Bebunni Christmas Megapage

I love the cute Bebunni images and really wanted to use one to make a card for one of my baby nephews, but of course, I eventually ran out of time for stamping and colouring, so instead I opted for some of the beautiful megapage on the CD ROM.

This card is a fabulous 8x8 size so, you can see the the decoupage is indeed quite sizeable, but the joy in the is that it is really simple to cut out.

This example has about 6 layers so it makes for something quite spectacular in real life.

I have k pet the layout really simple here and die cut some snowflake ornaments for a little bit of embellishment.

This is what I like to call a 'happy' card, because that image really makes me smile!

I have a few challenges to enter today and here they are:

http://deepoceanchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-93-christmas-is-all-around.html
http://christmascardchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/christmas-card-challenge-4-anything-goes.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-87.html
http://sparklesforumchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/ch63-4th-anniversary-anything-goes.html

Thanks for visiting today.

Sharon x

A very Victorian Christmas

Well Christmas Eve is hereat last (much to my son's relief!) and for me it's a lovely lazy day as I have a day off work.

I thought I would post something very traditional today in the for of a beautiful Thomas Kinkade scne which I have decoupaged.

I have kept the card very simple as the main image is so detailed so it doesn't really need anything else.

The decoupage itself was a bit of a labour of love as it is very detailed and quite fiddly, but the final result is so worth it!

I think this will be my final card before Christmas so I am going to enter this one in to the following challenges:

http://lovetocreatechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-147-icy-winter-days.html
http://thepapershelter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/christmas-challenge-anything-goes.html
http://cinspirations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-294-christmas-new-year.html
http://deepoceanchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-93-christmas-is-all-around.html
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/welcome-to-pennys-challenge-208.html
http://sparklesforumchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/ch63-4th-anniversary-anything-goes.html

It just remains for me to wish all of my visitors a Happy and Peaceful Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

Sharon x

Walking in a winter wonderland

Hi all. Well it's Sunday evening and it's been a very busy weekend, Christmas wise. I am really chuffed that I had a 'wrapathon' yesterday afternoon and now have all of my presents wrapped up and bagged up  :-)

I have also gotten a bit domestic, done a tonne of housework and managed to bake gingerbread cookies with my son.

Last night I was out with friends until the small hours as we said good bye to one of our friends who is moving to Australia in the New Year.

And this morning, I managed to get two big Christmas cards finished for the babies in my family.

The bad news is, that I still have a few family cards to make…..as in not even started……and I am starting to feel like there won't be enough hours in the day.

I guess the thing is, no matter how organised you try to be, Christmas always come down to a bit of last minute panic - otherwise it just wouldn't be Christmas would it?!!

So here is one card that I DID manage to finish. It's very CAS and I made it using a selection of my Cardio stamps.

There's not too much to say about this one really, other than, I hope you like it, and here are some challenges that I would like to enter.

http://lovetocreatechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-146-create-scene.html
http://sparklesforumchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/ch63-4th-anniversary-anything-goes.html
http://thepapershelter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/christmas-challenge-anything-goes.html
http://cinspirations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-294-christmas-new-year.html
http://deepoceanchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-93-christmas-is-all-around.html
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/welcome-to-pennys-challenge-208.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-87.html
http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/december-challenge-winter-wonderland.html

Thanks for visiting today.

Sharon x

In the Deep Midwinter

Hello everyone!

It seems I have been a little absent from blogland lately…..not sure why but can't seem to find enough hours in the day at the moment.

None the less I was determined to get a card posted this morning, so here I am, sitting in my PJ's, loading this up before I crack on with whatever else is waiting for me today.

I made this card a while back and it was really a colouring experiment with my Spectrum Noir pens where I decided to get a bit brave with my background. There are some very dark colours in there and I could do with refining the technique but I thought it came out pretty well for a first shot. It kind of looks a bit stormy don't you think?

I had already found the Bps in amongst my very old stash and coloured to match, resulting in an unusual colour combination for me but one that I really liked in the end.

The beautiful image is a stamp from Crafters Companion, and I have to say I think it is just adorable!

Time to enter some challenges again I think, so here goes:

http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/december-challenge-winter-wonderland.html
http://acreativeromance.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/anything-goes-goodbye.html
http://totallygorjuss.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-265-snowflakes.html
http://natalieandamy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-27-cute-cuddly-christmas.html
http://lovetocreatechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-145-non-traditional-holiday_8.html
http://cinspirations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-293-anything-goes-option-of.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-87.html
http://graphitmarkers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/wk-50-festive-wishesgraphit-colouring.html
http://wedodoobadoo.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-21festive-spirits-we-do.html

Thanks for visiting today and a happy weekend to you all.

