Bright Flowers With Stripes

I have the whole weekend to myself to craft - the other half has gone off on a Grand National weekend with his mates! And tomorrow I'm off to a Ross Papercraft Show at Nissan where I'll no doubt pick up some more goodies to play with - life is good! 

Here's one of the cards I've made today...

I used a really old Marianne die for the flowers, cutting the shapes in vibrant shades of pink orange and yellow. The leaf is an unbranded die and the greeting die came free with a magazine. The black and white diagonal striped paper is from a Project Life pack from Becky Higgins.

Looking at this with a critical eye, I'm pleased with the way the black background really makes the bright flowers 'pop' but I should really have placed the flowers about a centimetre lower - it would look more balanced!

I was inspired by the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments Challenge #201 - use a birthday sentiment
Seize The Birthday - vibrant colours
Craft Rocket Challenges #47 - flowers
The Paper Shelter #334 - flowers
Just Us Girls:

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Cute Bear With Polka Dots

Today I have been making some cards for the large number of birthdays coming up - this is one of the cuter cards made with an image and papers given away free with Making Cards magazine many moons ago.

The papers are exactly the same but in different coordinating colourways and I've matted each layer on red paper.

I've added two die cut daisies to echo the daisy in the image and added a greeting created in Publisher using Candy Round font.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Creates and Makes Challenge Blog #20 - AG
Always Fun Challenge #53 - AG
Allsorts Challenge #462 - be there or be square
Creative Knockouts #240 - AG
Cute Card Thursday #524 - AG
Craftaholics R Us #14 - birthday card


Thanks for looking

Sharon
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Shades of Grey

Today's card is for a friend who has recently lost a close relative...

I've used a vase of flowers digi image from Digistamp Boutique coloured using pro-markers in various shades of grey. The image has been matted on black paper with some grey floral papers from my stash as backing papers.

Very simple and suitably sombre.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Crafty Sentiments - anything goes
I ♥ ProMarkers #356 - monochrome - TOP 3
Addicted to Stamps #286 - anything goes
Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #14 - colour it
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #79 - anything goes - TOP 3
Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - April challenge - say it with flowers
Crafty Creations #363 - anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Cute Kokeshi Doll

After our huge traditional Good Friday lunch of cod and chips, I had to waddle to my craftroom to play with some newly acquired Kokeshi Doll digi images from Digistamp Boutique...

Isn't she adorable!I coloured her with pro-markers and mounted her on a tic tac toe style background - 9 squares die-cut from some pretty floral patterned paper. I've mounted these on gold mirri-card then on black card.

The greeting was created in Publisher using white font on a black background.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

My Favorite Things Sketch #378

Daring Cardmakers - something digi
QKR Stampede #289 - anything goes
Little Miss Muffet #185 - anything goes
The Paper Shelter #332 - use a digital image
Words 2 Craft By #51 - Phenomenal Woman


Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Birthday Bags

One of my friends at work asked me to make a version of a card she has seen all over Pinterest...

She asked for it in shades of pink so I used some of my favourite patterned papers from NitWits.

The bags themselves were pretty straightforward to make - just lots of scoring and folding. For the handles I made good use of some of those ribbons that you always find in tops and t-shirts and added some flat-backed pearls to cover the edges.

Finally, I created a greeting in Publisher and added a strip of die-cut border. To add 'filling' to the bags i used some small pieces of net gauze.

I'm entering this into the challenges at:

Always Happy Birthday - use patterned paper
Through The Craft Room Door - anything goes March 27
Creative Craft Cottage #105 - make it feminine
Everybody Art Challenge #422 - pink/green
Creative Moments #139 - anything goes
Dream Valley Challenge #175 - spring colours
Time Out Challenges #105 - inspired by the words below:

Thanks for visiting


Sharon
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Inspired by Mondrian

Before I went on holiday I discovered a website (https://www.aliexpress.com/) which sells very cheap unbranded metal dies from China with free postage - the only catch is that delivery can take a while! So I'm very sceptical about internet shopping in general and part of me did not believe I would ever receive my orders which is why I only spent about 8 pounds....

Imagine my surprise when I got back from holiday to find 4 small packages in the post from China! This is what I made with one of the dies...

As soon as I saw this die it made me think of paintings by the artist Piet Mondrian, I cut the shape in 4 colours; black, red, yellow and blue, then pieced some red, yellow and blue shapes into the black frame. The greeting die is from The Range.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Pile It On Challenge - circles or squares
Penny's Paper-crafty Challenge #372 - anything goes
Incy Wincy Designs - no more than 3 colours
Southern Girls Challenge - die-cuts
Cards In Envy - no patterned paper
Craft Rocket Challenges - something new (my die!)

