Burlap Flower

Today's card is inspired by the challenges at:

Less is More - Flowers
Just Us Girls - Colour challenge:

 

While shopping during the week I found a roll of burlap in The Works for 99p - it would have been rude not to buy any and I've been dying to use it ever since! I think with a bit of artistic license it could be called 'kraft' coloured! The flower and leaf dies are really old - I think they are Marianne dies.

It's such a beautiful day here in the North East - off to spend what's left of it in the garden

Enjoy your day

Sharon

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Hannah's Sweet 16

Following on from my last attempt at stamping and paper-piecing using rubber rather than digis, I got the ink and the Stamping Bella Posh Has A Present (unused Christmas pressie) out the box and made this extremely girly 16th birthday card for a friend's niece...

I've coloured her with pro-markers and following a lapse of concentration when cutting, decoupaged her bag cos I cut the corner off! The papers are very very old from my stash and the numbers are from a sheet of stickers.

I do love paper-piecing - it's my all time favourite technique!

I've entered this into the 'Anything Goes' challenges at:

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge
Ladybug Crafts Ink Challenge
Through The Craftroom Door Challenge

Thanks for taking the time to look

Sharon
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Thanks!

Today's card is inspired by two challenges.

It's one layer week at Less Is More and the challenge is:

Our ONE LAYER theme 

this week is 

THANK YOU!

 

 

 

I used a very cute bird digi I've had for a while but I don't know where it is from as the file is un-named. Any ideas? The sentiment is a digi from Paper Smooches.

 

My colour scheme comes from this week's challenge at Color Throwdown. 

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting

 

Sharon

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Three Shades of Turquoise

For my second card today, I was inspired by the challenges at:

Less Is More - three shades of one colour
Allsorts Challenge - butterflies
CAS on Sunday - sparkle and shimmer

I made the circle background in Publisher by using a circle pattern digi and pasting it three times colouring each image in a shade of turquoise. This sounds far more complicated than it actually was!

I cut 2 vellum butterflies using a free die that came with Simply Cards and Papercrafts a few issues ago. I added fine white glitter (which is very difficult to photograph) to the butterflies and used turquoise gems for the 'body'. The greeting is printed in a wonderfully funky font called Mountains of Christmas.

I love Bank Holidays weekends - so much more time to craft!

Thanks for looking

Sharon
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Christening Day

Today's card is for a little girl who is being Christened today:

I found this gorgeous digi by googling 'Regency dresses colouring pages' as I wanted a Jane Austen style dress to use as a Christening gown. I changed the colour of the digi to silvery grey, printed it onto card then fussy cut the image. I've added some white glitter which is difficult to see in the photo and some pale pink ribbon and flat-backed pearls. The image is mounted onto the card with foam pads to make it stand out. The greeting is done in Candy Round font on the computer and matted onto pastel pink and silver mirri paper.

The whole thing looked a bit too CAS if you know what I mean, so I added some Rennie Mackintosh style peel-offs in the top corners.

I've entered this card into the challenges at:

2 Sisters Challenge - Baby
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge - Pastel colours
Craft for the Craic - something for baby

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Today's card is a bit of a change of direction for me - I've been rubber stamping! It's not that I don't like stamping or have any stamps - I have hundreds that I've collected over the years or got free with magazines. I just don't feel as though I have the same control that you get with a digi image.

I've used the delightful Uptown Girls stamp Victoria and Juliette (a not yet taken out of the wrapping Christmas Pressie!) and I must admit it was a LOT quicker paper piecing with rubber than it is with digis!

The papers are from my stash - they came free with a magazine, and the greeting was printed using Candy Round font.

I've entered this into the current challenges at:

Creative Card Crew - girly
Simply Create Too - at least 2 layers
Scrapping 4 Fun Challenge - use a stamp or digi
Eclectic Ellapu - birthday

Thanks for taking the time to visit

Sharon
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Karate Kid

Today's card was an odd request - a karate themed card for a teenage girl...

