Engagement Card

We are very pleased in our family that our neice has announced her engagement to her long term boyfriend. I love occasions like this as they give me an excuse to make a special card.

I used an 8"x8" card blank and covered it with Adorable Scorable card in a soft green. I've had the Morehead CD from Crafter's Companion for a while and I've been itching to use this image. I think it has a real fairytale quality and see it as a couple on the road to marriage. So I thought it was perfect for this happy occasion. I matted and layered a matching backing paper from the Morehead CD onto gold mirri and did the same with the image.

To embellish I added a strip of lace down one side. I cut the Cheery Lynn leaf flourishes from gold mirri and added flowers from  Wild Orchid Crafts and used them to fix the ends of some twirled organza ribbon. The sentiment was created in MCS using one of the tags from the CD.

As a final touch I attached a charm of a fairytale castle as we wish the happy couple a fairytale marriage.
I'd like to enter this card in the challenge at the Kraftyhands blog where the theme is "Charmed".

Steampunk Charlie in Paris

Well, the big day is here at last. Jem's Designs have released the first of their digital images for you to purchase and play with. Find the selection of wonderful images here on the Jems website.
I am so lucky to be on the Digis by Jem's DT and the first digi image I was given to work with was the fabulous "Steampunk Charlie". I couldn't wait to get started and this is my first card with her.

 

I thought she had a French look about her so I used an MCS backing paper from Tinkering with Steampunk and superimposed a digital image from FREE ViNTaGE DiGiTal STaMPS of the Eiffel Tower to one side. I sized and then printed Charlie and some French ephemera from The Graphics Fairy.

 

I matted and layered the backing paper onto black card and an 8"x8" card blank. I chose a bold colourway of red and black for Charlie and used Polychromos to colour her in. I die cut the French labels and inked them up with Distress Ink Antique Linen to give them a vintage look.

As the digi is called Steampunk Charlie, I die cut some Donna Salazar cogs out of black card to use as steampunk embellishments and added Cosmic Shimmer pearl drops to the centers.
Steampunk Charlie is is only one of the digis realeased today, so pop over to the Jems website to have a look at the others for sale and watch this space for another Steampunk Charlie card.

DCC & Friends Challenge #4

Welcome to Challenge #4 at DCC & Friends. The lucky winners of our previous challenge will be announced in a few days time, thank you to all who took part.
Our new theme is "Autumn". We have two sponsors this time, so, two overall winners. Firstly we are sponsored by  Creative Expressions, the  fabulous Sue Wilson has donated two A5 stamp sets. Visit her blog at  PartiCraft and secondly PaperCraftJunkies, Where Tracey is offering 4 of her digis of the winner's choice.  There will also be a "Top Three" who will be awarded badges. So, plenty of opportunities to win.
Don't forget that your entry can be any crafty make as long as it follows the Autumn theme. Be sure to collect your Treasure Hunt letter for an added chance to win a crafty prize.  
This is my DT card, I made it for a family member's October birthday. 

I inked the edges of an 8”x8” card with a mixture of Distress Inks Antique Linen and Tea Dye and layered it with a printed backing card from the MCS CD Opulent . The digi image is from the same CD, which I coloured with Promarkers then cut out.

I altered the colour of the rose image in MCS and printed it several times, in a couple of sizes. I then cut them out and decoupaged them.

I die-cut a circle from the pre-coloured digi and punched a smaller circle from inked card. I then mounted that on foam pads and added a gold peel-off sentiment and a printed rosebud.
You have until November 20^th to enter your crafty makes. Come and visit us at DCC & Friends Challenge blog to see more inspirational makes from the other DT members. And don't forget to call in at PapercraftJunkies where new fabulous digis are being added all the time, you will even find some freebies!

PaperCraftJunkies Halloween Challenge

PaperCraftJunkies are holding their second challenge over at the PaperCraftJunkies Challenge Blog. This one runs until the end of the month, which, as you probably know, is Halloween. So, our theme this time is "Halloween" of course!
There will be two winners for the challenge, one for using a PCJ digi and one for using any other image, there will also be a badge for three runners-up to put on their blogs. The prizes will be a digi of the winners' choice. Don't forget that it doesn't have to be a card you enter, it can be any crafty make as long as it follows the theme.
Here is my DT card as some inspiration for you.....
 

I covered an 8"x8" card blank with black card and matted a pumpkin backing paper I'd printed from Joanna Sheen's Cardmaker's Year CD. Before sticking the paper down, I wrapped a length of  "spider's web" down one side that I'd coloured black.

For the main image I cropped and printed a beach hut digi which I recoloured in MCS. I cut it out and coloured a night sky background with Polychromos. I printed a cute little monster and a "scaredy cat", both of which I coloured with Promarkers. I placed the cat in the window and gave the monster a goody bag then added a couple of ready coloured digi trees. All the images, apart from the Trick or Treat bag, are available as coloured and outline digis from the PaperCraftJunkies website.

The pumpkins were a free download from the internet, which I coloured with Promarkers, and the sentiment was created in MCS. I then die-cut it and inked the edges in black.
Just in case you need a bit more inspiration don't forget to have a look at the range of digi images available at PaperCraftJunkies, you may even find something relevant in the Freebies section (Hint! Hint!).
It's now time to get creating yourselves, we can't wait to see what you make for "Halloween" 

PaperCraftJunkies Reminder

I just wanted to remind you all about the first fortnightly challenge over at PaperCraftJunkies. We have a fabulous theme for you; "Best of British". With all the celebrations for the Jubilee and Olympics this year, I think we all have something suitable in our crafty stash. If you don't though, you can head over to the PaperCraftJunkies shop and pick up some free coloured digi images to play with.
There will be two winners for each of our challenges, one for using a PCJ digi and one for using any other image, and don't forget that it doesn't have to be a card you enter, it can be any crafty make as long as it follows the theme.
Here is a second card I made for this challenge.