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Potty About You

I've been back in my craft-room this weekend after a lovely long break in Mexico - while the rest of the UK was battling the Beast from the East, I was on a sun-bed in the Caribbean sipping cocktails - I feel so much better for it.

So I was asked to make an anniversary card with a pool playing penguin - I have some weird friends right!

This is what I created...

The pool cue was an inspiration - a wooden kebab stick, coloured with a pro-marker and decorated with a silver peel-off strip. The penguin digi is one of my favourite images from Blackberry Jelly, and the greeting was created in Publisher.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Craftaholics R Us - use something green
Createful Heart Designs - AG use some green
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #78 - AG
Penny's Paper-crafty Challenge #371 - AG
Crafty Gals Corner #161 - make it green

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Cricket Mad

Today's card in for my cricket loving brother-in-law...

I used a decoupage cricketer from Papermania's It's a Mans' World kit and various patterned papers from my stash. I've matted all the patterned papers on black paper and added a couple of clouds as embellishments.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #76 - anything goes
Creatilicious Challenges #133 - anything goes/for the boys 
Crafty Calendar Challenge - February 2 or more layers 
4 Crafty Chicks #390 - lots of layers
Southern Girls Challenge - 3 or more papers
Tic Tac Toe Challenge #35 - oval plaid green

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Hunkydory Cheers

Today's card was made using a new Hunkydory kit that came free with a magazine recently that I haven't yet had the chance to play with.

Like most crafters I struggle a bit with male cards so the beer theme and funky colour scheme was very useful...

I used some of the patterned card in the kit for the background and mounted one of the die-cut toppers using foam pads. I then fussy cut a bottle image from another topper and mounted this with pads in the bottom left corner. 

I do like the quality of Hunkydory products but the greetings that came with this kit were useless - far too small and hard to read fonts! So instead I used a Paper Smooches 'Cheers' die for the greeting - a gold layer mounted on a black layer to create a shadow.

I haven't exactly re-created the wheel but this will be useful to add to my very small stash of masculine cards.

I'm entering this into the challenges at:

Creatalicious Challenges #133 - anything goes/for a man
2 Sisters On The Blog #12 - for a man
Unstampabelles Challenge #67 - anything goes
Fab N Funky #381 - babies children or men
Crafty Creations #360 - anything goes


Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Enjoy Today

Today's card is another one for the many girlie birthdays I have coming up over the next couple of months...

The image is a pre-coloured one from a Crafty Sentiments topper sheet - these are wonderful for quick cards and I wish I could find some more!

The papers, greeting and bow and banner are from the Fall In Love range from Love to Craft which I found in Poundworld. Finally I added a couple of black gems.

I'm adding this card to the challenges at:

Crafty Sentiments - anything goes
A Gem of a Challenge - feature a heart/hearts
A Perfect Time To Craft #2 - anything goes
Crafty Calendar Challenge - more than one layer
Jo's Scrap Shack #220 - anything goes


Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Fairy Happy Birthday

Today's card was made with an image and some two-tone ombre patterned paper that came with a very old edition of Making Cards magazine...

I cut out the image using a fancy braces shaped die and matted on black paper. For the background I used the ombre paper which subtly changes from green to blue, again matted on black. These were mounted onto a teal coloured base card and 3 black gems were added to decorate. The greeting is a very old LOTV stamp I believe.

I'm entering this into the challenges at:

Crafting With Friends #60 - anything goes
Creative Fingers #142 - anything goes
Creative Knockouts #232 - birthday wishes
Crafting with An Attitude #36 - anything goes
Crafting By Designs - February anything goes
Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #156 - feminine anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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It's Happy Hour!

I've got a few birthdays coming up over the next few weeks so I've spent the afternoon making some girly cards...

I bought these cocktail digis some time ago on an Etsy site and while sorting through some old Making Cards magazines I came across some some perfect patterned paper to go with the image. I've used Pro-markers to colour the image and a bright cerise card base.
I'm entering this make into the challenges at:

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #75 - anything goes
Crafty Catz #402 - one for the girls
Crafty Friends #76 - anything goes
C R A F T Challenge #453 - three of a kind
Colour Crazy Challenge #5 - anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Blinded By The Snow

A very weather appropriate card today as we have just had a freak hail/sleet shower - I hope it doesn't turn into proper snow!

