Easter Bliss

Thursday 21 February 2013

Kraftyhands Good News

I hope you all managed to see the Kraftyhands shows on Create and Craft on Tuesday for the launch of the amazing Vintage Treasures CD. I'm pleased to say that the shows were so popular that Mike and Ian will be back on Create and Craft today, Thursday 21st February at 11am and 5pm. Make sure you tune in for more fantastic demos and another look at all the wonderful Kraftyhands items for sale.
Have you heard about the Kraftyhands Challenge Blog? Our theme this month is "Spring Colours - Yellow, Green and Orange".
One of the other featured CDs on Create and Craft is the Vintage Chic Boutique double CD which I have used to make this card for your inspiration. It's also available from the Kraftyhands website.


I made a stepper card and covered the front panels with a yellow Damask paper. I cut out the layered birdcage topper and matted it onto one of the outer topper shapes in green lattice and fixed them to front of the card.


The sentiment was printed onto another one of the outer toppers that I had resized on the computer and I inked the edge for definition. The ribbon is from the Beautiful Bows sheet on the CD. I used Marianne dies for the fencing, birds and birdhouse.
There is so much choice on this double CD including decoupage, easel cards, inserts, pyramid toppers, templates and projects as well as a wealth of gorgeous images and papers.

There is a £20 voucher to spend on the Kraftyhands website for the lucky challenge winner and blinkies for the top three. A full list of the challenge rules can be found on the Kraftyhands Challenge blog. Don't forget that February is a short month,  so don't get caught out. 

Monday 18 February 2013

Vintage Treasures Preview 2

I'd like to show you a few more cards created with the Kraftyhands CD Vintage Treasures which makes it's debut tomorrow, Tuesday 19th February, on Create and Craft.
The artwork is simply wonderful and there is so much packed onto this CD. There is everything you will need to create the most gorgeous authentic looking vintage cards, from complete card sets and embellishments to beautiful backing papers and coordinating inserts .

 
I used two backing papers, a lace doiley, a topper and an embellishment from the CD to create this A5 card.


The sentiments are included on the CD. All I've added for this card is some ribbon and gems.


The embellishment on this card is one of the colour coordinated lace trims which I cut out and mounted on mirri card.


Don't forget to tune in to Create & Craft on tomorrow, Tuesday February 19th, for the launch of this beautiful CD . The shows are at 1pm and 6pm.
Until then please visit the Kraftyhands website to stock up on your crafty needs.
And please visit the Kraftyhands Challenge Blog for this month's challenge of "Spring Colours".

Saturday 16 February 2013

Eleanor and Pickles Back to School

Seeing as the first challenge at the Lacy Sunshine Challenge Blog  closes soon, I thought I'd show this card and enter it in the challenge while I had the chance. The image I've used this time is a retired digi, but there are plenty more to choose from at the Lacy Sunshine shop. This is the only official place to buy the wonderful JPEGs and PNGs of Heather's work. Although I have used "cute" images on the three cards I've made recently with Heather's digis, there are darker, gothic designs as well. Do go and have a look.


I edged an 8"x 8" card blank with a Powder Blue Promarker before layering with a paper I made in MCS. I created a panel of blue striped paper from Polkadoodles Candy Doodle matted onto card edged with blue. I made the mat for the image the same way.


This image is called Eleanor and Pickles Back to School, and judging by the look on Pickles face he might have forgotten his homework. I used Promarkers to colour the image and stuck to pastels this time.


I used dies from Marianne for the flowers, fence and birds and coloured them all with Promarkers. The butterfly is a Joy Crafts Floral Flourish Butterfly which I cut twice and layered. The other flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.
If you are a Heather Valentin fan come and join the Lacy Sunshine Facebook group. It's a friendly, chatty group where there are regular sneak peeks and digis available to win.

Friday 15 February 2013

Emily Raindrops

I've been having a relaxing time colouring more Heather Valentin digis and even making cards with a few of them. I particularly love this image. It is called Emily Raindrops and can be found on the retiring digis page, for a mere $1 in the Lacy Sunshine shop,  it's the only official place to buy the wonderful JPEGs and PNGs of Heather's work.
I would like to enter this card in the first Lacy Sunshine Challenge.


I started by colouring the edges of an 8"x 8" card blank with a Mint Green Promarker. The mats for the image and striped paper panel were created the same way. I wrapped lengths of lace and seam binding around a cropped paper from MCS Tinkering With Steampunk CD before layering it on the card blank. The striped paper is from Polkadoodles Candy Doodle CD  and the peach coloured panel is from Crafter's Companion CD Morehead People. I used an Apricot Promarker to create that mat. I changed the colour slightly of both papers in MCS.


As soon as I saw this image I thought of using a peachy colour for Emily's dress. I chose the turquoise shades for the rest of her outfit as I thought it gave a nice contrast - it's also my favourite colour. I used a flower die from Marianne and again coloured with Promarkers.


I positioned 3 roses from Wild Orchid Crafts  in a bottom corner and cut up a flourish from a Cheery Lynn die-cut and tucked the pieces underneath. I tied a small bow from the lace and finished off with Card Candi coloured to match the card.
If you too are a fan of Heather Valentin's wonderful artwork, come and join the Lacy Sunshine Facebook group.  It's a friendly, chatty group where there are regular sneak peeks and digis available to win.

