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Check out my new photo. http://ping.fm/MYGcg

I just entered the ''Outdoors' Vanguard March Competition' photo competition. http://ping.fm/pCUiA

Quirky Crafts 2011: Challenge 5 - Alice in Wonderland

This week I chose Alice in Wonderland for our Quirky Crafts Challenge. We want you to base your craft project on the book Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll, and if you don't know the book or it is an ancient memory as it was for me try putting it in Google, you will find lots of images and the story too, Wikipedia has the best and original info on the characters.
Check the Quirky blog for some great examples to inspire you. The challenge this time is sponsored by the lovely Stamping Boutique, and if you are the DT choice overall winner you will be able to choose some really nice images as your prize.
I haven't used the sponsor's images in this card, I hope to make another soon using some of the images, but the other team members have used them and we have a great sample from our sponsor.
I used two stamps from a set by Leanne Ellis for Sugar Nellie, which I have been itching to use. I coloured the images with Promarkers, and die cut a branch for the Cheshire cat to sit on. I copied the relevant passage from the book, found online, printed it out on vellum paper and distressed it, and stamped Birthday Wish from  a set by Debbi Moore.
The pocket watch is a button from a set in my stash. I am not totally happy with the finished card, not quite sure if I should have used a different colour card or a mat as the background, but I thought patterned paper would be too busy for this one.

Do you like the grin that Alice is looking at?

Recycled Romance, Quirky Crafts challenge time

Its challenge time again over on Quirky Crafts, I was late as usual with my DT example. The challenge is Recycled Romance, romantic projects with a recycled element that you would normally not use on cards and would throw away, such as kitchen foil, bubble wrap etc. I altered a Green and Black's chocolate box, painted it first with Gesso then white acrylic with a touch of bronze. I then stamped it with a variety of stamps and Stazon and dabbed it with Versamagic chalk. The heart on the front is die cut using a Tim Holtz Sizzix die and pink and silver tissue boxes, I realise that might be hard to tell as it looks like the holographic card you can buy, this really was two tissue boxes! The heart backing is a page from a book.

Inside the box more stamping, more book pages and Decopatch glue, stamped with Cherry Pie gravestone and owl stamps, and a cat. The skeleton happy couple are also from the same Cherry Pie set and are suspended with invisible thread, glitter hearts added. Heidi Swapp clock, with brad hands. MM metal sentiment eyelet. Various other embellishments from stash and Dymo tape words.

Stamps used: Cherry Pie, Inkadinkado (words), Paper Artsy, Crafty Individuals.

I have entered this in the Haunted House Blog Macabre Monday's challenge - Love Bites.Is it dark, macabre and creepy enough do you think?

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New Duck photo

Check out my new photo. http://ping.fm/UcaWo Not sitting down, the water is freezing!

Quirky Crafts 2011 - challenge 3: Spots and stripes with embossing

 Its challenge time again over on Quirky Crafts Challenge Blog and I am only a day late, but I have been sorting out exciting sponsors. This challenge is by Lyn and must include spots or dots with stripes and any sort of embossing.
The exciting news is that there are lovely ribbons and buttons from Crafty Ribbons to be won, and some digi images (who is giving a voucher to one lucky winner so they can choose) from our very own talented Spyder Lyn.

This is a striped Papermania card blank, with a panel embossed with my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, die cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities long rectangles. The image is a Unity Stamp and is a friendship flower, coloured with Promarkers and the gorgoeous ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons of course, I couldn't resist a bag of these in every colour when they first arrived. Please excuse the slightly skewed panel, I used permanent tape and couldn't peel it off again!

Shellduck at Slimbridge

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Quirky Crafts 2011 - challenge 2: In the Spring Garden

New Quirky Challenge day today, and this one is sponsored by Stitchy Bear Stamps. The challenge is In The Spring Garden, which must feature a stamped or digi image you would associate with the garden and your creation must include the colours pink and green.

I used a Martha Stewart punch for the trellis fence, and gorgeous polka dot chiffon ribbon by Crafty Ribbons. I added a greeting using a small MSE clear stamp set I remembered I had, and was able to find, and die cut that with Nestablities. I coloured the image with Promarkers and added some glitter glue to the wings.