I always make a special card each year for my best friend's daughter, Amy. I've used this lovely image from Morgan's Art World and coloured it using Pro-Markers highlighted with a touch of white glitter. For the background I've used my favourite fancy die and some patterned paper with glittery star bursts. Why is glitter so darn difficult to photograph??

I've finished off with some tiny punched snowflakes and a greeting made in Publisher.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Outlawz Festive Fridays - Christmas
Fab N Funky #379 - Christmas
12 Months of Christmas Link Up #38 - card for a loved one
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #371-- anything goes
Sweet Stampin' - anything but a birthday

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Red Red Wine

I was asked to make a card for a friend's Dad for his 50th birthday...

The digi stamp is an old one from my favourite store - The Digistamp Boutique. I re sized the images to quite a large size, coloured them using Pro-markers and carefully fussy-cut. The embossed background is a metal grating design that I 'found' in a drawer over Christmas - am I the only crafter who finds tidying up just as good as shopping!

The greeting and number were created using various dies and I used a burgundy textured A5 card base.

I'm entering this card into the challenges:

Crafty Sentiments - anything goes
CAS on Sundays #125 - use markers or pencils
Die Cuttin Divas #354 - anything goes
I Love Pro Markers #351 - embossing

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Spring Blooms

We've had a few nice days here in the North-east and I've noticed the crocuses in my garden are in full bloom - Spring is on it's way.

This inspired me to dig out one of my favourite digi images from The Digistamp Boutique and do some colouring. 

I decided to use this lovely simple sketch at Sketch-Tanten #40 -

This is what I created

I've printed the image onto linen textured card and coloured it with a mixture of Copics and Spectrum Noir pens. The papers are from a pad called 'Vintage Garden' from The Range.

I've added some tiny lilac pearls for some of the flower centres and 3 larger ivory pearl in the top right corner. The greeting was printed using Zolano Serif font.

I'm also entering this into the challenges at:

Allsorts Challenge #452 - use an old favourite

Creative Moments #135 - anything goes

Color Inspiration Monthly #30 - anything goes hand coloured

Addicted To Stamps And More #276 - anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon

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Party Like A Penguin

We're three quarters of the way through January very quickly - thank goodness - it's not my favourite month! I always think of the line from a song I remember from my childhood: 'January - sick and tired you've been hanging on me' (Pilot - 1974)... 

Well - enough on the reminiscing! Today's card is a late entry for the current challenge at Less Is More. I haven't caught this challenge for w while but the theme was too good to miss!

I used one of my favourite images from 2 Cute Ink and printed it straight onto a white linen base...

The image is coloured with a mixture of Pro-markers and Spectrum Noir pens and I've added a trio of co-ordinating flat-backed pearls.

Thanks for looking

Sharon
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Spotlight Stamping

Today's card is a totally new technique for me - spotlight stamping. My card making has got into a rut and i need to try new scary things!

I don't do the inky kind of stamping very often - I much prefer the control you have using digital images. The flower border image I have used is from Digistamp Boutique.

I printed the image twice on an A4 sheet of card, then trimmed folded one of the images to make a one-layer base card. This was left uncoloured.

I cut a circle out of the other image which was coloured using pro-markers and mounted with foam pads over the same part of the uncoloured image. The greeting is a peel-off, coloured with a black pro-marker.

This is a technique I need to play with a bit more - the card looks much better in real life but overall it's just a touch boring. With the right image this technique looks amazing but I guess this isn't the right kind of image?

C'est la vie!

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

The Flower Challenge #16 - spotlight stamping
Allsorts Challenge #450 - no patterned papers
AAA Cards #106 - quote inspiration (below)

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Vintage Flowers

I struggled a bit with today's card as I'm not a lover of the vintage look...

I was asked to make a card for an older lady that with the brief  'old-fashioned with flowers'. Some time ago I was given a pack of patterned papers that can only be described as 'faded floral and dull' which I never thought I would use but were ideal to create a vintage feel.

I used a sticker of some lilies (I think!) mounted on a fancy Marianne oval die-cut and some pearls and a strip of lace as embellishments. The greeting was printed directly onto patterned paper.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Crafty Catz #399 - anything goes/for the ladies
4 Crafty Chicks #385 - no winter blues
Crafter's Castle #1 - anything goes
Moving Along With The Times - flowers
Cuttlebug Mania - flowers

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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