Blue roses

It's nice to have a bit of time off work to colour and distress (or should that be de-stress) :)

This beautiful mermaid digi image Scarlet Lips from Ching-Chou Kuik was my choice to colour today.  I used my favourite ProMarkers to colour her with and used some biro to highlight her hair.  I've also added some Deco Art glitter to her hair and jewellery.

She's mounted onto distressed papers from Lili of the Valley/NitWits Solids - Snow Princess, Lili of the Valley Frosty Christmas and Craft Creations Pastel Chic.

The ribbon is vintage ivory fluted sheer edged from The Ribbon Girl.  I've hand tied a bow in the same ribbon.

The crystal bead spray to the left of the image was bought from Hobby Craft ages ago.  The self adhesive pearlised gems also came from Hobby Craft.

The final embellishments are a silver anchor and a silver fish from The Ribbon Girl.

Finally managed to get this blogged now I've done my socialising bit :)

Hope you're all having a good break

Andrea x

I've entered this card into the Facebook challenge on Ching-Chou Kuik's December challenge.

I've also like to enter this card into the following challenges

Divas by Design - Anything Goes

Winter Wonderland - Fussy and Fancy

Sweet Stampin - Anything Goes

Art by Miran - Anything Goes

Glitter n a Sparkle - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Pick a Fav (Anything Goes)

Avenue 613 - Anything Goes

  

Penguin in a tree!

There's a new challenge over at Through The Craft Room Door starting 30 December 2014.  The theme as usual is Anything Goes this time we're sponsored by Stamping Boutique.  We have some changes to the challenge for 2015 so be sure to check it out.

The image I chose to use for my card is just so cute - Peek a Boo Penguin Christmas Ornament.  This is only my second card as a DT member for them so hope you like it :)

I wasn't quite sure what to do with him at first apart from I wanted to do him on a white glittery bauble to make his image stand out.  The penguin and bauble are both coloured with ProMarkers.  The image is cut out using two Spellbinders dies.  Once I got this far I set the image aside and mulled things over for a bit.  Finally I decided I wanted him to look like he was in a Christmas tree.  The pine needles are all hand drawn with polychromos pencils.  I then painted glue all over the bauble and sprinkled some DecoArt glitter on to make the bauble shine.

The papers I've used are from Lili of the Valley/NitWit - Festive Trimmings and Simple Joys and are all mounted on red card stock before layering them onto the card.

The ribbon is cream with a silvered edging (bought from Lili of the Valley a while ago). There are some silver glittery holly leaves from Hobby Craft and to finish the card off some clear rhine stones and some red pearlised self adhesive gems.

Final Christmas card of the year - perhaps seen as tomorrow is the 31 Dec ;)

Happy crafting

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges.

Passion For ProMarkers - Mega Christmas Challenge - Bingo where I've used die cuts/free/glitter

Wags n Whiskers - Merry Christmas

Graph It Colouring Crazy Challenge - Festive Wishes

Creative Card Crew - Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes @ Christmas

Christmas Card Challenges - Anything Goes

Fairy garden

During my Christmas chill out I decided to colour this beautiful Orchid Fairy digi from Aurora Wings.  I decided to colour the flowers pink and the fairy in shades of yellow to give her a golden glow.  I used ProMarkers to do this.  I wanted her wings to shine and sparkle so I painted some glue onto her wings then sprinkled DecoArt glitter onto them and some of the surrounding flowers.  I've done a close up so you can see the effect on her wings.

Once I had the image finished I decided to use papers from Lili of the Valley/Raspberry Road Designs - Timeless Victorian, Antebellum and Lili of the Valley/NitWit Solids - Bonnets and Bowties and Solids - Always and Forever.  To give the card a more old fashioned vintage feel I distressed the papers.  The lace underneath the image is from Ribbon Girl.

I've added in this close up image of the flowers and leaves I've used.  They're a selection from Wild Orchid Crafts and Ribbon Girl.  The only other embellishments I've used are a pearl swirl and some self adhesive clear rhinestones.

I don't usually show so many pictures of my cards but thought you might appreciate a closer look at some of the detail.