All of the design team have used digi downloads from Stitchy Bear Stamps, I used the cute Bumblebrella by Stitchy with the January Collab paper pak Love Blooms from the Floppy Latte range.

So hop on over to the Quirky Crafts Challenge blog and show us your creations and maybe win a voucher for some digital goodness from Stitchy Bear Stamps.

First Quirky Craft Challenge of 2011

The first Quirky Crafts Challenge of 2011 is Something New - New Year, new house, new baby - a celebration of anything new this year.

I have taken the plunge and attempted my first ever canvas. I bought the canvas with the small easel because I wanted the easel, now it just may have to stay on display like that! I primed the canvas with white gesso, first time I have used that. Then when it was dry I inked the canvas with Ranger alcohol inks, Sir Tim would be proud of me. I used Cranberry and Lettuce with Pearl and Copper mixers and just swirled it around on a felt pad. Then I tried to ink the word Quirky directly onto the canvas, this took three attempts and I had to find an acrylic block the right size to wedge into the back of the frame so that the inkpad had a firm surface. Not bad I think. I dabbed over that with a Distress ink pad, which didn't work out as I planned.

Then I die cut copper sheet letters, oh I stamped the copper first with Stazon and a Hero Arts background stamp, and stuck those on. For the 2011 I die cut some chipboard packaging with Shadow Box Sizzix alphabet dies, and painted the numbers with gesso. I inked the shadow part with two colours of distress ink and stamped over the top numbers. I also inked the top numbers a little with Denim distress ink. I stuck on some Tim Holtz tissue tape that I got for Christmas from my son, he brought it all the way back from NY. I sprayed the whole canvas and lettering with Perfect Pearls turquoise mist spray, I can't find my glimmer mists anywhere. Then I stuck the numbers together and on the canvas with DST.

Finally I inked up some grunge paper with some Paperartsy stamps, and inked the flowers with Distress inks which were not drying so I added Denim Distress powder and heat embossed. Then I sanded off the powder. I scrunched up the flowers and added a brad through them and the canvas.

My New Baby card is made using a Stampavie stamp that I think I won. It is so sweet, and I decided it was really for a baby card. I coloured the image with Promarkers, cut it with a Nestabilities die. I cut a panel of Papermania paper slightly smaller than the card, and stuck it in the middle before stitching round the edge with my mini sewing machine. I added a piece of paper lace then the image. I also used some paper daisies and a foil panel I found in my stash. I decorated the inside of the card to match, but left it blank so someone can add their own words as desired. I don't know any pregnant ladies at the moment.

I have entered the card in the:

I Love Promarkers anything goes challenge

 Lots to Do New Beginnings challenge (spooky that).

My time to Craft Brand Spanking New challenge.

HAPPY 2011

I wish all my followers and friends a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR, and if you have had a bad 2010 I hope that 2011 is better for you and your families.

I am still awaiting my curtains, maybe 2011 will bring Citylink and the curtains to me!

Hopefully the last Christmas card of the year!

Yes, still making those last Christmas cards and this one is specially because my Niece is getting Daisy and Dandelion for her present, on CD and stickers and decoupage sheets. Hope she likes the CD.
Daisy, or is it Dandelion, was coloured with promarkers and I decoupaged the hat and paws, I love those paws! Niece is from a clear Papermania set, the stamp and greeting were a magazine freebie. Nestabilities large square and scalloped square used.

Christmas and birthday

Nearly the last Christmas card, and a birthday card too. The penguin stamp is a Stampavie stamp, coloured with Promarkers and glitter glue and a gem star over the star the penguin is holding. The tulips are Stampendous and I have a spare unused set up for grabs if anyone wants it. This is the second card I have made and a different colour combo this time makes this a very pretty card.

I photographed these against my craft room wall so they could be better shots, I had to put the mini photo studio away for Christmas lunch and now I have a brand new mini studio I hope to use very soon, once the electric piano is removed from the table!

I got a few lovely crafting bits and pieces for Christmas from my son who visited NY in November and hope to show you something using them soon. I have a scroll die set, a star die, two embossing folders and some Tim Holtz tape. Lovely.

I have entered these in the ABC challenge K is for Keep it Simple, last minute cards in a hurry and these were both very last minute and I think fairly simple!

I am also entering the top card in ABC Christmas challenge, zero for zero time left, and the penguin card was made Christmas eve late! 

