The boys are back in town

It's been quite a while since I put a 'boy' card on my blog, so I thought I would put that right today. Now we are not really a football family…intact you could write what I know about football on a postage stamp…..but I think this lads kit might resemble West Ham, is that right?

Everything that you can see from this card is sourced my Polkadoodles Pretty Tough CD which has been a gem of a purchase for me since I bought it when it first came out as it rally has been my 'go to' source for anything boyish.

I have coloured him in with y Spectrum Noirs this time and tried to make sure that I grounded him as he looked like he was flying before I put the grass in!

So on to a few challenges to enter today:

http://www.spectrumnoir.com/new-challenge-april-anything-goes/
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/welcome-to-pennys-challenge-174.html
http://thepapershelter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-155-for-boys.html
http://4kraftygirlzchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-16.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-54.html

Thanks for visiting me today.

Sharon x

Trying something new

As you all know, card making is my thing, but I have wanted to try something else for such a long time and finally I plucked up the courage. I have to say I am hooked (excuse the pun!)

Yes - I wanted to learn how to crochet. I bought a book of Amurigumi animals what must be a couple of years ago and have looked longingly at it many times since. Finally, after seeing a pattern fir some cute looking chicks in a magazine recently, I decided to take the plunge and this little chappy is the result. He is my first ever attempt at crochet and I have to admit I am really quite proud! He is far from perfect, but he came out so much better than I expected.

Having tried unsuccessfully to learn to double crochet, magic ring, increase and decrease from a book, I resorted to You Tube and hey presto, it all fell in to place…even though I am left handed and the videos are for right handers.

But back to the card - which along with the chick, was a present for one of my great nephews. I used the wonderful Fizzy Moon set from Daisy Trail to  size and decoupage the main character, plus some gorgeous backing papers from Nitwits Just Hatched which I thought matched just perfectly  :-).

Finally, out came the Promarker Trias to do some fine faux stitching around the edges.

I hope my little efforts have brought a smile to your face - even if it is just to laugh at my dodgy chick!

As usual though, lots of lovely challenges to enter so here goes:

http://cinspirations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-262-cute-characters.html
http://deepoceanchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-76-stitching-true-or-false.html
http://4kraftygirlzchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-16.html
http://littleclairesdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/little-claires-monthly-challenge-44.html
http://polkadoodle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/wk-16-springtimepolkadoodles-challenge.html
http://pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-118-cute-and-cuddly.html
http://totallygorjuss.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-233-cuddly.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-54.html
http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-318-blue-and-green.html

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great weekend.

Sharon x

You know when you have found just the right image when…..

……...Crafters Companion bring out a stamp which has knotting and poppies on it!
My MIL loves to knit and her favourite flowers are poppies……so I knew I had to use this stamp for her.

I made an 8 x 8 card and actually got out one of my embossing folders (which is a rarity for me!) to make the background on gorgeous centura pearl card.

I have coloured the image in with my Speccies and the little labels that you see are from Lili of the Valley.

I had such fun colouring this card and tried to follow the colours that Leanne had recently used in a C&C programme for the poppies…I think they came out pretty well in the end, even though that dark red is really scarily dark when you first lay it down!

Time to enter a few challenges now so here goes:

http://www.spectrumnoir.com/new-challenge-april-anything-goes/
http://delightfulsketches.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/weekly-challenge-bloom.html
http://4kraftygirlzchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-16.html
http://creativeknockouts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/33-furry-or-feathery-friends-doodle.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-53.html
http://totallypapercrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-215-tag-it.html

Well I am off now to as my cooker buzzer is beeping and a lovely leg of lamb and roasties awaits me…….mmmmmmmmm.

Sharon x

Besties Easter Bunny Girl

Well here we are, one week away from easter and I am going in to overdrive on my Easter Cards and crafts! As per usual, it has crept up on me and all my plans for moulded chocolates and hand made boxes have gone by the wayside as I try to make the best use of my one and only time to indulge in the many Easter Images that I have collected over the years!

This one is a really sweet Besties digi that I thought would really suit someone I know so I just had to have the image to add to my collection.

As you can see I have decoupaged her up for a bit of extra dimension and I had a lovely time colouring her in with my alcohol pens.