Hope you've all had a fantastic Christmas

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Butterfly Challenge - All Kinds of Fairy

Sparkles - 4th Anniversary Anything Goes

Aurora Wings - All That Glitters

Creative Card Crew - Anything Goes

Divas by Design - Anything Goes

Winter Wonderland - Fussy and Fancy

Sweet Stampin - Anything Goes

Art by Miran - Anything Goes

Deep Ocean Challenge - Favourite Card of 2014

Glitter n Sparkle - Anything Goes

Avenue 613 - Anything Goes

Little skater

 I coloured this beautiful little stamp from All Dressed Up before Christmas and have just made her into a card.  The image is Little Skater and I've sketched a skate reflection into the ice underneath her foot.  She's coloured with ProMarkers, cut out with a Spellbinders die and some glitter added to enhance the ice effect.  I've also used a white gel pen to hightlight her skates, earmuffs and bow.

The papers are from Lili of the Valley Frosty Christmas and Lili of the Valley/NitWits Petal Fresh.  The strip of ribbon, white with silver edging was purchased from Lili of the Valley a while ago.  The sentiment is also from Lili of the Valley one from a Sentiments Art Pad which I've coloured with a blue ProMarker.

To make it look like she was skating in a winter wonderland I've added some embellishments to look like tree branches.  These are some clear beaded crystal leaves and some pearl & crystal branches from the Ribbon Girl.

Final touches to the card are some tiny silver star beads and some blue and white pearlised self adhesive gems.

Here's hoping the snow stays away and we don't end up with a winter wonderland ourselves

Happy Boxing Day :)

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

All Dressed Up - Anything Goes

Inky Chicks - Winter Wonderland

Stamping Sensations - Winter Wonderland

Digi Choosday - Last Minute Christmas

Winter Wonderland - Fussy and Fancy

Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes Christmas

Felicity in the snow

The image of this card was coloured for the Current Make It Crafty colour challenge Glistening Ice and Snow.  The image is made up of two digis Felicity and Cold by Light.  To make it look Christmassy I used green and red ProMarkers  The snow is coloured by using a combination of  copics, a white gel pen and some glossy accents from Ribbon Girl.  Once I'd finished colouring the image I decided to make it into a card.

The image is mounted onto some plain black card stock to frame it before mounting it onto the card.  The only other thing I've added to the card are some black and red pearlised self adhesive gems.

The card went to one of my work colleagues who loved it :)

This will probably be my last post before Christmas, so here's wishing you all a fantastic Christmas -hope it's a good one

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Without Words - Christmas (Modern Look)

Wags n Whiskers - Merry Christmas

Digi Choosday - Last Minute Xmas

Deep Ocean - Christmas is all around

Cold hands warm heart

I've recently discovered digi stamps and I'm loving what I'm finding.  What ate me off - it was my guest design spots for Decmeber ABC Challenge.  This was one of the Sherri Baldy images I was possibly going to use for their latest challenge Z is for Zany but I ended up using a different image.

I've had a lazy Sunday crafting and coloured Snow Girl Pretty Winter with ProMarkers, the cut it out with a Spellbingers die.

Papers used are Lili of the Valley/NitWit - Simple Joys and 'Twas the Night.  The sentiment so from the Christmas Grungy Messages stamps collection.  I bought the poinsettias a while ago when I was in the Lili of the Valley shop.

The only other extras are some black self adhesive gems and some enamelled red self adhesive gems.

I love how this stamps and card came out it's such a fun image for Christmas.

Only a few more days at work to go

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

My Besties - Anything Goes - Poinsettas

Paradise of Stamps - Christmas

Papertake a Weekly - Anything Goes as Long as it's Festive

Deep Ocean Challenge - Christmas is all around

I Love ProMarkers - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations - Christmas / New Year

Winter Wonderland - Fussy and Fancy

Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes Christmas

Present ladder

Yes I'm still making Christmas cards.  Trouble with selling them at work is all the people you want to give them to get to see the ones you've made - so this is a surprise card for someone :)

The image I've used is All Dressed Up for Christmas.  I'm a real fairy fan so when I saw this it was right up my street - bit of Yorkshire slang for you :) I decided to colour her in my favourite colour combination purple and blue using ProMarkers.  I've added some white highlights to the baubles and presents with a white gel pen.  The image has been cut out with a Spellbinders die and edged with a purple ProMarker before mounting on the card.