Sharon x

Time for a bit of snow and holly…...

It's challenge time once again over at Crafty Little Fairies and this month the them is Holly and / or Ivy.

For this theme I have gone with a smile but lovely background paper for my Holly, rather than my usual choice of die cuts etc. Both the papers that you see are digi papers and have come from my Polka Doodles CDs…my favourite Xmas CD for this year, 'Here Comes Christmas'.

For the image I used a gorgeous Tiddly Inks Image which I printed a few times and decoupaged her.

As you can see from her close up, I have had my pearl paints out, in silver and white, for the snow, and I managed to throw in a bit of glitter for good measure too! I guess we need to make the most of glitter right now as Christmas will soon be passing us by, and it will be time to get back to the sublet stuff again!

Finally - a few other great challenges that I would like to enter:

http://abc-challenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/y-is-for-yuletide.html
http://buckwellscraftychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/buckwells-crafty-challenge-3-use-colour.html
http://withoutwordschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/december-christmas-modern-look.html
http://cardsgalorechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/merry-christmas-and-anything-goes.html
http://digichoosday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/wk-48-xmasdigi-choosday-crafting.html
http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/anything-goes.html
http://nutcrafters.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/challenge-82-midway-reminder.html


I hope you like my card today and that you will feel inspired to join us over at CLF….we really lovel to see your creations so don't be shy!

Thanks for stopping by today.  :-)

Sharon

Decking the Halls

Hi everyone. I hope you are all having a lovely weekend with plenty of crafting time to look forward too.  :-)

I have been busy with my Cardio Stamps and spent a happy afternoon a couple of weeks ago stamping out lots of images to make up in to some clean and simple cards.

The thing I like about this style of stamping is that you don't have to be precise and fading and irregularity all adds to the overall effect…in other words you really can't go wrong! It is really quite liberating to just let yourself go and just stamp away without having to worry about smudging or colouring something in wrong.

Here's one of the cards that i made using a couple of packs of stamps that I have. The owner of Card-io has inspired me with her use of black ink as a main colour this year as it really seems to tick a box in terms of cards that you could give to a man…something that I often stubble with (although why they don't like cute little bears, and whimsical little girls and boys, I really can't imagine!!)

If I am honest, this card probably took about 5 minutes to stamp out….instant gratification. Probably the longest part of the process was the matting and layering part, but I had a kind of manufacturing process for that and sat sticking together a bunch of cards together whilst watching something on TV, so the whole process was very relaxing.

I thought I would go ahead and enter a few challenges with this card, and here they are:

http://christmascardchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-52-inspiration-photo.html
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/welcome-to-pennys-challenge-205.html
http://cinspirations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-291-seasons-greetings.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-85.html
http://wedodoobadoo.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/29-nov-we-do-doobadoo-challenge-get.html

Thanks for stopping by today.   :-)

Sharon x

Humphrey Dressing Up

Hello everyone. Look what I found in the depths of my photo archive…a Christmas card from last year, as yet not blogged!

This is a card that I made for one of the little ones in my family, using the adorable Humphreys Corner stamps and a lovely traditional backing paper from Bearly Mine.

The colour on this is quite unusual for me as I rarely go for gold on my cards and the paper has a distinctlyVictorian Vintage feel…..again a step out of my usual comfort zone.

My cute littles Ellies in their dress up suits we both clouded with Spectrum Noirs so they are looking lovely and vibrant, and of course I couldn't resist throwing a splash of colour in there!

Hopefully I will have time to load up a few more recent Christmas efforts this weekend, but in the mean time I hope this one floats your Christmas boat  :-)

Here are some lovely challenges that I would like to enter today:

http://ribbongirls.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/november-colour-challenge.html
http://lovetocreatechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-142-make-it-for-christmas.html
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/pennys-challenge-202-and-challenge-203.html
http://thepapershelter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-183-card-for-child.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-84.html
http://craftycalendarchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/crafty-calendar-november-challenge-its.htmlhttp://buckwellscraftychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/buckwells-crafty-challenge-2-use-ribbon.html

Thanks for visiting today.

Sharon

Keeping things simple…….

Today I thought I would post a very CAS card, focusing on a lovely…..and quite large Poinsettia stamp from Stamp Addicts.

This is a 6 x 6 card so you can see that the stamp is more than 3 inches wide - a focal point indeed.

So for this card I kept to the traditional flower colours and coloured this in using my promarkfers before layering the flower so that it stood a little proud.

The matting and layering couldn't be simpler really. I created the dotty background using one of my embossing folders and matted on to bright red card before adding a scrap of ribbon as a balancing accent.