I recently joined an on line class with Kit and Clowder to learn a bit more about face and hair colouring. So far I have only managed to find time to do one lesson which focussed on colouring the face but I learned some really interesting stuff about form, shadow and variation of colours which I have tried to put in to practise. As a result the face has come out a bit brighter than my usual pasty looking people but I am quite pleased how it came out. Still desperately need to nail that hair though!

Anyhow - the rest of the image I coloured to match my chosen digital papers which are from the Nitwits Eggstra Special set, a particular favourite of mine for Spring time cards, and I have finished off with a bit of faux stitching.

Of course I couldn't let all those lovely Easter and Spring themed challenges pass me by, so here comes the list:

http://nutcrafters.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge65-midway-reminder.html
http://createdwithlovechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/cwlc-79-easter.html
http://lovetocreatechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-110-anything-goes-for-kids.html
http://mybestiesuk.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/my-besties-uk-challenge-clean-and-simple.html
http://thepapershelter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-153-easter-time.html
http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-316-easter.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-52.html
http://polkadoodle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/wk-14-animal-magicpolkadoodles-challenge.html
http://littleclairesdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/little-claire-monthly-challenge-44-lots.html
http://acreativeromance.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/eggcellent-spring.html
http://catchthebugblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/stella-says-sketch.html

Well that's me done for today. Off to enjoy the rest of the sunshine that today has to offer and maybe a little bit of crafting too.

Thanks for visiting today.

Sharon x

The perfect girly combination…..

Hmmm - what could be described as the perfect 'girly' combination? Well I think flowers, ribbon and lovely pastel colours would tick the box for most of the girls that I know!

So that was the inspiration for this card - something you would give to someone who had done something special for you, but made in a way that would suit lots of tastes. I hope I hit the mark!

The lovely stamp is from Stamp Addicts and, when I stamped and coloured it I just knew I wanted to frame it with lots of lovely ribbon, and so the rosette came to be.

It's a little bit time consuming, but really easy to make. I simply cut out some circles from thick card and the applied little strips of super sticky tape all  around the edges. It's then simply a case of pressing down the ribbon in a pleat fashion - or whatever suits, and then layering everything up with thick sticky pads.

Anyway, I hope you like it :-)

Finally, here are the challenges I would like to enter today….

http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/spring-has-sprung.html
http://4kraftygirlzchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-15_3.html
http://totallypapercrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/tpc-challenge-213-pastels.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-51.html
http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-40-anything-goes.html

Thanks for stopping by today!

Sharon x

Humphrey Easter

Well Spring is certainly in the air round here today….a perfect start to the weekend after a week of pouring rain and freezing cold temperatures. It never ceases to amaze me  how the weather can change so quickly here in the UK.

So, with the improving weather I start to turn my Crafty thoughts to  all things Spring, including flowers in bloom and Easter of course!

So here we have the  first signs of Spring from my crafty stash in the form of  Humphrey and a bunch of tulips and daffodils :-)

The lovely papers that you see happened to be a freebie from a magazine that came out over a year ago, and I think they are really lovely.

But this card was all about the image really and I had great fun colouring in this cute little image with my Alcohol pens.

So - time to enter a few of those Spring challenges I think, and here they are:

http://ilovepromarkers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/challenge-212-anything-goes.html
http://4kraftygirlzchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/challenge-14.html
http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/challenge-314-floral-delights.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/challenge-50.html
http://polkadoodle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/wk-13spring-is-in-air-polkadoodles.html
http://acreativeromance.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/spring-flowers.html

Thank you all for stopping by today and I wish you all a wonderful Spring weekend.

Sharon x

Down to the Farm with the Crafty Little Fairies

Time for a new challenge at Crafty Little Fairies and this time our theme is Down on the Farm.

Now I know that this little lovely isn't actually on a Farm but she is surrounded by sweet little chicks, so that's the 'Farm' theme covered - right?

I had real fun with this card - first of all the fantastic Prairie Fairy image, second the chance to use some lovely bright colours and lastly a bit of stamping decoupage - always soooo worth it if you have the time.

I do hope you will come and join us over at CLF this week and join in with the Farmyard fun. I look forward to seeing you over there!

Sharon x