Lacy Sunshine Challenge # 11

Today is the turn of Lexie's team to remind you about the current challenge over at Lacy Sunshine.
As always, the theme is "Anything Goes" and there is a free digi image for you to use. All entries must have a hand coloured image, either stamped or a digi. There is a top prize of $30 to spend in the Lacy Sunshine Shop if you've used a Lacy Sunshine image. The "Top Three" will each get to choose 2 digis from the store.

I was given the gorgeous Sticky Wings image "Coco Skiing" that was created by the talented Heather Valentin. I don't generally do Christmas before September, but I was only too pleased to make an early start this year.

I printed off my favourite snowflake paper from an old MCS CD and matted it onto silver mirri. I wrapped a wide organza frilly ribbon round it first. The snowflake die-cuts are all Marianne dies that I've layered up with foam pads.

I coloured Coco with Promarkers and glittered her cute little wings. The frame is made from a Lace Doily Corner die from Whimsy Stamps. I finished with a bow from the frilly ribbon. To give you an idea of size, this is an 8"x 8" card and I printed the image 13.5 cm high.

Please check on the Lacy Sunshine Challenge Blog for a full set of rules and how to claim your free image. You will also find the wonderful creations from the talented DT for your inspiration.

Another Birthday

I have a quick card to show that I made for a male family member. The sentiment on the image could be seen as a bit cheeky, so it's only really suitable for someone who has a sense of humour

I was lucky enough to win a set of Sheena Douglass stamps last year from Tina Warwood. They are a bit wacky but I love them. The backing paper is from an MCS CD and I created the "Another Birthday" sentiment on the computer. I couldn't decide which colour ribbon to use, so I went with both. The feather was cream coloured and it received the Promarker treatment.

I stamped the image in Rich Cocoa Memento ink and lightly coloured with Promarkers and Antique Linen Distress Ink. I edged the image and the card with the Rich Cocoa. As the card was for a male recipient, I didn't see the need for any fancy embellishments. This counts as a CAS card for me. I hope you like it.

Eleanor as Dorothy

Today I have two special cards to show.  It's the same image on both cards and was created by the talented Heather Valentin who has been inspired by The Wizard of Oz and has created Lacy Sunshine's World of Oz. This image is called "Eleanor as Dorothy" and is for sale in the Lacy Sunshine Store in the New Digis section.  Please pop over to the   Lacy Sunshine Blog to see a special presentation of the wonderful new images Heather has created on this theme.

I merged two papers in MCS to create the background and coloured what was a plain path to look like the yellow brick road. The fence die is from Marianne and the flowers are  from Wild Orchid Crafts. I coloured them yellow and added brown Candi to the centres to make them look like Sunflowers.

I coloured the image with Promarkers. I wanted to keep some traditions so I gave Eleanor/Dorothy red hair and coloured the little dog black. After cutting round the image I mounted it on the card with foam pads.

For the second card I printed a paper with a frame from MCS. I then took just the frame and positioned the image inside it before printing out. Once coloured, I cut around the image leaving it attached to the frame in three places. I cut out the frame and mounted it over the base card with foam pads. I cut up and coloured some Cheery Lynn leaf flourish die-cuts. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and I created the sentiment on the computer.

I again used Promarkers to colour the image. I decided to give Eleanor/Dorothy the customary blue outfit this time.

Don't forget to head over to the Lacy Sunshine Blog to see the new images and then to the Lacy Sunshine Store to purchase them for yourselves.

Kraftyhands June Challenge Reminder

I want to remind you about the current challenge on the  Kraftyhands Challenge Blog. This month the theme is:

"No Squares Allowed"

You do not need to use Kraftyhands products on your entries, only to be eligible to win the top prize which is a £20 voucher to spend in the Kraftyhands webshop. Why not pay the shop a visit to see what fabulous goodies you can pick up? There is a birthday celebration going on at the moment and you may win a special offer if you subscribe to the newsletter.

One of Kraftyhands best known CDs is Miranda and Mo. There is a whole host of fabulous images, decoupage, papers, inserts, gift boxes, photo frames and shaped cards on this versatile CD. 