So in summary - very clean and VERY simple!

Before I go, I would just like to enter a few challenges, and here they are:

http://polkadoodle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/week-46-clean-and-simple-polkadoodles.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-83.html
http://craftycalendarchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/crafty-calendar-november-challenge-its.html
http://buckwellscraftychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/buckwells-crafty-challenge-2-use-ribbon.html
http://christmascardsallyearround.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/hello-everyone-and-welcome-to-our.html
http://ribbongirls.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/november-colour-challenge.html
http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/chnc-challenge-extra-for-november-2014.html
http://paulaholifieldcrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/albc-cas-or-clean-and-simple.html
http://a-crafty-mess.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/introducing-team_31.html
http://lovetocreatechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-142-make-it-for-christmas.html
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/welcome-to-pennys-challenge-204.html

Thanks for visiting today.

Sharon x

A little extra baggage

There are times when you just want to make something other than a card and as I managed to get my hands on some 6x6 plain white bags a few weeks back, I had it in mind that I would throw together a few gift bags.

This one was made using a gorgeous stamp from the Party Paws Xmas range  and my lovely Spectrum Noir pens.

The image is quite detailed and took a while to colour but not that hard to do as it turned out. I seem to have found a good batch of colours to colour black areas, which give the appearance of black without losing the contrast (it was a variety of shades from the IG range). I was a bit worried about colouring the tree but this turned out to be really easy in the end as I just used a light base colour to colour all over and the 'blobbed' a mid and dark shade here and there to get a bit of shading in.

You can also just about see a bit of sparkle in there - this was achieved using a Graph It glitter pen which has a very subtle sparkle.

As you can see, I went to town a bit with the dies on this one, and they were all cut from white card originally, before colouring them with my Spectrums to get a perfect colour match.

So that's my little gift bag which I hope you like :-)

I now have lots of lovely Christmassy challenges to enter and here they all are:

http://lovetocreatechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-141-anything-goes.html
http://cutiepiechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-81-festive-furry-friends.html
http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/2-or-4-legs.html
http://nutcrafters.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-81anything-but-card.html
http://cinspirations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-289-anything-goes-option-of.html
http://trimmiescraftchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-285-13th-of-november-christmas.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-83.html
http://wedodoobadoo.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-19-christmaswe-do-doobadoo.html
http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/week-285-anything-but-card.html
http://craftycalendarchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/crafty-calendar-november-challenge-its.html
http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/chnc-challenge-extra-for-november-2014.html
http://a-crafty-mess.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-2.html
https://www.facebook.com/SpectrumNoir?v=app_375772462579359&app_data=gaReferrerOverride%3D

Thanks for visiting me today and a happy Sunday to you all.

Sharon x

No Patterned Papers…..honest!

Well, since we are suddenly seeing lists of adverts containing snowy scenes and heart felt moments, there can be no denying that Christmas is on it's way, now that Halloween and Bonfire Night are over!

So of course most of my cards will be of a Christmassy nature and this one is no exception.

This card is made entirely out of stamp work using some small Denami Fern and Pine Cone stamps to create the backing layer and also the festive garland.

The stocking is from Stamp Addicts and I stamped and decoupaged it three times, to 'hang' them on the garland.

I have to say, stamping away very randomly with the little stamps is really fun and you quickly see a pattern building up so it is very rewarding - I highly recommend it!

In line with the coming season there are some great Christmas challenges out there, so here are some that I would like to enter today.

http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/anything-goes.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-82.html
http://a-crafty-mess.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-2.html
http://craftycalendarchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/crafty-calendar-november-challenge-its.html
http://christmascardsallyearround.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/hello-everyone-and-welcome-to-our.html
http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/chnc-challenge-extra-for-november-2014.html

Thanks for visiting today.

Sharon x

Anything But Square at Crafty Little Fairies

It's time for a new monthly challenge over at Crafty Little Fairies and this month our theme is Anything But Square.

My first thought was to make a circle card but, as I do that quite often, I thought I would do something a little different and I came up with this instead.

How do you like the cute die? I am sure my blogging friend and prior team leader for Crafty Little Fairies would approve as it contains two of her favourite things - Penguins and a Snowman! This lovely stamp is from HobbyArt and it's really fun to colour...a great way to practice a bit of 'white' colouring!

I have gone a bit mad with my dies for this card, cutting two types of trees a variety of snow flakes and a tag, but sometimes you've just got to load them on haven't you?

Well I hope you enjoyed my 'not so square' card and that you will come over to Crafty Little Fairies and join us for our latest challenge.

