show again, accompanied by a whole bunch of gorgeous dies from my collection.

I started off, colouring with promarkers and adding a bit of glitter for those fairy wings.

I then went about the business of creating my stepper card, starting with some plain pink  Bazill and mounting some lovely patterned paper from my SWALK Winter Cheer CD on to it.

I then used my nests to mount my image, whilst the white flowers are from Memory Box and the pink ones are Marianne Creations.

It's not often that I would go to town with my dies like this but, since the Grand Calibur was out anyway I thought I would go for it, and I am quite pleased with the result. I have had a lovely time with my dies lately, so I really must make the effort to get them out more often I think......watch this space!

Here are the lovely challenges that I would like to enter this card in to:

In the Pink - Lets Fly Away
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Make it Monday
Bearly Mine - Anything Goes
Creative Inspirations- Anything Goes
Totally Gorguss - Anything Goes with Sparkles
Delicious Doodles - Folds
Allsorts - Spring has Sprung
Forever Friends - Die Cuts / Punches

Thank you all for visiting today.

Sharon x

Pink and Brown Have Come to Town

Over at Polkadoodles this week they have a lovely challenge theme of pink and brown, and this was the starting for my card offering today.

I knew immediately which papers I wanted to use for this theme, and they are from the Polkadoodles Sundae of Seasons CD, which has some lovely generic patterned papers in lots of coordinating shades.

Next I picked this lovely LOTV bear with bird (actually a Christmas Stamp...but my Robin has contracted a strange disease which has turned him pink!) and used my Promarkers to colour them in to match my papers.

Finally I followed the Sketch n Stash challenge for the card layout, which I finally finished off with some Stickles glitter glue.

So there we have it...another card done......it's amazing what time I have for all this stuff when I am not having to go to work!

Here are the lovely challenges that I would like to enter with this card:

In the Pink - Let's Fly Away
Polkadoodles - Pink and Brown
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Totally Gorguss - Anything Goes with Sparkle
http://sketchandstashchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/sketch-n-stash-top-3-for-challenge-110.html
Make it Monday
Bealy Mine - Anything Goes
Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes

That's my first post for today.

Watch out for another 'Pinky' post coming up soon!

Sharon x

A Spoonful of Sugar...and no calories!

Hello all. I'm back today with a little bit of sugary sweetness in the form of this gorgeous Sugar Nellie stamp. I just love this image because it's cute, bit not TOO cute if you get what I mean, which means that it will appeal to a broad range of card  recipients!

Although this card is very simple, I went out on a limb a little bit with my colour choices and tried something a little different, in the form of apricot and lime, and I have to say, I am really pleased with the result. I think it has a bit more zinginess than my usual safe pastels, without being too in your face.

Also, colouring hair can be a bit hit and miss for me, but I think I did OK with this one....but definitely more practice required!

Time to enter a few challenges now, so here goes......

The Sugar Bowl - Anything Goes
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
Make it Monday
Paula Holifield - Anything Goes
Cupcake Crafts - Raining Cats and Dogs
Bearly Mine - Anything Goes

Well as you may have guessed from my mid week posting, I am on holiday from work this week......so I'm off now to enjoy my freedom!

Have a good day all!

Sharon x

Bee Happy

After my little diversion to Christmas time on yesterday's post, it's time ti get back in to Spring today and what better way to do it than with some lovely Bees from Stamps by Judith?

You've just gotta love these little fellas...they are so simple, yet so effective. I know I've said it before but I find it so amazing that an artist can draw a circle , put to well placed dots on it, and create a charming little face with such character. I know that if I was to do  that I would just end up with something resembling a bowling ball!

As you can see, I have kept it really simple for this card. After all, when you're making a bunch of thank you cards you need to be able to knock 'em out quick!

I have coloured the bees very simply with my Spectrum Noirs and added stickler glitter to their wings for a bit of sparkle. The greeting is from my 'staple' greeting stamp set which I always keep close to hand...it's from Personal Impressions.

Finally I have done a bot of doodling to create a frame with a fine black marker pen.

Here's another similar card that I made using just one bee this time (sorry about the rubbish picture!)

So - on to today's challenges which are:

Stamptacular Sunday = Spring Fever
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Card Crafters Circle - Bugs
My Time to Craft - Clean and Simple
Pink Gem - Animals
Allsorts - Spring has Sprung

Well it looks like Spring is still in town where I live today and the sun is making an appearance, so I'm off now to make the most of it while it lasts!

Have a lovely Sunday everyone.

Sharon x

Skating on thin ice.......

It seems to be a funny time of year to be making Christmas cards but then, with the weather we've been having lately, why not?

It seems that making this card may possibly have been a good weather charm as, since I made it, things seem to have warmed up a bit and we had an almost Spring like day today. It was lovely and bright with blue skies and sunshine and even enough warmth to go without a coat for at least some of the day. Just what we needed to bring us out of hibernation I think!

Anyway, on to my card for today which is based around a sketch that I saw on the Sunday sketch and Stamp challenge.

The lovely little skating boy is a Marianne Designs stamp which came free with a magazine, some time before Christmas, but unfortunately I didn't get the chance to use him before the big event.