Papers are LOTV Frosty Christmas, LOTV/NitWits Solids - Snow Princess and Snow Princess.  The sentiment is also LOTV from their Christmas Grungy Messages, this has also been edged with purple ProMarker.

I've added some silver ribbon edged with silver glitter, some silver tree embellishments and some silver self adhesive gems.  All these are from my crafty stash from Hobby Craft.

Now to decide who to give her .....

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Winter Wonderland - Christmas Presents

Crafty Catz - Last Minute Christmas

Papertake Weekly - Last Christmas Card of the Year

I Love ProMarkers - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations - Christmas / New Year

Colouring Crazy Challenge Graph It - Festive Wishes

Paradise of Stamps - Christmas

Deep Ocean Challenge - Christmas is all around

Teddy for Christmas

Look who got a bear for Christmas, he's so cute with his Christmas jumper on!!  This is my very first card as a Design Team member.  I'm so proud to be part of the team at Through The Craft Room Door and hope I can inspire as many people as I've had inspiration from :). The sponsor for this challenge is Frantic Stamper.

I saw this adorable image from Make It Crafty and just had to buy him. The image is Fairy Bear and is coloured with Faber-Castell polychromos pencils - cadmium red, dark red, madder, magenta, pink madder lake, medium flesh, dark cadmium yellow, pine green, juniper green, olive green yellowish, burnt sienna, van-dyke-brown, raw umber, black.

I've also used a black biro to highlight a few areas of the image.

The ground where the fairy is sitting is coloured with Letraset ProMarkers - ivory, vanilla.

To finish the image off  I've added some shine to the wings using DecoArt Glamour Dust and cut the image out using a Floral Oval die from Spellbinders which can be found at Frantic Stamper.

Design papers used are from one of my favourite and local shops - Lili of the Valley/NitWit - Simple Joys and 'Twas the Night & Hobby Craft.  The ribbon is also from Lili of the Valley.

Bazzill Paper Flowers around the image can be bought from Frantic Stamper.

The final touch are some pearlised white, red and black self adhesive gems.

Hope you all love my first card for the challenge blog

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Divas by Design - Seeing Red, Butterfly Challenges - All Kinds of Fairies

Crafty Card Markers - Christmas, Fab n Funky - Christmas

Crafty Catz - Last Minute Christmas

Dreaming of a white Christmas

I've only done two tiddly Inks images so far.  This second one is Winter Light Wishes - Wryn coloured with ProMarkers I decided to do both animals white.  The image is cut with a Spellbinders die and I've added some snow soft around the polar bears feet.

The sketch I've used for this card is one from Creative Inspirations.  Papers are from Lili of the Valley Frosty Christmas.  The snowflake theme is continued from the paper with some sparkly Dress It Up snowflake buttons.

The flower embellishments, leaves, and stamen are all from Wild Orchid Crafts and the Ribbon Girl.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas is stamped with chestnut distress ink using a sentiment from Lili of the Valley Christmas Grungy Messages. added to the sentiment are some tiny blue self adhesive gems.  The final touch are some pearlised white self adhesive gems.

Contrary to the card I'm not dreaming of a white Christmas - it makes getting to work very difficult!

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges.

Inky Chicks - Winter Wonderland 

Stamping Sensations - Winter Wonderland

Tiddly Inks - Winter Blues

Crafty Card Markers - Christmas

Crafty Creations - Something to Die For

Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes

Totally Gorjuss - Blue for Christmas

Paradise of Stamps - Christmas

Sparkles - 4th Anniversary Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps - Snowflakes

GDT - Z is for Zany - ABC Challenge

This is my second Guest Design Team spot for December with ABC Challenge.  The theme for this challenge is Z is for Zany sponsored by Sherri Blady.  When I was given the challenge I went off hunting and found some fantastic images.  I chose this one Scan0004 Steam Punk Bestie as I thought the image would fit well with the "zany".  I've used ProMarkers to colour the image and then fussy cut her.