I found the image on the Internet - it was a good job because there is a severe lack of girl karate digis out there! The two Chinese writing peel-offs say good luck and happiness (I hope!) and the oriental font was found at Dafont.

I've entered this into the challenges at:

Allsorts Challenge - oriental
Brown Sugar - anything goes
Crafty Catz - anything goes
Divas By Design - let's go to the movies (Karate Kid)

Thanks for looking

Sharon
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One Hundred and Eighty!

Today I started to make my Father's Day orders... one of the requests is for a Dad who loves darts.

The digi is the wonderful Alf from the Digistamp Boutique - he is so easy to paper piece. I used some burgundy plaid patterned paper from my stash and the tiny dart board is from a Kanban die cut sheet.

The rosette is also from the Digistamp Boutique and I made the greeting on the computer using Tempus Sans font.

I've entered Alf into the challenges at:

Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - paper-piecing
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge - one for the boys
The Paper Shelter Challenge - one for the boys
The Digistamp Boutique April  2014 Competition

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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What Makes Me Smile

The challenge at Less Is More this week is to make a card that makes you smile.

This is what makes me smile each day: my adorable ginger fur baby - Harvey B.

Though he wasn't so adorable this morning when there was a 'present' waiting outside for me...

I was horrified - the other half had to dispose of it with a piece of wood while I screamed... I've never seen anything that big before - he was so proud of himself!

No antics like that from these two cuties though...

I've had this wonderful digi for years - it always makes me smile. It's called Cefer and Domino and is from Little Musings. I've coloured it using pro markers in colours to co-ordinate with the patterned paper border.

Back to the Easter eggs now - I need chocolate after that surprise.

Enjoy the Bank Holiday folks

Sharon
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Team Colours

I often get asked to make football related cards  - usually Sunderland or Newcastle because of where I live. Today's card is a little further afield - a 50th birthday card for a life long Aston Villa fan...

I kept it very simple as usual. I printed out three copies of the club crest then decoupaged the image - that lion thingy was a nightmare to cut! This idea is easily adaptable for any football club - just echo the team colours in the stripes down the side.

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


The Crafting Cafe - one for the boys
Paper Crafting Challenge - masculine
Time Out Challenge - masculine
Eclectic Ellapu - one for the boys

Thanks for looking

Sharon
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Easter Fun

Hi Folks

It was my turn to choose the theme of the challenge at Totally Papercrafts this week and I chose:

 EASTER

 Have a look over there and join in the fun - there two wonderful sponsors this week and some fabulous inspiration by the design team:

 

 and

 

Now I don't normally make Easter cards so this was a bit of a challenge for me! In a box in the depths of my craft room I had some chipboard shapes with an Easter theme which I used with some 'egg' patterned paper I got from a craft fair (it might be Kanban judging by the thickness of it). The layout is very simple but I love the colourful array of Spring shades...

I've entered this into the challenges at:

Divas By Design - Easter/Spring
Eclectic Ellapu - Easter
Dream Valley  - Easter
Moving Along With The Times - Easter
Cute Card Thursday - Easter

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Emily's 18th

Today's card uses one of my favourite techniques - paper piecing. Many people are surprised about this because I don't do stamping - all my cards are made with digis which I find more versatile.

This particular image from the Digistamp Boutique (my mother ship!) is a very well used digi - it's wonderful for girly birthday cards...

 

I've used some hounds tooth check patterned paper I've had for more years than I care to remember for both the backing and the paper-pieced frock. The rest of her is coloured with pro markers and I've added some clear gems as 'diamond earrings'. Simple but effective.

If anyone is interested I paper-piece the image by printing it onto some cheap copier paper first then stick patterned paper over the image and print again. Then it's just a matter of carefully cutting out the pieces you want to use. 

I've entered this into the challenges at:

Creative Moments - Girly
Shopping our Stash - Paper-piecing
Ladybug Crafts Ink - Birthdays
Pile It On - Feminine

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Turquoise Birds

I've spent a lovely afternoon colouring - I printed off a load of digis this morning as my card box is very low at the moment, and once they are all coloured I can spend tomorrow making the images into cards.