I  matted and layered red card and a backing paper from Docrafts "Best of British" Forever Friends DVD onto an 8"x8" blank. I also printed  the decoupage of the black cab and made the sentiment from a journalling card. I used one of PCJ's free images of the Bluebeary Hill Jubilee Bear.

I made up the decoupage without the Forever Friends bear and cut a windscreen to fit in the cab. I then cut out the Bluebeary Hill bear, mounted him on foam pads and placed him in front of the taxi. 

I created the bunting by colouring stripes in red and blue on plain card and cutting into triangles. I then threaded them onto cord and strung them across the front of the card. I finished off with a couple of bows made from coloured cord.
I hope this has inspired you and that you'll join in with this great challenge.
You have until midnight on October 14th to get your entries in.

DCC and Friends Challenge Reminder

There are still 10 days to go for Challenge #3 at DCC & Friends where the theme is "Character Crazy". We would like to see any crafty creation featuring a character. This challenge is being sponsored by PaperCraftJunkies who are offering a generous prize of six digi images of the winner's choice. If you use a digi image from PCJ you will be entered into a special draw to win a crafty prize from DCC & Friends. There is a good selection of freebies you can use, so make sure you visit.
Here is my midway inspiration for you.

I started by covering an 8"x8" card blank with red textured card from Papermania. I created the backing paper in MCS by cropping and tiling a small section of one of the digis. Then I changed the colour. I embossed a piece of  blue Core'dinations card with some Donna Salazar die-cut cogs and sanded it lightly.

My "characters" are Henry and Uncle Charlie Rustin. They are available as digi images from the PaperCraftJunkies shop. I put the two coloured versions together and took them into MCS where I gave them a makeover by changing the colours.  After cutting them out I inked around them with Barn Door Distress Ink.

The cogs were coloured by blending Tea Dye and Barn Door Distress Inks. I created the cog border by die-cutting halfway through the dies and the sentiment was done in MCS.
Pop along to the DCC challenge blog for some more inspiration and to enter the challenge. Don't forget to collect your Treasure Hunt letter to be in with a chance of a crafty prize.

Emma's Cards Challenge # 9

I'm still having to apologise on behalf of Blogger for making a mess of the appearance of my blog. They seem either unwilling or unable to fix the problem, so, sorry you're having to look at this format instead of my pretty background and font.

Announcing this month's challenge at Emma's Cards! The theme is "Happy Birthday Bryan", so basically, it's a crafty make for a male birthday. This challenge is sponsored by Pink Tulip Creations. Bryan himself will be donating some Christmas themed embellishments to go with the main prize which you can see at the bottom of this post. Bryan is the lovely Emma's partner, and this challenge runs until the end of the month.
Here is my DT card to give you some inspiration.

I started with my favourite 8"x8" blank and matted and layered it with textured brown and orange card from Papermania. The backing paper with the cogs and wheels is from Kanban's Industriana pad.

The robots are digi images from PaperCraftJunkies. They are called Henry Rustin and Uncle Charlie Rustin. I coloured them with Polychromos, used Spellbinders Labels Eleven to die cut them and then inked the edges with Distress Inks Tea Dye.

The cogs are Donna Salazar's "Sprightly Sprockets" which I cut out of silver mirri card. I created the brown cog border by only die-cutting half way through them and I finished the card with a silver sentiment border peel-off.
The winning entry will receive this fantastic prize. It's an  MDF Advent Calendar kit with a retail value of £23, available exclusively from Pink Tulip Creations.

And this is how it can look when you make it up, a real Christmas keepsake.

 

Lastly, I'd like to wish a Happy Birthday to Bryan!

PaperCraftJunkies Challenge #1

I'm still having to apologise on behalf of Blogger for making a mess of the appearance of my blog. They seem either unwilling or unable to fix the problem, so, sorry you're having to look at this format instead of my pretty background and font.

I am very excited  to announce the first bi-monthly challenge over at PaperCraftJunkies and I'm very proud to tell you that I'm on the Design Team. The lady behind PCJ is Tracey Grundy, a very talented artist. Tracey also holds classes and enjoys "upcycling". This challenge runs until 14th October and the winner will receive a prize of any digi of their choice from the PCJ shop.
For our first challenge the team was asked to use our choice of the free Jubilee digis available in the PaperCraftJunkies shop. They can be found in the "Freebies" section of the website. I chose a few of the designs, including Jade and Jonny Jubilee and  BlueBeary Hill Jubilee King. This is the card I made.

I took an 8"x8" card blank and matted and layered with blue cardstock and a backing paper from Docrafts Forever Friends "Best of British" DVD. I also printed off the sentry box and, after adding the sentiment and resizing, the journaling card.

The images are already coloured so, I just printed Jade and Jonny a few times and decoupaged them. I printed the Jubilee King once and placed him in the sentry box with the children in front.

I made a panel with blue card and another backing paper from the DVD and added the sentiment and an organza bow.
We look forward to seeing your entries.  Please pop along to the shop and have a browse at the fantastic images. Don't forget to pick up your freebies too.