Usually steampunk images are associated with industrial scenes so when I suggested what I was going to do to my hubby he wasn't sure it was going to work.  I ploughed ahead anyway with the experiment and it actually came out better than I could have hoped.

The goggles are from Make It Crafty and are also coloured with ProMarkers then fussy cut.  Both the Bestie and the goggles have some sticky dots just behind the top portions of them to give the card more depth and make them stand out from the card.

The back ground image is also from Make It Crafy.  I chose hilly lane because the grass around the steam punk goggles inspired me to do something very different to the norm.  The image is coloured using polychromos pencils.  I'd originally just coloured the grass as a smooth looking surface but I wasn't happy with the look.  Here's where the artist in me came out I decided to make the grass more rough looking like uncut meadow grass.  I'd never done this before so though well if it doesn't work I can scrap the whole idea and start again.

The only other crafty bits I've used with this card is black card stock, some Tim Holtz idea-ology mini gears and some black self adhesive gems.

The card came out looking like a piece of art work rather than a card - oops!  Wasn't my intention but I love it anyway.  I'm sure I'll find a steampunk fan to give it to.

Happy crafting

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

A Little Bit Crafty - Anything Goes not Christmas

Kraftin Kimmie - Wonderful Wednesday Anything Goes

Midnight ride

The image of this card was created for the current Make It Crafty challenge Glistening Snow and Ice.  The image I've used is Little Village Scene.  I decided to try a night scene to see if this made the snow "glisten" more. The image is coloured with different mediums the greys are copics, the coloured trees, houses and fence are ProMarkers and the white snow is done with a white gel pen.

I decided to make it into a card once I'd entered the image.  I've used some black card stock, some dress it up buttons for the sleigh and reindeer, a sentiment from a Lili of the Valley's Grunge Christmas Postmarks and some clear rhine stones.  A very simple card once I'd done the colouring ;)

Soon be Christmas!

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Inky Chicks - Winter Wonderland

Christmas Card Challenges - CAS Design

Stamping Sensations - Winter Wonderland

Who says trees can't be pink

I've recently started discovering digi images and knew what I wanted to do with this Tiddly Inks one (Skater Wryn) straight away when I saw it.  She's coloured in ProMarkers and cut out with a Spellbinders die.  I've sketched and coloured a reflection of her skate underneath in the ice.  I've also added some grey and glitter around the lower half to create an ice look.

The sketch I've used is a Creative Inspirations one.  Papers are from LOTV/Raspberry Road Designs Mr & Mrs and LOTV/NitWits Solids Always and Forever and Bonnets and Bowties.

I used a Marianne Designs die to cut the tress out and did two of them pink, yes you can see right that's pink trees :)  The sentiment is from Christmas Grungy Messages (shhh.... I went shopping the other day when Lili of the Valley had their late opening and there were three for two offers on).  I've added a splash of pink to the sentiment as well :)  The final touch are some white self adhesive gems from Hobby Craft.

I think you can see crafting in pink makes me happy!  Hope you love her, I'm not quite sure who I'm going to give her to yet!

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

In the Pink - Christmas

Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes + Option of a Sketch

Passion for ProMarkers - Mega Christmas Challenge - Bingo (used die cut/free/glitter)

Crafty Creations - Something to Die For

Paradise of Stamps - Christmas

Without Words - Christmas (Modern Look)

Fairy Bauble

Now Linda had received her Secret Santa package from me I can now post this :)

 

There were "quite a few" of us in the Make it Crafty Group (70 odd) who joined in the Secret Santa this year.  We had to use a MIC image for the card, I chose Fairy Bauble.  The image is coloured with ProMarkers and some glitter painted on to highlight her wings.

 

I've used a Spellbinders die (floral ovals) to to cut some red card to mount the image on.