I have used one of the cute shaped card sets which prints out onto a single A4 sheet to create an A6 card. I actually used MCS to print Miranda a few times so I could decoupage her. 

These cards are so easy to make;  just print, cut around the shape and fold in half. The sentiment is one of four choices for this card. There are even matching inserts, available on another page.

You still have time to join in with this challenge, it closes on Friday 5th of July. A full list of the challenge rules can be found on the Kraftyhands Challenge blog.  There is a £20 voucher to spend on the Kraftyhands website for the lucky winner if they have used a Kraftyhands product, and badges for the top three entries. Please make sure you are a follower of the Challenge Blog and do visit the blog to see the wonderful "no-squares allowed" creations the other DT members have created for your inspiration.

Eleanor's Wishes

Firstly I would like to say a very big thank you to all of you lovely people who commented on Bailey's card for his Mummy. He was so thrilled. It was lovely reading all the fabulous comments with him. You've all made a little boy very happy ( and his Nana) .

I seem to be making quite a few yellow and blue cards lately, the colours seem to go together so well. This one is using a gorgeous image by Heather valentin. It's available in the Lacy Sunshine Shop and is called "Eleanor's Wishes". There is a special celebration going on at the moment for Eleanor and Pickles 1st birthday. Check out the Lacy Sunshine Challenge Blog for the details on how to win over 90 Eleanor and Pickles digis on a one off CD created by Heather.

I made this card for a friend's birthday which was yesterday. I hope she gets as many of her wishes granted as possible. I used an 8"x 8" card blank, some card edged with a yellow Promarker and a paper from MCS. The yellow stars were punched from textured card and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Eleanor has been coloured with Promarkers and loosely cut out. I mounted her on foam pads. This was such a delightful image to colour. The yellow ribbon was coloured with a Promarker and the sentiment was made in MCS.

If you'd like a free Lacy Sunshine image to colour then pop over to the challenge blog where Heather offers a free one with each challenge. The theme for every challenge is "Anything Goes" but your entry must include a hand coloured image. The current challenge finishes this Saturday at 6pm BST. I hope to see you there.

Emma's Crafty Challenge # 17 Reminder

The current challenge at  Emma's Crafty Challenge is:

"Buttons and Bows"

and our sponsor for this month is Carley Duff from Creata who is offering a prize of a fabulous bundle of crafty goodies.

I started with an 8"x 8" card blank. The green papers are from the Docrafts Chronology range and the red spotty paper is from Docrafts Brights Capsule Collection. I thought it went perfectly with the mushrooms. The wired ribbon and the buttons are from my stash.

I used a fabulous digi by Heather Valentin, available from the Lacy Sunshine Store, It is called "Finkle - Under the Mushrooms" and it can be found in the New Digis section of the store. I coloured the image with Promarkers and created the sentiment on the computer. Once die-cut, I inked the white areas with Distress Ink Bundled Sage.

The extra mushrooms are from the Gnome Digi Bits set also in the Lacy Sunshine Store. As it's provided in a png it was easy to take into MCS and manipulate into the arrangement I wanted. Again I coloured them with Promarkers.

Here is a photo of the wonderful prize from Creata that you could win.

You can enter any new crafty creation as long as there is a button and a bow. We would love to see what you create. Your entry doesn't have to be a card, it could be any crafty project that follows the theme. Please visit the Challenge Blog to see more inspiration from the talented DT and to check out a full list of the rules. You only have until the end of the month to get your entries in, so don't forget.

A Special Lacy Sunshine Card

Challenge #10 on the Lacy Sunshine Challenge Blog is celebrating a very special occasion as it's the first anniversary since Heather created Eleanor and Pickles. In honour of this Heather is offering a fabulous prize for the winner; she has put all of her gorgeous Eleanor and Pickles digis onto a CD. That's over 90 images! Only entries using a Lacy Sunshine hand coloured image will be entered into the draw for this amazing prize. If you don't have one, Heather is offering a freebie on the Challenge Blog.
The theme for all our challenges is "Anything Goes" but every entry must feature a hand coloured digi. There will also be Top Three chosen winners who will receive beautiful blog badges and a GDT spot up for grabs. For a full set of rules please visit the Challenge Blog.