A couple more Christmas cards - owls

 Two more cards to share with you. The first is using a Hero Arts clear set which is so cute, my Uncle loves owls so this is for him. I coloured the owls with Promarker die cut the panels with Nestabilties, and the card blank with a Sizzix Bigz XL scalloped card die, the ribbons are from Crafty Ribbons and the bow made using the Mini Bowdabra. I am going to enter it in the I Love Promarkers challenge which is anything goes.

 The second card is another Dovecraft bauble shaped card blank, and I attached a Hot off the Press panel matted on a scalloped panel cut with Nestabilities and attached with holly eyelets. I hope the recipients will hang this card with the ribbon loop, perhaps on their Christmas tree.

Quick cards

These card blanks are from a pack by Dovecraft of 30 shaped cards. I bought them in a sale I think, and found them when trying to make quick panic cards. I feel a bit cheated that one of the shapes is a rectangle (yes I know that is a shape) and the rectangle comes in gold and silver, which means there are less novelty shaped cards. There is one more shape not shown here which is a bauble, and I will post photos of those in due course. I have found some panels that I did last year, and with the Christmas trees I drizzled Stickles glue for tinsel and stuck gems to them and added wooden Christmas shapes that were a present. I think my favourite shapes are the crackers, I decorated them with Docraft stick on ribbons and felt shapes, and one little Hero Arts stamped dog, and I felt the need to add a cracker joke which I found using Google, printed off and cut into strips and stuck inside the crackers.

I don't like the snowflake one, which is an embossed snowflake on an octagonal card and the card is poor quality. Perhaps I will find a better way to decorate it, I am not happy with the effort above which is stickles and a gem in the middle.

I went to work this morning and distributed cards and gifts, and posted a few cards on the way,  then we were sent home again due to the snow. So having addressed all the cards I had just about I know how many I have left to make now, and have been busy making more this evening.

Snow brought U.K. to standstill again?

Panic but snow stopped Christmas

I have been desperately trying to make my Christmas cards this past week, still a long way to go. One evening I sat and coloured these cute puppies I had stamped the night before, and I found some tiny cards and envelopes that fitted perfectly - quick cards I thought but by the end of the evening I only had 6 cards to show for my efforts so I am having to make quicker cards now.

The puppy is a Hero Arts stamp called Winter Pup, and the greeting is a Penny Black stamp called Cozy. Coloured with Promarkers, die cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities and a star gem added to this one to cover an ink mark - whoops! I also added a touch of Papermania glitter glue to his hat. I think he is a very cute pup.

As for all this snow, we haven't had snow this deep since the bad snow last year that stopped everything after Christmas. We don't get much round here. I had been ordering Christmas presents online all week too, with a vain hope they would arrive today in time for giving to the recipients who were due to visit for a family party tomorrow at my parents. However the recipients are snowed in and the party is now postponed until perhaps after Christmas and we have had no post at all today. I know everything I am waiting for has been dispatched, maybe it will all work out in the end!

I am such a bad DT member

So sorry everyone especially teamies! This has been such a hectic week with so many things I have ended up doing, and I have tried to make a side step card so many times when I had a minute without success. This is because I was following American instructions in inches from the SCS forum (thanks, I will try and find the link and post it later) and 1/8th inches, using a metric ruler that had 10ths not 8ths, and it didn't work, I am also not very patient with precise measuring and hopeless at using a craft knife - in fact dangerous at times! Have been out to buy a new steel rule today with 8ths, also found a plastic one which has both 16ths and 10ths. So this attempt was slightly better.
Stamps are Holiday Dolls clear set by Hero Arts. I have never been a fan of flower soft until they brought out Polar White and this is the first time I used it. Images coloured with Promakers, Docrafts and Stickles glitter glues used, also Ranger Glossy Accents.

This is my DT challenge card for Quirky Crafts Challenge blog, you have just under a week left to enter, and the theme is Around the World. My card is about China, the mountains and snow.

As I have family round tomorrow, and then I really need to get into gear and finish my Christmas cards (unfortunately the bulk of them) not to mention some outstanding present shopping I may not get to post again before Christmas. So in case I don't - Happy Christmas to all my followers and visitors to this blog, and Happy New Year too (just in case).