Cute Kokeshi Doll

After our huge traditional Good Friday lunch of cod and chips, I had to waddle to my craftroom to play with some newly acquired Kokeshi Doll digi images from Digistamp Boutique...

Isn't she adorable!I coloured her with pro-markers and mounted her on a tic tac toe style background - 9 squares die-cut from some pretty floral patterned paper. I've mounted these on gold mirri-card then on black card.

The greeting was created in Publisher using white font on a black background.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

My Favorite Things Sketch #378

Daring Cardmakers - something digi
QKR Stampede #289 - anything goes
Little Miss Muffet #185 - anything goes
The Paper Shelter #332 - use a digital image
Words 2 Craft By #51 - Phenomenal Woman


Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Birthday Bags

One of my friends at work asked me to make a version of a card she has seen all over Pinterest...

She asked for it in shades of pink so I used some of my favourite patterned papers from NitWits.

The bags themselves were pretty straightforward to make - just lots of scoring and folding. For the handles I made good use of some of those ribbons that you always find in tops and t-shirts and added some flat-backed pearls to cover the edges.

Finally, I created a greeting in Publisher and added a strip of die-cut border. To add 'filling' to the bags i used some small pieces of net gauze.

I'm entering this into the challenges at:

Always Happy Birthday - use patterned paper
Through The Craft Room Door - anything goes March 27
Creative Craft Cottage #105 - make it feminine
Everybody Art Challenge #422 - pink/green
Creative Moments #139 - anything goes
Dream Valley Challenge #175 - spring colours
Time Out Challenges #105 - inspired by the words below:

Thanks for visiting


Sharon
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Inspired by Mondrian

Before I went on holiday I discovered a website (https://www.aliexpress.com/) which sells very cheap unbranded metal dies from China with free postage - the only catch is that delivery can take a while! So I'm very sceptical about internet shopping in general and part of me did not believe I would ever receive my orders which is why I only spent about 8 pounds....

Imagine my surprise when I got back from holiday to find 4 small packages in the post from China! This is what I made with one of the dies...

As soon as I saw this die it made me think of paintings by the artist Piet Mondrian, I cut the shape in 4 colours; black, red, yellow and blue, then pieced some red, yellow and blue shapes into the black frame. The greeting die is from The Range.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Pile It On Challenge - circles or squares
Penny's Paper-crafty Challenge #372 - anything goes
Incy Wincy Designs - no more than 3 colours
Southern Girls Challenge - die-cuts
Cards In Envy - no patterned paper
Craft Rocket Challenges - something new (my die!)

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Potty About You

I've been back in my craft-room this weekend after a lovely long break in Mexico - while the rest of the UK was battling the Beast from the East, I was on a sun-bed in the Caribbean sipping cocktails - I feel so much better for it.

So I was asked to make an anniversary card with a pool playing penguin - I have some weird friends right!

This is what I created...

The pool cue was an inspiration - a wooden kebab stick, coloured with a pro-marker and decorated with a silver peel-off strip. The penguin digi is one of my favourite images from Blackberry Jelly, and the greeting was created in Publisher.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Craftaholics R Us - use something green
Createful Heart Designs - AG use some green
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #78 - AG
Penny's Paper-crafty Challenge #371 - AG
Crafty Gals Corner #161 - make it green

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Cricket Mad

Today's card in for my cricket loving brother-in-law...

I used a decoupage cricketer from Papermania's It's a Mans' World kit and various patterned papers from my stash. I've matted all the patterned papers on black paper and added a couple of clouds as embellishments.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #76 - anything goes
Creatilicious Challenges #133 - anything goes/for the boys 
Crafty Calendar Challenge - February 2 or more layers 
4 Crafty Chicks #390 - lots of layers
Southern Girls Challenge - 3 or more papers
Tic Tac Toe Challenge #35 - oval plaid green

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Hunkydory Cheers

Today's card was made using a new Hunkydory kit that came free with a magazine recently that I haven't yet had the chance to play with.

Like most crafters I struggle a bit with male cards so the beer theme and funky colour scheme was very useful...

I used some of the patterned card in the kit for the background and mounted one of the die-cut toppers using foam pads. I then fussy cut a bottle image from another topper and mounted this with pads in the bottom left corner. 