I hope you've guessed that I didn't actually make this card. It was my 5 year old grandson, Bailey. He loves colouring Heather's images, especially Eleanor and Pickles. I was making my "Eleanor Blue Ribbon Pie" DT card and he asked to make a card for his Mummy.

I printed "Eleanor and Pickles Back to School" digi directly onto an A5 card blank and he got his colouring pencils out. I gave him my die-cut leftovers and and the 1st badge that I decided not to use. The sentiment is entirely his own effort - he is learning to spell phonetically at school - but I'm sure you can tell what it is.

This is such a cute image with Pickles hitching a ride in Eleanor's bag. Bailey tried so hard to be neat and put quite a bit of thought into his colour choices. He was wondering if Pickles had snuck into Eleanor's bag or if she knew he was there? And whether Pickles could write with the pencil in his mouth? 

I hope you'll join in with our celebrations for Eleanor and Pickles. Challenge # 10 runs until Saturday 22nd June. Please visit the Lacy Sunshine Challenge Blog to see how to get a free Heather Valentin digi. We also have a Facebook group where you can come and join in some fun, get sneak peeks and share your crafty creations.
There are so many fantastic digis for everyone in the Lacy Sunshine Store, so pop on over there and take a look, new ones are added nearly everyday.

A Blue Ribbon Day

I have some news that I'm very excited to share with you today. The wonderfully talented Heather Valentin invited me to join her Design Team at Lacy Sunshine, so, this is my first post as a Sunshine Girl!
Challenge #10 on the Lacy Sunshine Challenge Blog starts today and it's a very special occasion as it's the first anniversary since Heather created Eleanor and Pickles. In honour of this Heather is offering a fabulous prize for the winner; she is putting every one of her gorgeous Eleanor and Pickles digis onto a CD. To be eligible to win this amazing prize you must use a Lacy Sunshine hand coloured image on your entry. If you don't have one, Heather is offering a freebie on the Challenge Blog or you could visit the Lacy Sunshine Store to purchase one, or more, of your choice. There will also be Top Three winners who will receive beautiful blog badges and GDT spot up for grabs.
The theme for all our challenges is "Anything Goes" but every entry must feature a hand coloured digi. For a full set of rules please visit the Challenge Blog.

I was given this wonderful image to play with, it's called "Eleanor Blue Ribbon Pie". In the UK a blue ribbon is actually 2nd place, but, as Eleanor is American she has won 1st prize for her delicious pie. I "borrowed" one of my daughter's horse riding rosettes for my card and the papers are from the Summer of 59 CD by Kraftyhands. I added a doily and chopped up a Memory Box die-cut. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I chose yellow to go with the blue and coloured the gorgeous Eleanor with Promarkers. I mounted her on the card with foam pads.

I thought this image was perfect for decoupage and printed the pie and rosette on their own a couple of times, coloured them, then built them up with foam pads.

I hope you'll join in with our celebrations for Eleanor and Pickles. Please visit the Lacy Sunshine Challenge Blog to see what the wonderful DT have created for your inspiration and see how to get the free digi. We also have a Facebook group where you can join in the fun, get sneak peeks and share your crafty creations.

Stardust Satyress

The very talented Heather Valentin is offering this beautiful digi image for those who want to enter the current challenge at Lacy Sunshine and I just couldn't resist. I've been away from home for a couple of weeks, but I did manage to sneak some crafty items in my suitcase. I also went to the Sincerely Yours craft show in Bracknell and acquired some more. Considering I didn't have access to my full stash, I'm still pleased with this card and I'm entering it in the Lacy Sunshine Challenge # 9.

I covered an 8"x 8" card blank with a Graphic 45 paper from the  Le Cirque collection, which is covered in tiny stars, and created a mat for the gorgeous image from bright green Papermania textured card. I used a new border punch from Docrafts on two edges.

I coloured the image with Promarkers and extended the tree to run off the edges. I used a couple of the waste cut-outs to embellish the corner and mounted it onto the card with foam pads.