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Eleanor Bookworm

I have been playing with some of Heather Valentin's beautiful digis. There are so many fantastic ones to choose from and I snapped up this image of Eleanor Bookworm for only $1. Check out Heather's online store, Lacy Sunshine, it's the only official place to buy the wonderful JPEGs and PNGs of Heather's work.
I'd like to enter this card in the 1st Lacy Sunshine challenge, Anything Goes ,and at Glitter n Sparkle - "Girls are Made of " challenge.


To put the card together I started by covering an 8"x 8" card blank with blue polka dot paper from Polkadoodles Pretty Sweet CD. I wrapped a turquoise ribbon around it before sticking it down. I matted two other papers from the same CD and tucked them under the ribbon before matting and fixing Eleanor to the front of the card on foam pads. All the mats were created by colouring the edges of white card with a Sky Blue Promarker.


I knew exactly how I wanted to colour Eleanor and started by using my Promarkers. I didn't have the shades of blue I wanted though, so I got my Polychromos out to colour those parts of her outfit.


I cut out Cheery Lynn leaf flourishes, large and small, and a Memory Box butterfly die from white card and coloured them all with Promarkers. I dotted the card with flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts. I finished by threading a length of purple satin ribbon through the turquoise bow and curling the ends.

If you are a Heather Valentin fan come and join the Lacy Sunshine Facebook group. It's a friendly, chatty group where there are regular sneak peeks and digis available to win.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Vintage Treasures

As part of the Kraftyhands design team I was lucky enough to have a pre-launch play with the Vintage Treasures CD. The artwork is simply wonderful and there is so much packed onto this CD. There is everything you will need to create the most gorgeous authentic looking vintage cards, from complete card sets to coordinating inserts.
Today I've picked three cards that I made using some of the card making sets. I chose these ones because I love the lace doileys.


I used two different coloured doileys for this one and raised the layers up on foam pads. The sentiments are included on the CD.


I love the image on this one and tucked it behind the doiley which I raised on foam pads after having removed the middle. I enlarged the image and cut out the lilies to make an embellishment.


This time I printed the doiley, in two sizes, onto vellum and cut them out. I've used a complimenting damask paper from the CD and coloured some lace to match.


Make a note in your diary for the launch of this beautiful CD. You will be able to see it on Create & Craft on Tuesday February 19th. The shows are at 1pm and 6pm.
Until then please visit the Kraftyhands website to stock up on your crafty needs.

Saturday 2 February 2013

Kraftyhands February Challenge

This is my first post for Kraftyhands as a DT member. I'm really thrilled to part of the team, not only do Kraftyhands have lots of lovely stuff to play with but the other DT members are all fantastic and inspirational crafters.
Today is the launch of our February challenge and the theme is "Spring Colours" (yellow, green and orange). I used the Vintage Chic Boutique CD (Deluxe Edition) to make my card. There is so much choice on this double CD including, apart from the elements I've used, decoupage, easel cards, inserts, pyramid toppers, templates and projects. It is a complete delight.
 

There are so many different lovely images and papers on this double CD and I had great fun choosing my elements for this card. I started by covering an 8"x 8" card blank with a yellow lattice paper and inking around the edges. I then inked around the edges of the green lattice paper before matting onto orange Core'dinations card.

 
The darker yellow lattice layer is a shaped outer topper which I matted onto more Core'dinations card. The lovely bike image is already mounted on it's own shaped topper and I again inked the edges. I added one of the faux ribbon strips and decoupaged the bow.

 
I printed the sentiment onto another paper from the CD and matted that. I used Marianne dies for the fence, birdhouse and birds and inked three white flowers to match the colour theme as a finishing touch.

There is a £20 voucher to spend on the Kraftyhands website  for the lucky winner and blinkies for the top three. A full list of the challenge rules can be found on the Kraftyhands Challenge blog. Please pop over for a visit to see the wonderful cards the other DT members have created for your inspiration. Don't forget that February is a short month. We look forward to seeing your crafty creations.

I've entered this card in the challenge at Crafting Cafe
 


Friday 1 February 2013

Emma's Challenge #13

Welcome to Challenge #13 at Emma's Cards.
Thank you to all who took part in challenge #12, it proved very popular and the standard of entries was very high. The lucky winner will be announced shortly.
This month our theme is "Art Deco" and we are being sponsored by the gorgeous Glitter Girls. They have kindly donated a prize of one of their wonderful boards and ball tool. There is more about that at the end of this post.
Meanwhile, here is my DT card.


All the cardstock and paper I've used is from Kanban. I made the template myself for a traditional Art Deco shaped card, it fits in an 8"x8" envelope. The image is from the Art Deco CD from Card Creations Plus. I printed it onto textured paper and cut it out with an X-Cut oval die.


I had printed the full image four times but decided to only decoupage her skirt. I added feathers and pearls and highlighted her headband and armband with pale gold Smooch. Then I used tiny pearls and black liquid pearls around the edge of the oval.


I printed out the FABULOUS and die cut it with the smallest X-Cut oval die then I tied a gold bow, placed some feathers behind it and tucked in one of my handmade pins. I finished off with black pearls on the base.


If you're a big fan of the Glitter Girls, do join them on their Facebook page and keep up to date with all their latest news. The girls have generously donated this fantastic Fanciful board and ball tool for the lucky winner.


I know Art Deco is very popular so I look forward to seeing your crafty creations. You don't have to make a card, it can be anything you've handcrafted as long as it fits the theme.
Don't forget to visit the challenge blog for a full list of rules and to get some more inspiration from our wonderful design team.