I have coloured him him with Pro markers and used some nesties and my Marianne Christmas tree stamp  in the background , plus a scrap of old scrapbook paper for the snowflake strip.

Well I guess that is Christmas card number one out of the way then!

Here are the lovely challenges that I would like to enter today......

Sunday Sketch and Stamp

Natalie and Amy - Monochromatic

Christmas Cards All Year Round - Christmas Trees

I Love Promarkers - Favourite Colours

Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes

Make it Monday

Thanks for stopping by today. I'll be back soon with something a little more seasonal!!

Sharon x

Jumping for Joy

Well it's a very cold dull day again in my part of the world, and can you believe that we have had some flurries of snow again today? It feels more like we should be doing Christmas cards rather than Spring colours right now. Still we have a promise of some slightly warmer weather at the weekend, so we can but hope.

In the mean time, I have another lovely Easter image from Lili of the Valley to share with you today.

This happy little chap has been coloured in with my Pro Markers once again, including the appropriately named 'March Hare'  and the papers are from the Dovecraft Sugar and Spice set.

I enjoyed using something a little different to the usual Easter / Spring colours for this card, but hopefully it still gives a little bit of that 'Spring is Here' feeling!

As usual, lots of lovely challenges to enter so here they are:

Make it Monday
A Little Bit Crafty - Anything Goes
My Mum's Craft Shop - Easter
Creatalicious - Colour Pallette
I Love Promarkers - Favourite Colours
Stamptacular Sunday - Spring Fever

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sharon x

Confessions of a Card Maker

Today I thought I would post a card using a gorgeous stamp from Lili of the Valley and also take the opportunity to confess to a couple of card making bloopers which happened on this very card!

I started out by stamping and colouring the image with my Pro Markers which all went very well.

Mistake number 1.......I should have stamped the sentiment before I spent time on the colouring, in case the sentiment came out fuzzy or badly printed.......luckily it came out fine (heaves a sigh of relief)

Next I put the main image aside to dry whilst I put the base card together.

Mistake number 2.......for some reason I put the topper on the sofa next to me.......upside down!

So the card is all ready and I pick up my topper........horror or horrors - a nasty black smudge has appeared right under the word "Easter".........aaarrrggghhhh!!!

Mistake number 3 - I try to brush the smudge away with my fingers. Guess what - it doesn't work, and, to make matters worse, a little bit of ink residue must have been left on my fingers, so when I picked up the topper again, it left another, slightly fainter smudge on the left hand side of the card.

So after much grumbling, and contemplation, I cam up with the following fix ups:

1) A strategically place bow to cover up the smug under my sentiment.
2) A generous dose of distress ink with a dabber brush all around the edge of my card to disguise the secondary smudge.

And do you know what? I think I might just have gotten away with it......mission accomplished.

So it would be a shame to go to all that effort to save a card and then not bother to enter it in to any challenges, so here they are:

Pink Gem - Make it Cute

A Little Bit Crafty - Anything Goes

My Mum's Craft Shop - Easter

I Love Promarkers - Favourite Colours    Blue and Lilac

Stamptacular Sunday - Spring Fever

Make it Monday

Thank you for stopping by to read my ramblings today and I wish you an enjoyable week.

Sharon x

Springing in to Life

Well I think that Spring has sprung and left the planet if the weather outside my window is anything to go by! I have woken up on Easter Monday to a try dull, grey and cold day....so glad that it is officially Summer now! But I can't complain as it's a bonus day off work today and I have managed to spend some time doing some lovely things this weekend......crafting, going for nice walks and spending time with my family, so it's not all bad!

Also - I have had a lovely surprise as I made it in to the Top 3 on a Gem of a Challenge - so I am now proudly displaying a new blinkie on my side bar.

Back to the new cards though..........I went in to a bit of an Easter card making frenzy towards the end of last week as it suddenly hit me that there were only a few days left to the big event and, although I had made lots of 'rabbit' DT cards, I hadn't actually made any to give to people...no pressure then!!

Here's one of the cards that I made, using a lovely LOTV rabbit which I have had a for a few years now. He (I do think that this one is a boy!) is such a cutie that it was a pleasure to dust him off and colour him in once again.

For the colouring portion I have used my Promarkers, including the Spring limited edition, which appropriately included a colour call 'March Hare' - As you can see, the result was a lovely off white coloured rabbit, which I tried to make a little more fluffy by dotting with a blender pen.

The paper combination was from a freebie pack which I had in a magazine some time ago - very pretty papers I think!

So - on to my challenges for today:

A Little Bit Crafty - Anything Goes  A brand new challenge from Paula Holifield
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
The Paper Shelter - Anything Goes
Ilove Pro Markers - Spring is in the Air
Delightful Sketches - Hippity Hoppity
My Mum's Craft Shop - Easter
Delicious Doodles - 1,2,3 recipe
A gem of a Challenge - Make it Cute
Di's Digi Challenge - Flower Frenzy
Make in Monday

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you all have an enjoyable Bank holiday.

Sharon x