I was light on embellishments but I had a few flowers and punched some stars. The pretty bow is made with wired ribbon from Ribbon Box . I thought that was all the card needed to finish it off. 

The challenge finishes Saturday at 6pm BST, so be quick if you want this lovely digi. Just visit the Lacy Sunshine Challenge Blog for the details.

Kraftyhands Father's Day

At Kraftyhands Towers we have all made a Father's Day card with a tutorial on how we've created it. Today is my turn to show you my card. I don't have a father to make a card for so I made one for my youngest daughter to give to her Dad.

I used the Man About Town CD from  Kraftyhands to make this 8"x 8" card.

I chose elements from different pages to make up my own card instead of using one of the card sets on the disc. I used a strip of brown card though the ribbon threader.

I prepared all my mats and die-cuts from Papermania Textured dark brown card. The dies are Spellbinders Donna Salazar Cogs and Joy! Crafts Square Frame.

I matted everything up ready to assemble the card.

I rubbed Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Wax in Cast Bronze on the die-cut cogs.

I always play around with the layout before sticking anything down. I used foam pads and double sided tape once I was happy with the arrangement.

I added the sentiment before printing the insert page. It's just the sort of cheeky thing our daughter would say.

I hope you've enjoyed my "behind the scenes" look today on how I made this card. Don't forget to visit the Kraftyhands webshop for your crafty needs and the Kraftyhands Blog for more inspiration.
Our current Kraftyhands Blog Challenge is "No Squares Allowed" where the lucky winner will get a £20 Kraftyhands voucher if they have used a Kraftyhands product.

Emma's Crafty Challenge #17

Welcome to Emma's Crafty Challenge #17 and thank you to all those who took part in our Pink and Blue challenge. The winner will be announced in a few days.
The theme for this challenge is

"Buttons and Bows"

Our sponsor for this month is Carley Duff from Creata who is offering a prize of a fabulous bundle of crafty goodies.

I covered an 8"x 8" card blank with Papermania Kraft Card and layered a paper from MCS Quintessential Country Garden and another from a Prima paper pad. I inked the edges with Antique Linen Distress Ink and added a couple of lengths of seam binding and a small bow. 

I used a Memory Box die to cut two floral circles from white card and coloured them with Promarkers. The postcards are from the Prima paper and the quadruple bow is seam binding.

I finished with four large buttons and three paper flowers along the bottom and three small buttons at the top.

Here is a photo of the wonderful prize from Creata that you could win.

We would love to see your crafty creations featuring Buttons and Bows. Your entry doesn't have to be a card, it could be any crafty project that follows the theme. Please visit the Challenge Blog to see more inspiration from the talented DT and to check out the rules.

Kraftyhands June Challenge

The first Saturday of the month is here again and that means a brand new challenge on the  Kraftyhands Challenge Blog. Thank you to everyone who entered our challenge last month, it was another great turnout. The lucky winner and Top Three have been announced on the Kraftyhands Challenge Blog.
This month the theme is:

"No Squares Allowed"

If you use a Kraftyhands product on your entry you could win a £20 voucher to spend in the Kraftyhands webshop so pop over there to see what fabulous goodies you can pick up.

A couple of months ago I saw a fabulous card on Michelle's Lady of Leisure blog. It was a "Star Card". Michelle provided the link to the blog where she found the tutorial. The above photo is how the card looks when folded.

I used a 12"x 12" piece of white card and two papers printed from the Edwardian Rose Garden CD from Kraftyhands. I created the card as per the tutorial and cut the papers to fit all the sides. I used a small rose topper for the inside centre.

For the front, I printed one of the larger rose toppers three times and sprayed with Spray and Shine before decoupaging the image. I mounted it on a doily and added the sentiment. I finished the card with bows and some pearls.

We hope you can join in with this challenge and look forward to seeing your "No Squares Allowed" creations. A full list of the challenge rules can be found on the Kraftyhands Challenge blog. There is a £20 voucher to spend on the Kraftyhands website for the lucky winner if they have used a Kraftyhands product, and blinkies for the top three entries.  Please pop over to the blog to see the wonderful "non-square" creations the other DT members have created for your inspiration.