I do like the quality of Hunkydory products but the greetings that came with this kit were useless - far too small and hard to read fonts! So instead I used a Paper Smooches 'Cheers' die for the greeting - a gold layer mounted on a black layer to create a shadow.

I haven't exactly re-created the wheel but this will be useful to add to my very small stash of masculine cards.

I'm entering this into the challenges at:

Creatalicious Challenges #133 - anything goes/for a man
2 Sisters On The Blog #12 - for a man
Unstampabelles Challenge #67 - anything goes
Fab N Funky #381 - babies children or men
Crafty Creations #360 - anything goes


Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Enjoy Today

Today's card is another one for the many girlie birthdays I have coming up over the next couple of months...

The image is a pre-coloured one from a Crafty Sentiments topper sheet - these are wonderful for quick cards and I wish I could find some more!

The papers, greeting and bow and banner are from the Fall In Love range from Love to Craft which I found in Poundworld. Finally I added a couple of black gems.

I'm adding this card to the challenges at:

Crafty Sentiments - anything goes
A Gem of a Challenge - feature a heart/hearts
A Perfect Time To Craft #2 - anything goes
Crafty Calendar Challenge - more than one layer
Jo's Scrap Shack #220 - anything goes


Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Fairy Happy Birthday

Today's card was made with an image and some two-tone ombre patterned paper that came with a very old edition of Making Cards magazine...

I cut out the image using a fancy braces shaped die and matted on black paper. For the background I used the ombre paper which subtly changes from green to blue, again matted on black. These were mounted onto a teal coloured base card and 3 black gems were added to decorate. The greeting is a very old LOTV stamp I believe.

I'm entering this into the challenges at:

Crafting With Friends #60 - anything goes
Creative Fingers #142 - anything goes
Creative Knockouts #232 - birthday wishes
Crafting with An Attitude #36 - anything goes
Crafting By Designs - February anything goes
Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #156 - feminine anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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It's Happy Hour!

I've got a few birthdays coming up over the next few weeks so I've spent the afternoon making some girly cards...

I bought these cocktail digis some time ago on an Etsy site and while sorting through some old Making Cards magazines I came across some some perfect patterned paper to go with the image. I've used Pro-markers to colour the image and a bright cerise card base.
I'm entering this make into the challenges at:

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #75 - anything goes
Crafty Catz #402 - one for the girls
Crafty Friends #76 - anything goes
C R A F T Challenge #453 - three of a kind
Colour Crazy Challenge #5 - anything goes

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Red Red Wine

I was asked to make a card for a friend's Dad for his 50th birthday...

The digi stamp is an old one from my favourite store - The Digistamp Boutique. I re sized the images to quite a large size, coloured them using Pro-markers and carefully fussy-cut. The embossed background is a metal grating design that I 'found' in a drawer over Christmas - am I the only crafter who finds tidying up just as good as shopping!

The greeting and number were created using various dies and I used a burgundy textured A5 card base.

I'm entering this card into the challenges:

Crafty Sentiments - anything goes
CAS on Sundays #125 - use markers or pencils
Die Cuttin Divas #354 - anything goes
I Love Pro Markers #351 - embossing

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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Party Like A Penguin

We're three quarters of the way through January very quickly - thank goodness - it's not my favourite month! I always think of the line from a song I remember from my childhood: 'January - sick and tired you've been hanging on me' (Pilot - 1974)... 

Well - enough on the reminiscing! Today's card is a late entry for the current challenge at Less Is More. I haven't caught this challenge for w while but the theme was too good to miss!

I used one of my favourite images from 2 Cute Ink and printed it straight onto a white linen base...

The image is coloured with a mixture of Pro-markers and Spectrum Noir pens and I've added a trio of co-ordinating flat-backed pearls.

Thanks for looking

Sharon
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Spotlight Stamping

Today's card is a totally new technique for me - spotlight stamping. My card making has got into a rut and i need to try new scary things!

I don't do the inky kind of stamping very often - I much prefer the control you have using digital images. The flower border image I have used is from Digistamp Boutique.