And on the subject of challenges, here are a few that I would like to enter:

http://squirrel10.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/its-snow-vember.html
http://craftycalendarchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/crafty-calendar-november-challenge-its.html
http://buckwellscraftychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/buckwells-crafty-challenge-2-use-ribbon.html
http://catchthebugblog.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2014-11-02T06:00:00-05:00&max-results=20
http://ribbongirls.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/november-card-challenge.html
http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/chnc-challenge-extra-for-november-2014.html
http://cardsgalorechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/dt-call-and-anything-goes.html
http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/anything-goes.html


Thanks for visiting, everyone!

Sharon x

Lacy Sunshine…..a little bit Downton Abbey!

I have only seen a few minutes of Downton Abbey here and there, but this image from Lacy Sunshine very much makes me think of this era.

When I was a child I was very much in to clothing through the ages. My Great Aunt had given me a wonderful book full of pictures and I decided to use that subject as a project at school. I had such a lovely time picking gorgeous dresses to draw from the book and describing them in enormous detail!

Needless to say I still love the look of those dresses today and I guess that's why this digi appeals to me so much.

I was lucky enough to receive this digi for free as I participated in a card exchange last year via Lacy Sunshine on Facebook, so I now know that one of my cards made it all the way to a lady in the USA…..such a nice feeling to know that!

I really wanted to show off the lovely image for this card so the rest is really simple. I used a cute die to create my background and a scrap of dark sky paper from one of my CDs to create the sky.

I confess to cheating a little using a ready made sentiment but I really wanted gold and I was afraid to stamp and emboss by that time as I didn't want to ruin my otherwise complete card!

A little bit of ribbon embellishment, coupled with a couple of my precious bells and my card is complete!

I have lots of lovely challenges to enter with this card and here they are:

http://promarkerchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/week-271add-some-sparkle.html
http://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-235-christmas.html
http://thepapershelter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-180-is-it-too-early-for.html
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/welcome-to-pennys-challenge-201.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-81.html
http://cardsgalorechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/dt-call-and-anything-goes.html
http://craftycalendarchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/crafty-calendar-november-challenge-its.html
http://buckwellscraftychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/buckwells-crafty-challenge-2-use-ribbon.html
http://catchthebugblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/november-anything-goes-challenge.html
http://ribbongirls.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/november-card-challenge.html
http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/chnc-challenge-extra-for-november-2014.html
http://lacysunshinechallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-45-include-hat.html

Thanks for visiting today and a happy Sunday to you all.

Sharon x

A little extra baggage.

I have long admired the beautiful bags created by some of my talented blogging friends, so I decided to give it a go myself - after all it's kind of like a 6x6 card right?

Well I gave it my best shot but I am afraid I have not succeeded at creating such beautiful bags as my friends….I had a lot of fun doing it though, thanks to this little cha - Christmas Party Paws.

He has bee coloured in using my Spectrum Noirs and, although I was a bit afraid of doing the black parts, the actually came out pretty good in the end (so I carried on and coloured in another Party Paws image whilst I was on a roll!)

I then went the whole hog with holly dies (cut on to white and coloured in with my pens) and pearl dots in red and white, before finally finishing off with a splash of glitter.

I hope you like my little experiment!

Here are a few challenges that I would like to enter:

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/week-282-christmas.html
http://christmascardchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-48-anything-goes.html
http://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-235-christmas.html
http://thepapershelter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-180-is-it-too-early-for.html
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/welcome-to-pennys-challenge-201.html

Thanks for coming to visit me today!

Sharon x

Festive Hollybobs strike again!

I think I mentioned in one of my previous posts that Festive  Hollybobs is my festive crafting choice of the moment…and here's one of the reasons why. Everything on this card came from the CD……and you will notice that the little North Pole sign has sneaked in there once again!

I love the papers from this CD, as the Blues and reds are festive, and kind of traditional but not too traditional if you know what I mean. I used three different papers for this card and followed a sketch from Sketch Saturday…although sadly I didn't get arounds to uploading my card before the challenge finished….typical me!


Once again I decoupaged the main image, which I printed in quite a large size as this is an 8x8 card.  A nice bunch of reds was in order for this card so out came the Graph Its for that :-)

Finally, I surpassed myself by only using a minimal amount of glitter on this card….very restrained considering it is a Christmas card!

So - that's my card for today and here are some challenges that I would like to enter this time around:

http://polkadoodle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/week-42-christmas-fun-polkadoodles.html
http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/week-282-christmas.html
http://christmascardchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-48-anything-goes.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-80.html

Thanks so much for stopping by today and supporting my blog. I wish you all a happy week and roll on the weekend!