 

I bought the shaped card from Lili of the Valley a while ago.  I had to cut the shaped red card and green design paper by hand before mounting them onto the card.  Papers used are from Lili of the Valley/NitWits Festive Trimmings.

 

The roses, rose buds and rose leaves are all from Wild Orchid Crafts.  There are also some holly leaves and beaded red berries from The Ribbon Girl.  I've added some glitter to the flowers with a DecoArt Writer.

 

The satin and organza ribbon was from Lili of the Valley Littles Bags of Ribbon, Merry Christmas sentiment ribbon is from Hobby Craft and I've also added a Tim Holtz Idea-ology grungeboard element coloured with red ProMarker.

 

Phew I think that's everything!

 

I'm so glad Linda loves her card and the Secret Santa present I got her.

Happy Crafting :)

Andrea x

Playing with stars

A few weeks ago I bought some stamps from QuixoticPaperie, this is one of them Kraftin Kimmie's Angels - Celastina.  I decided to do,her in yellow shades of ProMarkers so she would have a golden glow.  Added to her wings in some glitter which I added by painting glue into her wings.  The image is backed with some gold card stock before mounting it onto the card.

The shaped card was bought in Lili of the Valley ages ago.  The design papers are from First Edition Gilded Winter.  The striped paper had to be hand cut to fit the card shape which is a little fiddly.

To finish the card off I've used some organza ribbon from The Ribbon Girl, some cream Merry Christmas ribbon from Lili of the Valley's Christmas little bags of ribbon, some gold and pearl self adhesive gems and some yellow self adhesive stars.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Crafty Card Markers - Christmas

Ribbon Girl - Anything Goes

Christmas Cards All Year Round - Anything but a Square or Rectangle

Passion for ProMarkers - Hark the Herald Angles Sing

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Kraftin Kimmie - Wonderful Wednesday Challenge

Paradise of Stamps - Christmas

Andrea x

Hats off

So here's the second blogging (if there is such a word) I promised.  Might just have another one if I've time before bed, but I'm doing this on my iPad so it's always slower.

I've done a clean and simple card this time, some of the challenges require this and it's a great opportunity to show off how good you are at colouring (or not).  I'm very surprised this card turned out as well as it did because I had a bit of a ProMarker pen explosion.  I was changing the fine point nib to my red pen to do some detail work on another card and no idea what happened but the nib broke and it looked like I'd had a nose bleed.  Everything and I mean everything was covered in red ink!

Anyway the image Hats Off from Lili of the Valley managed to escape the red explosion.  I coloured it in green ProMarker shades with a bit of brown and black.  This is a lovely neutral colour combination when making cards for guys.

The papers are from Simple Joys and Festive Trimmings. I've also used some plain black and white card stock.

The only other items I've used on this card are some green self adhesive gems and a postage stamp from Grunge Christmas Postmarks.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Fantasy Stampers - CAS Christmas Card

Christmas Card Challenge - Color Challenge

Crafty Catz - Snowmen

Paradise of Stamps - Christmas

Cardz 4 Guys - Favourite Colour Combo

Hope you like my CAS card I don't do them that often :)

Andrea x

Flower shower

Having a great weekend so far, shopping most of the day Friday, getting my hair done today (the blond strip work out for my hairdresser - see blog pic ;) ) followed by more shopping and blog browsing - sigh.  I actually feel quite relaxed for a change.

Thought it was time for a posting.  My favourite colour as some of you know is pink.  I chose to do Stamping Bella's Paisley Has a Pressie in ProMarkers pinks.  I wanted her to be the main focus of the card along with the flower shower I'd planned, so I've kind of gone for a clean and simple look using just pink and white.  The only design paper I've used for this is pink from Lili of the Valley Solids - Bonnets and Bowties and some plain white card stock.

The flowers were punched out of three different off cuts/leftovers using two different tonic solutions punches.  To create the flower centre's (corolla's I've just Google'd it coz it was bugging me I didn't know what they were called) I've used a mixture of clear, white and pearlised self adhesive gems.  I've also used some pink gems in the image borders.

The sentiment is highlighted with pink ProMarker and is from the General Sentiments art pad.

