Flamboyant Colours

There's a section in my filing cabinet filled to the gunnels with card sheets from Kanban, so I had a root through them and found these flamboyantly colourful images ... enough to brighten up anyone's Sunday afternoon don'tcha' think?  
This would be the perfect image for Masquerade Ball invitations.

6" x 6"

5" x 7"

DL

Easel Card

Combined with some pretty paper from Papermania, snippets of coloured card stock and a couple of sentiment stamps - the result is a collection of 4 very different cards.  
I'm heading back to Pixie's Playground again this week to enter my easel card for their Snippets Challenge.   They're keeping a swing for me so would be rude not to go and play!
Would also like to enter Crafting When We Can- At The Movies ... obviously the movie would have to be Masquerade.

Finishing up for today with something a lot more subtle.

Another Kanban sheet but this time showing a cute wee girl with a fluffy bow bedecked sheepdog.  Adorable!  Some pink papers and ribbon are added to make a card suitable for any age and any occasion.  I'm going to enter it in the challenge over at That Craft Place where the theme is For A Child.

 

Flutterby Butterfly

Today's offering featuring beautiful 3D butterflies will hopefully encourage Springtime to make an appearance.  We could all do with a little less wind, fewer grey skies and a big helping of sunshine to brighten up our days.  Sadly, if the forecasters are correct, I fear we may have to rely on a good helping of imagination, at least for the next week or so.  To compensate I thought I'd introduce a little warmth with these 2 pretty cards.

The patterned paper squares were snippets hiding at the bottom of my scraps box ... leftover from a previous project but I can't recall where I got them or who the designer is.  

They compliment the butterfly stickers beautifully and, once matted onto slightly larger squares of black and gold, are the perfect size for the cream 5" square hammered card blanks.

The sentiment stamp from Inkadinkadoo is mounted onto layers of card diecut with Spellbinder Nestabilities. Fancy-schmancy flourishes were created from Marianne Design Dies.

If I've read the rules properly, I can submit both cards to Flutter By Wednesday's Challenge # 236 this week as there's no prize on offer.  In addition to the compulsory butterfly or fairy, they're looking for a sentiment ... got that covered.
The Wonderful Wings Challenge at Crafts 4 Eternity is still open until Friday, so will sneak in a 2nd entry with one of these cards and as I've used leftover papers I thought I'd pop across to Pixie's Crafty Workshop to play for the 1st time in the Snippet's Challenge.
Finally for today, is another new one for me ... the Card Mania Challenge where they want entries with Diecuts or Punches.

What a Hoot!

More playing today and my 2nd Christmas card of the year!

The lovely papers are from a Xmas stack by DCWV which has been in my stash for a long time and the cute ice skater is a digi image called "Ice Skating Hoot" from Pink Gem Designs.   He was coloured with Promarkers, before being cut out and mounted onto foam pads.  The addition of some fancy snowflakes and a dash of pink Stickles for his bobble hat give a touch of Christmas sparkle.

This week Winter Wonderland's Challenge is "Red and Green Must Not Be Seen" so Pink and Purple fit the bill.   Coincidentally, one of the challenge sponsors this week is Pink Gem Designs which I didn't know when I made the card ... isn't that a hoot LOL?
Crafts 4 Eternity are looking for "Wonderful Wings" and there's no doubt that Ice Skating Hoot has wings ... reckon they'll come in handy if the ice melts!

Spots ... and My First ...

... Christmas card this year.
Yes!  Seriously!
 For 2 years my good friend Ann and myself were responsible for running weekly challenges over at Bah Humbug Christmas Challenge blog so having a wee stock pile of Christmas cards ready and waiting to be written when December came around, wasn't a problem.  When we originally closed Humbug Hall, as it was affectionately known, in 2011, the intention was to continue joining in with other Christmas card challenges without the pressure of forward planning, deadlines etc ... but unfortunately that didn't actually happen.  As a result and to my acute embarrassment, many of my friends and family received shop bought cards last year.  Shocking I know!  I'd prefer not to be in a similar position this year so am making a start now ... which is already quite late compared to some people believe me!
Winter Wonderland is one of the challenge blogs where I used to enjoy playing so thought I'd start off there and see how it goes.  Their current challenge is 'Lots of Spots' and I just about have time to get my entry in before the deadline. 

Keeping things simple seemed like a good idea, so a DL card blank is covered with spotty snowflake paper ... a square of textured card mounted on foam pads is placed near the top onto which is glued a smaller square of embossed silver mirri card ... and to top it all off, a chipboard snowflake, which has been inked and glittered to within an inch of it's life, is adhered with silicon glue.  