Sharon x

A dog is not just for Christmas…..

…..but this little dog from Pink Gem is just perfect for Christmas. He is one of the first Pink Gem stamps that I ever bought, so it decided  to dust him off once again and give him some exercise!

He's so simple to colour and, to my mind, he just has to be white, which meant that the whole stamp took little more than 5 minutes to colour in.

I made the card shape using one of my grand nests, which meant the letting was easy as all I had  to do was pick a slightly smaller die.

The beautiful papers are taken from my Hollybobs CD…definitely my favourite CD of the moment, and I coloured the trees to match the tree paper that you see just poking out from behind the image.

To add a bit of graduation around the edges of the image I did a bit of stippling with a distress ink, before finally adding some die cut snowflakes, a few pearls and she glitter.

So that's my card for today…..hope the dog lovers out there like it.  :-)

Finally here are a few card challenges that I would like to enter…..

http://christmascardsallyearround.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/october-challenge.html
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/welcome-to-pennys-challenge-200.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-80.html
http://polkadoodle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/week-42-christmas-fun-polkadoodles.html
http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/week-282-christmas.html

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sharon

Embracing Autumn!

Well, here in the UK there can be no doubt that Summer is over and Autumn is upon us. We have had loads of rain, high winds and it has definitely gotten a bit chilly at times over the last week or so!

But one thing I certainly do love in Autumn is to watch the leaves turn and the beautiful colours that are all around us when this happens.

we have a lot of trees where I live so, when I look out of my window I see shades of red, gold and orange all around and it really gives me a moment of wonder.

And that's one of the reasons why I love the Nitwits papers that I used for this card. They are from the Go Nuts set, and they are a gorgeous combination of Autumn and Halloween type colours, which feature a lot in my crafting at this time of year.

I have had some real fun colouring in this gorgeous Besties stamp with my pro markers, matching the colours to the papers…and I even managed to add in some bling in the form of glitter glue and pearl paints.  :-)

So there are some lovely challenges this week so here are the ones I would like to enter with this card:

http://sketchsaturday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/week-332-with-bunny-zoes-crafts.html
http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/october-challenge-warm-autumn-colours.html
http://bestieschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-21-bling-it-up.html
http://mybestiesuk.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/my-besties-uk-challenge-anything-goes.html
http://buckwellscraftychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/buckwells-crafty-challenge-anything-goes.html
http://sparklesforumchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/ch61-fallautumn-colours.html

Thanks for stopping by today :-)

Sharon x

Oh no no, it's 'Ho Ho Ho!'

Yes - there is no denying it…for us crafters is it definitely the time to start planning for Christmas!

My crafty list of things to do this year consists of many things - paper craft, crochet, jewellery making to name but a few, and I already know that I will gail miserably when it comes to completing my to do list, but all the fun is in trying don't you think?

I am trying to get a few cars under my belt at the moment, and this is one of them, using a variety of stamps from Stamp Addicts. You can by everything here on their website, including the 'Ho' stamp which is a stamps by Judith stubby.

Alos, if you were looking to make a card for your nearest and dearest, Santa Claus comes with an equally gorgeous Mrs Claus…perfect for cars for couples.

So on my card I have gone for fun and vibrant with my Spectrum Noirs, plus all of the images are decoupaged, which had the added advantage that I didn't have to worry too much about staying in the lines with my colouring!

Oh- and did you spot the sneaky appearance of some Kraft card in there? I didn't take to it at first but now I am really in to it!!

Well that's all for me today as it's Sunday afternoon and I want to enjoy some more craft time before going back to the weekly grind!!

In the meantime, here are some cherry challenges that I would like to enter this week.

http://craftingfromtheheartchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-40.html
http://deepoceanchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-88-christmas-in-october.html
http://buckwellscraftychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/buckwells-crafty-challenge-anything-goes.html
http://southerngirlschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/getting-wordy-on-it.html
http://abc-challenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/v-is-for-vibrant.html
http://4kraftygirlzchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-29.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-79.html

Thanks for stopping by today, and a happy weekend to you all.

Sharon x

A Little bit of Hollybobs

I decided to have a play with my Polkadoodles Hollybobs Cd and get in the Christmas spirit. The only problem was that I just couldn't decide which image to go with as they are all sooo lovely. So anyway, I narrowed it down to boy images, as I don't do to many of those as a rule, and still ended up printing off 3 or 4 images! So her goes the first one.

I loved this little boy as he is so cute with the Robin and having him sitting on the fence puts him in a little scene rather than just standing there, if you know what I mean.

I thought the Christmas Tree paper would go really well with this, so I printed off the same paper in two different colour ways, which makes putting the card together nice and easy.

