Butterfly Birthday

 Today I was greatly inspired by the current sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches (yes, I know it's Thursday but timekeeping isn't one of  my better traits)

Here is what I made:

What I used:

Pink patterned paper - Dovecraft

Brown patterned paper - Craft Sensations

Pink card - Project Life - Becky Higgins

Butterfly stamp and die - SC&P magazine #239

Greeting - SC&P magazine #240

Pearls - The Range

Such a pretty sketch - no odd bits to confuse me! I stamped the image in a basic brown ink and coloured it using Spectrum Noir pens.

I'm also playing along with the challenges at:

Craft Rocket Challenge #102 - layer it up

Happy Little Stampers April - AG and use dies

Paper Shelter #549 - is it a bird? is it a plane?

Creative Moments #244 - wings and things

Thanks for visiting

Sharon

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Bee Happy #2

Today's card was inspired by this week's fab sketch at The Paper Players

I'm still on a mission to use up old stash and I came across some lovely bee themed papers and toppers that came with the now defunct Complete Cardmaking magazine some years ago. I also made use of some rarely used dies in my collection...

What I've used:

Ivory A5 card base

Greeting, papers and topper from magazine

Unbranded honeycomb die

Bee die from the range

Flat-backed pearls

I just love that bee die -it's so cute! The patterned paper is very subtle which makes the honeycomb and the bee really pop.

I'm also playing along with the challenges at:

Crafty Creations #419 - anything goes

Crafty Sentiments - anything goes

A Bit More Time To Craft #135 - anything goes

2 Crafty Critter Crazies - anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon

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Walking The Dog

This cute image was one of a pack of printed ready to colour designs that came free with Quick Cards Made Easy a number of years ago - coloured with a mixture of Pro-markers and Spectrum Noir pencils. The backing papers also came with a magazine some time ago. I used a layout inspired by this sketch at Sunday Stamps

I'm playing along with other challenges at:

Crafty Cardmakers #261 - lots of layers
Crafty Sentiments #25 - anything goes
Creative Moments #197 - AG/pretty papers
Through The Craftroom Door - anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Spring Blooms

We've had a few nice days here in the North-east and I've noticed the crocuses in my garden are in full bloom - Spring is on it's way.

This inspired me to dig out one of my favourite digi images from The Digistamp Boutique and do some colouring. 

I decided to use this lovely simple sketch at Sketch-Tanten #40 -

This is what I created

I've printed the image onto linen textured card and coloured it with a mixture of Copics and Spectrum Noir pens. The papers are from a pad called 'Vintage Garden' from The Range.

I've added some tiny lilac pearls for some of the flower centres and 3 larger ivory pearl in the top right corner. The greeting was printed using Zolano Serif font.

I'm also entering this into the challenges at:

Allsorts Challenge #452 - use an old favourite

Creative Moments #135 - anything goes

Color Inspiration Monthly #30 - anything goes hand coloured

Addicted To Stamps And More #276 - anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon

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Birthday Balloon

Flicking through blogland this morning, I noticed a great sketch at Sunday Stamps...

I am such a fan of nice, straightforward sketches like this, without any weird bits on them!! Using some glittery patterned papers I bought from The Range, and a super cute digi image from Heather Ellis, I made another birthday card...

It's soo difficult to catch the glittery shimmer in the papers but it is there!! I coloured with pro-markers then fussy cut the image and added a greeting done in Hobo font. Finally, I added a couple of strips of silver peel-offs along the top and the bottom of the red paper.

I'm also entering this card into the challenges at:

Brown Sugar #238 - birthday
QKR Stampede #231 - AG plus add sparkle
Alphabet Challenge - 'Y' for you choose
Creative Fingers #125 - AG..

thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Birthday Cake

I've had a lovely day off work, pottering about the house, sorting out a box full of 'craft stuff yet to use'!

I recall buying these Anita's foiled decoupage toppers last summer from a sale bin thinking they would come in handy one day...

I was greatly inspired by the lovely sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches - a very neat and CAS design...

Using all of the layers would have been too rasied for the card I've made so I just used one of the larger images and a couple of the decoupage bits...

I used some co-ordinating polka-dot washi tape, added a greeting done in 'Hey Pretty Girl' font and various sized coloured pearls.

I'm also entering this card into the challenges at:

Crafting By Designs - polka dots
A Bit More Time To  Craft #38 - anything goes
Through The Craft  Room Door - anything goes (14-20 Feb)

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Christmas in July

I suppose it's never too early to start and the added bonus of having a week off work means I have made a start on my Christmas cards!

I liked the look of the sketch at Sketch Saturday this week - nice and symmetrical - so I used this as the layout of my card...

The Christmas Tree digi was a freebie from The Alley Way Stamps - they have some really fabulous freebies! The patterned papers are from Dovecraft Back To Basics Christmas set.

I've also entered this card into the challenges at:

Gingerloft - trees
Sweet Stampin' - Christmas in July
Sentimental Sundays - Christmas in July
The Pink Elephant - monochromatic

Now I've got my Christmas box out I might as well crack on and make some more!

Thanks for visitin'

Sharon

Birthday Sketch

I was greatly inspired by this week's challenge at Tuesday Morning Sketches - nice and symmetrical with no odd squiggles!

I chose my colours from the current challenges at Papertake Weekly and Without Words - HOT colours.

I wanted the colours to jump out so I used a plain white embossed background. The cake is a chipboard piece I got with a magazine years ago and compliments the colours from the spotty paper

Thanks for visiting...

Sharon
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When In Doubt... Wear Red

Today's card is a birthday card for my Sister-in-Law to be - she's a very girlie girl who likes dressing up and going out so the wonderful Alyssa digi from Digistamp Boutique was the perfect image to use.

The card was inspired by the super sketch at Sketch Saturday:

I've lengthened the sketch to make it suitable for an A5 card:

 

The sentiment is some word art I've had for a few years - a freebie from TLC and the paper came with a magazine. I have so much free paper I've gotten with magazines that I should really try to use it up before I buy anymore!

I've also entered this card into the follwoing challenges:

Dream Valley Challenge - girls girls girls

Divas By Design - make it girlie

Stampin' For The Weekend - something girlie

Thanks for visiting...

Sharon

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Sketches

In this month's issue of Simply Cards and Papercraft, there's an article on using sketches as the basis of the layout of your card. Inspired by this idea, I've quickly knocked up these four cards this afternoon..



I love experimenting with unusual colour schemes and this floral paper from DCWV's Retro stack was a perfect background for the turquoise flower. These flowers were a brilliant find - I got them in Birthdays card shop and I think they are meant to be scattered over tables at parties! In my opinion they are ideal for card-making as the packet contained about a hundred in five different bright colours and was only 3 quid! Shame they don't come in pastel colours as well.



Same flower - different colour. The buttons in the middle of the cards come from a huge jar I bought at a car boot sale years ago and am still using. Dunno who makes the paper - I found it when I had my mass tidy-up earlier this week.


I've been dying to play around with the idea of flip-flops sine I saw Patsy Jackson's fab flip-flop card in this month's Papercraft Essentials magazine. Mine are made with the same template but greatly reduced in size. I've used thin ribbon to make the straps and finished off with a tiny punched flower. I'm still not happy with this card and may have to add something to it - it has a bit of an unfinished air about it.



Change of greeting here. The numbers are created in Word Art then traced onto patterned paper. The spotty and stripey paper came from a scrapbooking kit I got in Poundland and the flowers from Lakeland.

I've just used a really basic sketch for these cards but I think this is a great starting point for card layouts - definately a technique I'm going to use in the future.