I printed the image twice on an A4 sheet of card, then trimmed folded one of the images to make a one-layer base card. This was left uncoloured.

I cut a circle out of the other image which was coloured using pro-markers and mounted with foam pads over the same part of the uncoloured image. The greeting is a peel-off, coloured with a black pro-marker.

This is a technique I need to play with a bit more - the card looks much better in real life but overall it's just a touch boring. With the right image this technique looks amazing but I guess this isn't the right kind of image?

C'est la vie!

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

The Flower Challenge #16 - spotlight stamping
Allsorts Challenge #450 - no patterned papers
AAA Cards #106 - quote inspiration (below)

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Vintage Flowers

I struggled a bit with today's card as I'm not a lover of the vintage look...

I was asked to make a card for an older lady that with the brief  'old-fashioned with flowers'. Some time ago I was given a pack of patterned papers that can only be described as 'faded floral and dull' which I never thought I would use but were ideal to create a vintage feel.

I used a sticker of some lilies (I think!) mounted on a fancy Marianne oval die-cut and some pearls and a strip of lace as embellishments. The greeting was printed directly onto patterned paper.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Crafty Catz #399 - anything goes/for the ladies
4 Crafty Chicks #385 - no winter blues
Crafter's Castle #1 - anything goes
Moving Along With The Times - flowers
Cuttlebug Mania - flowers

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Penguin With Present

I've tidied away most of my Christmas stash till at least April but I made time to make a quick penguin card before the patterned papers were boxed up...

A lot of my friends are penguin fanatics so this design will go down very well. 

The cute image from Digistamp Boutique was very quick to colour with pro-markers and mount on a scalloped die cut frame. The patterned paper was from a pad from The Range and I crimped the bottom panel to add some texture.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

The Holly and Ivy Challenge #22 - Christmas anything goes 
Craftaholics R Us #2 - patterned paper
Die Cuttin Divas #351 - penguins - SHOWCASE PICK
Crimbo Crackers #149 - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - use patterned paper

Only another 50 weeks to go...

Thanks for looking

Sharon
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Football Themed 21st

Today's card was a request from a friend for a card for her nephew's 21st Birthday - with a football theme...

As the recipient is a Newcastle fan I decided on a black and white colour scheme. I used some football patterned paper mounted on black card using silver mirri-card to highlight.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Just Us Girls #422 - Anything goes
Brown Sugar #274 - Birthday
Craftaholics R Us #1 - Celebration cards
Creative Friday #196 - Anything goes
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper - January Challenge

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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A Floral Wreath For My Mam

Happy New Year folks!

Today is my Mam's birthday so I'm able to share the card I made using some new dies I got for Christmas...

I die cut the flowers, leaves (Intricut)  and letters (Die-namics) using the same linen textured card as the base card, then I coloured them using pastel shades of pro-markers. I also added some flat-backed pearls for the centre of the flowers.

The happy birthday wording (X Cut) was cut using gold mirri-card which I also used to 'shadow' the 'Mam' letters. Finally I added some gold peel-off dots so the gold theme pulled the design together.

I'm entering this card into the challenges at:

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge#1- die-cuts - TOP PICK!
A Bit More Time To Craft #59 - anything goes
Crafty Friends Challenge #74 - for a lady
Dies R Us #88 - anything goes
Watercooler Wednesdays #51 - feminine

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Ernest's 80th Guest Book

Good evening - I hope you are all enjoying the festive season, especially if like me you are lucky to be enjoying time off work!

There's no card today even though I'm itching to start playing with my Christmas pressies and the crafty bargains I've acquired in the sales. Instead I'm sharing the Guest Book Cover I have made for my friend's father-in-law's 80th Birthday celebrations this weekend...

The scrapbook was  plain kraft coloured 12x12 and I was given a 'classic car' theme to play with. The car images are from a Kanban decoupage sheet and I've echoed the colours for the large die-cut number. The background is quite subtle - a beige dogs-tooth check patterned paper.

I'm entering this creation into the challenges at:

Brown Sugar - anything but a card
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #448 - anything goes
Watercooler Wednesday - anything masculine - ROCKSTAR!
Crafty Gals Corner #155 - anything goes
Craftaholics R Us #51 - birthday 

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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