I don't know what you call this type of card, but it's the first time I've done it. It's made from a piece of A4 Kraft card…..mainly because I printed out the image nice and big!

How do you like the North Pole sign…..this is also off of the Cd and I printed about 6 of these cos I love them…so you can expect to see them popping up on some of my other cards too. :-)

I wanted to have nice bold colouring for this image so I got out the Graph Its, which are just perfect when you want the image to pop.

I am not sure if you can see for the image, but I did decoupage him up just a little bit……it's just one of those things I just can't resist I'm afraid!

Finally, I have added a few die cuts for some extra decoration.

Well I hope you like this festive card - there are lots of lovely challenges that ft this, so here they are:

http://craftingfromtheheartchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-40.html
http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/anything-goes.html
http://digichoosday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/wk-40christmas-digi-choosday-colouring.html
http://cinspirations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-284-anything-goes-option-of.html
http://deepoceanchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-88-christmas-in-october.html
http://buckwellscraftychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/buckwells-crafty-challenge-anything-goes.html
http://christmascardsallyearround.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/october-challenge.html
http://christmasatsweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/snowflakes-october-challenge.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-78.html
http://christmascardchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-46-color-challenge.html
http://totallygorjuss.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-257-traditional-christmas.html

That's all from me today.

Thank you for stoping by.  :-)

Sharon

Something a little different

Today I thought I would post something other than a card and here's what I came up with - a giant gift bag.

It's hard to tell from the picture but, to give you an idea of the size, the orange backing paper is a full sheet of A4!

To make this bag I used one of my lovely Nitwits digital sets and super sized all of the elements. The plus side of this was that the pieces were really easy to cut out. The downside is, that I decided to decoupage the laments and it took a heck of a lot of silicon glue to do it

The picture is not that great as it was taken in poor light but hopefully you get the idea!

So I'm going to enter a few challenges as per usual, and here they are:

http://craftingfromtheheartchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-39.html
http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/anything-goes.html
http://cinspirations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-284-anything-goes-option-of.html
http://buckwellscraftychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/buckwells-crafty-challenge-anything-goes.html
http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-342-anything-but-card.html

Thanks for stopping by today. I'm off to do some more crafting now!  :-)

Sharon

Stamp Addicts Xmas stocking in brown

Well here I am again, with something a little different today…a Christmas card all in shades of brown.

I'm not sure why but I wanted to go for a kind of Sepia effect with this card, so out came the Kraft card, swiftly followed by my brown pro markers. I then has a busy old time stamping and cutting out the mini frames, which are new from stamp addicts, before infilling them with a tiny little holly stamp and some pearl paint berries.

The lovely stocking is also new from Stamp Addicts, designed by Lesley I believe, and it's very quick and easy to colour in…perfect for when you want to make a lot of cards in a hurry.

So, there are a few challenges that I would like to enter today, and here they are:

http://toptiptuesday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-non-traditional-christmas.html
http://nutcrafters.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-78-something-new.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-77.html
http://catchthebugblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/october-anything-goes-challenge.html
http://wedodoobadoo.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-16-christmas.html

Thanks for visiting today.

Sharon x

Use only one Design Paper

It's time for another challenge over at Crafty Little Fairies and this month the theme is to use only one Design Paper….not always as easy as it sounds!

So here is my card for the challenge using a fabulous Tatty Twinkles stamp - isn't she just adorable?

I have coloured her with my Graph Its which happened to have just the right shades of Blue to go with my backing paper.

So, on to the background:

The paper is a digital paper from my BeBunni CD rom…so simple and yet stunning don't you think? I love how the little hearts look like they have been coloured in with crayons.

The purple card is centura pearl, as is the lilac which I embossed on my Grand Calibur. It always amazes mw how beautifully the embossing comes out on this card….it gives me such a buzz!

The Ribbon, was originally white, but of course I coloured it with my Graph Its so it is now the perfect match.

Finally - how do you like the butterfly and the little purple hearts? Both of these are extras on the Tatty Twinkles stamp….and just what I needed to finish off my card.

Well I do hope that you like my card and that you will inspired to come over at join us over at Crafty Little Fairies this month where there are lots of wonderful sponsors offering some fabulous prizes.

Before I go, though, just a few more lovely challenges that I would like to enter:
http://lovetocreatechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-135-love-of-ribbon.html
http://abc-challenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/u-is-for-unique.html
http://nutcrafters.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-78-something-new.html
http://buckwellscraftychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/buckwells-crafty-challenge-anything-goes.html


Hope to see you over at CLF.

Thanks

Sharon x

P-P-P pick up a Penguin!