There you have it ... no greeting ... no ribbons ... no fancy bells and whistles, just a snowflake and some pretty paper.
Am also going to submit my card for entry at 
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Goes
Now I can pat myself on the back and head for bed knowing that, unlike last year, my Xmas card stash isn't non-existent.

Pretty Flowers

Decided to be ruthless the other day and began bundling up all the craft magazines I have accumulated over the years with a view to getting rid.   Surprise, surprise! ... I came across some pretty My Mind's Eye papers tucked inside a pile of mags hiding under the bed.  So I picked out a couple of sheets of my favourite design and made a few cards. 
 
The first is a Get Well card for my daughter's school friend who is recovering from recent surgery.  I cut a panel of paper and adhered it to a DL card blank.  The cute bear image reminds me of Boofle and was recycled from a 2012 calender which I cut out before adding some sparkle and the simple greeting is from the Personal Impressions stamp set - Double Sayings.  A few adhesive gems, and flowers add a touch of additional bling. 

A really simple but effective card idea is to take a square of design paper, mat it onto a slightly larger piece of coordinating card, (leaving a small border), and place it in the centre of a square card blank.  Then I added a stamped greeting from a set by Country Companions, (another magazine freebie found under the bed!), adhesive gems and a couple of pretty butterfly embellishments - job done!  Fingers crossed that this one qualifies for entry into DCC410 over at The House That Stamps Built but they're looking for Clean and Simple so this may be a wee bit too fussy.  No matter though 'cause I still like it and it does work for the Flutter By Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes 'cause there are 2 butterflies.

Finally I took one of the offcuts, matted and layered it onto pink, then knotted some pretty satin ribbon around the panel before matting onto white linen and silver mirri card.  A 2nd panel was created from the last remaining scrap of pink card matted onto silver and white linen panels, then decorated with gorgeous wire flower embellishments. 
Following the A313 Sketch Challenge at The House That Stamps Built, both panels were then glued into place on an A5 white linen card blank before ovelapping them with a stamped greeting from the same freebie set as before.  Pink adhesive gems add a little bit of blingy balance.

Am off to explore blogland and see what everyone else has been up to this week.

WELL!

After announcing my intentions to blog more regularly and join in with some challenges again, wouldn't you just know that the 'real world' would scupper those plans.
February flew past before I could even blink ..... March stomped in boldly and then charged out again taking Easter and Mother's Day with it ..... and as for April!   It's advanced at an alarming speed and is showing no inclination of slowing down any time soon!  
Sooooo ... I've decided to make some marks here before May makes it's presence felt or I get jumped by June.

Let's get things rolling with a card for
Crafter's Companion UK April Challenge - Flowers

I had printed off one of their free Valentine downloads, but never got around to actually making anything with it, so thought I'd just see if I could make it work for this challenge. 
Simple flower embellishments were made by cutting out some of the hearts and curling the edges. They make perfect petals when glued together to form a circle.  The large flower centre was made by snipping into one of the printed border strips and then gluing it onto a small punched circle ... both flowers were then decorated with a coordinating button to finish.   The fancy flourish doubles up as a very pretty leaf don't you think?  Hero Arts stamps provide the simple greetings and the little birdy gets a wing from half a leftover heart.

Inside is simply decorated with one of the downloaded backing papers matted onto black card and finished off top and bottom with pieces of the border strip. 
So there you are ... that's how you use a Valentine themed download for a flower challenge. I'd also like to submit to the following challenges...
Ladybug Crafts - Leap Into Spring 
Brown Sugar Challenge - Spring 
Crafts and Me Challenge - Spring Flowers 
Crafting For All Seasons - Floral Delight 
Allsorts - Spring Has Sprung 
Here are a few of the other cards I was busy with in February ... it was a fairly heavy month for special landmark birthdays with numbers on.

My Nephew became a teen

My Brother celebrated being 21 ... with 29 years experience!

For Naomi's bowling pal

Fizzy Moon For My Niece

A bit of Decoupage

**SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT**

I cannot finish without telling you that after 4 cancelled bookings since September 2012 due to bad weather, my 17 year old daughter Naomi finally got to do her Skydive from 10,000 feet on 23rd February 2013, raising well over £1000 for Edinburgh Sick Kids Foundation. 

Proud doesn't even come close!

If you'd like to see the awesome footage click on the photo.  The music is muted so as not to breach copyright.