The final touch to the card is some silver butterfly beads.   

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

In the Pink - Diecuts and Punches

Graph It Colouring Crazy - Two Colours

A Little Bit Crafty - Anything Goes - Not Christmas

Creative Card Crew - Birthday with a Sentiment

Got something else to post either later tonight (or tomorrow if hubby drags me off the laptop)

Happy crafting

Andrea x

Yes another one

And here we go again, don't know what we're feeding them at work!  Rob's wife has had a baby girl now.  I've been asked for another baby card, but the request was for a more simple one this time.  Blokes picking cards for blokes you can definitely see the difference :)  I'll be taking it to work tomorrow for everyone to sign.

So what have I done.  Used papers from Lili of the Valley/NitWits Solids - Always and Forever and Forever and Country Meadow.

The image (from Statements - Congratulations) is stamped onto paper from First Editions Rose Garden then cut out with a Spellbinders die.  The scattered flowers are made with two different sized flower punches from Hobby Craft using pearlised pink and cream paper.  The centres are pearlised and clear self adhesive gems.

I've used a plain tag, edged it with pink ProMarker and used tiny feet & hands dress it up buttons. The tag is finished off with some cream vintage ribbon which I bought from Lili of the Valley recently.

Final touches a couple of pink rhinestone flowers and an iron on bunny I bought from the sewing section from Hobby Craft.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

In The Pink - Diecuts and Punches

A Little Bit Crafty - Anything Goes (but not Christmas)

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Sleigh ride

I recently bought this image from Make It Crafty with this card in mind.  Printed on stamping card I coloured it with ProMarkers and added some glitter to highlight the snow with a DecoArt Writer bought from Hobby Crafty.

The backing paper is from Lili of the Valley Simple Joys and I've added some red self adhesive gems.  The Dress It Up button sleigh and reindeers can be found on Amazon.  Such a simple design and very easy to do.

Whilst blogging this I'm making an unbelievable mess - eating free from pecan pies I discovered in Sainsbury's which are crumbling all over everything.  AND my Amazon package I was checking to see what I'd used was getting stuck to everything with it's sticky address label.  All I need is to spill my glass of red wine over everything to make my mess complete :)

Anyway, I took the card to work and I didn't even manage to get it in my box, one of my work colleagues bought it straight away!  Need to make some more now, looks like they're going to be popular.

Not entering this one into any challenges.  Hope you're all having a good week, soon be Friday

Andrea x

GDT - ABC Challenge - Y is for YULETIDE

The last ABC challenge my card was in the top five and I was honoured to be asked if I would like to be their guest designer for December.  Whilst a little scary (being fairly new to blogging and I've not done it before) it was also very exciting.

The title of my first GDT spot was to create something for the theme Y is for YULETIDE sponsored by Paper Shelter.  The image I've I used is Hope.  I've coloured it with ProMarkers, added a touch of glitter to the star and cut it out with a Spellbinders die.

There's a mix of layered papers which I've distressed from Lili of the Valley/Raspberry Road (Timeless Victorian), First Edition (Gilded Winter) and Lili of the Valley/Nitwits (Solids - Always and Forever).

Before I mounted the diecut image I added some organza ribbon from The Ribbon Girl with a handtied bow.  I also added a square Yuletide Festival handwritten sign which was cut with a Spellbinders die and age distressed with a brown ProMarker believe it or not.

In the flower arrangements there are some roses and paper leaves from Wild Orchid Crafts. There are some velvet finish holly leaves, pearl and crystal branches, red and white beaded berries, ivory pearlised pins, a resin dove and a resin flower all from The Ribbon Girl.

The finishing touch are some pearlised self adhesive gems.  Phew - this is most complicated card I've ever made :)  Hope the team at ABC Challenge love what I made and hope you all like her too.

Andrea x

I'd like to enter her into the following challenges

Creative Inspirations - Seasons Greetings, Passion for ProMarkers - Blooming Marvellous, 

Addicted to Stamps - Lots of Layers, Fab n Funky - Anything With a Die

Crafty Catz - Anything Goes, Winter Wonderland - Dies and Punches