Pop quiz - who remembers the title phrase as the advertising line for a certain lovely little chocolate flavour bar that we used to have as kids?  Hmmm - I wonder if they are still around? If so, I bet like everything else we had as kids, they are a lot smaller now!!

Enough reminiscing and on to my card today, which is a gorgeous Tiddly Inks stamp (all the more gorgeous for being free with a magazine!) featuring Wrynn and some cutie tootie little penguins.

I have coloured everything in with my Spectrums and thrown in a little glitter too……as befits the occasion.

My papers we offcuts left over from one of my Do Crafts Christmas pads and I love the slightly different take on Christmas colours, which was inspired by the colours in the bit of stripey paper.

I have also thrown in a bit of ric arc ribbon (which turned out to be a bit curled up and needed flattening!) and finished off with some lovely candy dots.

So the Christmas challenges are coming thick and fast now, so here are some challenges that I would like to enter today:

http://inkychicks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-38-anything-goes-and.html
http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/oh-how-cute.html
http://christmasatsweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/september-challenge.html
http://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-230-christmas.html
http://southerngirlschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/and-another-3-weeks-has-zoomed-by-so-of.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-76.html

Thanks for stopping by today and hope you all have a good week.  :-)

Sharon x

Scruffy Little Cat and all the trimmings

Well I finally got around to colouring some of my Scruffy Little Cat stamps…it has taken a while but there is a reason, which I will come to in a minute. That said, I really wanted to do this particular image for my Sister In Law as she is an all round glamourous kind of gal!

So I started off by colouring her with my Spectrum Noirs but…the reason why I waited to dive in to these images was because I was getting some Spectrum Noir pencils for my birthday, and, once they were in my possession, I was able to do this……. 

Wow - I love those pencils….my photography doesn't show it too much but they make such a difference and are really easy to use!

Once the image was done I felt like I needed to go to town on the card a bit too, and I ended up printing some lovely papers and tags from the Scruffy Cat CD and then going to town with my Centura Pearl Black card and my dies…….and this was the result.

You know sometimes you make a card and you just want to look at it for a couple of days before you give it away and never see it again? Well that was the case with this one, so I propped it up on my sideboard for a few days so I could relish the moment. Luckily for me, the card will be ever imortalised on my blog now too!!!

So hopefully this card is worthy of a few challenges, and here they are:

http://eclecticellapu.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/septembers-challenges.html
http://cutiepiechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-78-cute-with-shades-of-autumn.html
http://inkychicks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-38-anything-goes-and.html
http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-339-awesome-autumn.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-75.html
http://withoutwordschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/september-its-celebration.html


Thanks for stopping by today.

Sharon

Thinking of you with Stamp Addicts

It certainly seems like Autumn is coming in now…the leaves are changing all of a sudden and the nights are getting a little chillier!

So I thought I would post an autumnal card today, using some lovely shades of gold, orange and brown.

Stamp Addicts have a lovely stamp see containing lots of lovely flowers which you can stamp individually and I used one of those flowers to create this daisy chain effect. I have used distress inks for the stamping and the same colour to distress the edges, before colouring in with pro markers.

Here are some of the challenges this week.

http://creataliciouschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-67-flower-power.html
http://inkychicks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-38-anything-goes-and.html
http://ilovepromarkers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challengem-237-feeling-distressed.html
http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-339-awesome-autumn.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-75.html

Thanks for visiting today.

Sharon x

And this card is for……….???

Well it's for Jack of course!

Now this card may not look particularly special but it represents a bit of land mark for me as it involved me going in to Serif and actually manipulating things rather than just importing images, or papers and sizing them, ready for cutting out / colouring.

For this card I created the frame and digitally layered the papers, embedded the image (plus a bit of decoupage as well of course) and personalised the ballon with the name. Not only that but, the shadow that you can see is a digital trick too. Not bad for a technophobe!

I have to say that, by the time I had it all figured out, I probably would have been able to do it quicker the old fashioned way……cutting and colouring! But the good news is that I saved all the elements so, if I happen to come across another two year old Jack (and that's not so far fetched as I had two of them this year!) I will be able to whip up a personalised card in a jiffy!

So, although not my most impressive card, I thought the effort involved made it worthy of entering in to a few challenges, so here they are:

http://withoutwordschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/september-its-celebration.html
http://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-229-show-us-number.html
http://4kraftygirlzchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-26.html
http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-338-too-cute.html
http://acreativeromance.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/anything-goes.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-74.html

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to be back again soon with something a bit more inky!

Sharon x

Party Paws Decoupage

There's nothing like a cute little bear to lift your spirits and this one is no exception. He is Party Paws from Crafters Companion and, just for a change I have made use of some of the lovely decoupage from the CD to build up this lovely image.

Every time I do some preprinted decoupage I always think to myself that I must come back to it more often….it si such a satisfying and relaxing way to spend and evening.

Challenge wise, I am never sure if a challenge is for stamping only, (as most of the DTs I have been on are all about stamping), bit I think the challenges below fir the bill for this cute little chap…..and I certainly don't want to leave him hiding in my draft posts forever!!!

http://nutcrafters.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/nutcrafter-challenge-76.html
http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-338-too-cute.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-73.html
http://ribbongirls.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/add-ribbons-card-challenge.html

Thanks for stopping by today….not long until the weekend now!


Sharon x

Away with the fairies

I thought I would pop another card on my blog today, and I came across this lovely image from Sugar Nellie, which is the central focus of a card I made a little while ago. She had obviously hidden under that mushroom as I had forgotten tat I had made this card….although I do now remember what a fine time I had colouring it all in with my Copics!

This is a very frugal card as it was made up entirely of leftovers…….the backing paper was part of a sheet printed  from one on my Flower Fairy CDs (how appropriate), the image was stamped on to an odd square of leftover neenah card, the border….also left over from a Crafters Companion CD, and of course a little scrap of ribbon which, contrary to appearances, does not go all the way down the back of the image panel!

So a very CAS card…but sometimes those are the best don't you think?

Here are some challenges that I would like to enter today….

http://4kraftygirlzchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-26.html

http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/welcome-to-pennys-challenge-193.html

http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-73.html

http://catchthebugblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/its-time-for-our-september-anything.html

http://wedodoobadoo.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-14-something-feminine-we-do.html

http://ribbongirls.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/add-ribbons-card-challenge.html

http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/september-challenge-things-with-wings.html

http://eclecticellapu.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/septembers-challenges.html

Thanks for visiting today.

Sharon x

A bit of bling is the thing

Hi there everyone and welcome to the latest Crafty Little Fairies challenge for which we have a theme of 'sparkles and bling'. Now I am more of what you would call a subtle bling person…..I love a bit of glitter (OK quite a lot of glitter!) ad some pearls and gem, but I am not an all out 'blinger'! So for my card I have just added a little bit of glitter for a touch of sparkle. This was very east to do as I just doodled somwswirls with a glue pen and then sprinkled away….hopefully they look OK.

My image of choice for this card was a beautiful Rachelle Ann Miller stamp from Crafters Companion and I had to say I just loved colouring it in as it fulfilled two of my colouring obsessions -a cute little animal and the never ending challenge of hair. When I start on hair, I am never sure how it is going to turn out, but I think I did OK this time.

The cuddly toy was also fun to colour as I could play around with my blender pen to get a bit of a furry texture going on.

Finally, isn't the backing paper gorgeous? It was a freebie from a magazine and was designed by a lady called Jennifer Ellory. I am not sure if you can actually buy papers designed by her….if anyone knows please can they send me a comment as I would love to get hold of some.

And finally some other challenges to enter this week:

http://withoutwordschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/september-its-celebration.html
http://cutiepiechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-77-twos-companyand-dt-call.html
http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/anything-goes.html
http://thepapershelter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-172-stars-andor-hearts.html

So that's my little card for today, which I hope you all like, and I hope you will come and join us over at Crafty Little Fairies for our September challenge.

Bye for now.

Sharon x

Preparing for the coming season

 Well September is upon us so it's time to start thinking ahead to Christmas....at least from a crafty point of view anyway!

I made this card using a freebie stamp that came with a magazine this month and, to be honest I couldn't wait to stamp it out as I love Tiddly Inks.

I wanted some nice bold colour so I hot out my Graph It pens as they are a bit more opaque and set to work with some festive greens and reds.

Friday sketches had a sketch that is right up my street this week, so I used that for the layout and grabbed a few of my Do Crafts backing papers to finish the job.

So - now it's time to enter a few challenges and here they are:
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/welcome-to-pennys-challenge-193.html
http://deepoceanchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/challenge-85-something-sweet.html
http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/challenge-336-anything-goes.htmlhttp://fridaysketchchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/sketch-77-by-carole.html
http://asyoulikeitchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/favourite-season-tell-us-why.html
http://polkadoodle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/wk-35-get-organised-for-christmas.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/week-274-early-christmas-makes.html
http://christmascardchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/challenge-40-anything-goes.html

Well that's all from me for today. Thanks for visiting and don't forget to come back tomorrow for the next Crafty Little Fairies challenge.

Sharon x