Today's card is inspired by the challenges at:

Less Is More - a touch of turquoise
Crafty Calendar Challenge - things with wings
4 Crafty Chicks - colour a stamped image
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - anything goes

Using one of my favourite Birdie Brown images and a sentiment from I don't know where, I created this:

I've coloured it with promarkers and used an abstract pale turquoise patterned paper for matting. I added the gems after I looked at it again - I love a bit of bling!

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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Flirty 30

I'm back refreshed and ready to craft after a lovely holiday in Tenerife. My card today is for a friend who is 30 this weekend. For quickness, I have used a ready coloured topper from Crafty Sentiments...

I've entered this card into the challenges at:

Creative Fingers - anything goes
Charisma Cardz - anything goes
Seize the Birthday - use rhinestones
Divas By Design - anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - anything goes


Thanks for looking

Sharon
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Hunkydory Mother's Day Card For Nanna

A quick card today made with a Hunkydory kit that came free with a magazine. These kits contain ready die cut decoupage images and matching papers so it doesn't really take much design ability to put them together - almost crafting by numbers.

I always try to add a bit extra to make the cards a tiny bit more original, hence the tiny gems dotted about the image an the ribbon and pearls. I've made about 20 Mother's Day cards now for various Mams, Nannas and Grans - only a handful still to do.

I've entered this card into the challenges at:

Eclectic Ellapu - flowers and butterflies
That Craft Place - flowers and Mother's Day
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - emboss it

Enjoy what's left of the weekend...

Sharon
x

Love You Mam xx

So... I don't do stamping, play with inks or masks or that new paste that people are using with stencils. I don't do anything messier than colouring with pro markers and using the odd bit of glitter.

Therefore my heart sank when I saw today's challenge at Less is More...

This time it is for you to use 

MASKING OR STENCILLING

on your creations.

Oh the horror! I remembered an article I read recently in a magazine about using random things as stencils and one of them was sequin waste. Out came the Christmas box and I located some pretty quickly but what to use as the colouring medium??  My only option was watercolour paints or emulsion test pots - the watercolours won...

 I used some cotton wool and dabbed gently some nearly dry paint on the waste and I loved the result - this might be my new favourite technique! As a topper I used an Anita's Dimensions flower - perfect match.

The colour scheme was inspired by today's theme at Allsorts Challenge Blog -  'Pretty in Pink' and when I saw how pretty the flower looked I decided to make this a Mother's Day card inspired by the theme at Polkadoodles - Mum's the Word

Thanks for looking!

Sharon

x 

Hey Girlfriend...

It's time for the weekly challenge over at Totally Papercrafts and this week the theme has been chosen by my team mate Suzette... shaped cards. There's a marvellous prize up for grabs as well...

There's some wonderful inspiration from my talented teamies so take a look over there and join in with the fun.

Now I don't normally make shaped cards so this challenge threw me. I had some fancy curved square card blanks that had never been opened so this is what I came up with...

The decoupaged image is by Tutti Cuti and came as pre-cut sheets with the matching backing papers which I've die cut to echo the shape of the card. The greeting is a bit weird for me but seemed to match the style of the image. The message inside says... ''here's hoping you have a fantastic Birthday'.

I've entered this card into the challenges at:

Charisma Cards - Birthday Girls and
Cute Card Thursday - Girls, girls, girls.

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
x
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Love Hearts

Today's card is a request I've had from a work colleague - a 'Love Hearts' birthday card...

The most difficult part was lining up the words inside the hearts. I used Microsoft Publisher and inserted a text box inside the digi heart shape and coloured the whole lot in a dark pink shade - just like the sweets.

I've entered this into the current challenges at:

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge - anything goes
Through the Craftroom Door - anything goes
Lacy Sunshine Challenge - spring colours

Thanks for looking

Sharon
x

Kaisercraft Roses

Today's card is my first Mother's day card of the year, made with a lovely set of Kaisercraft papers and chipboard flowers that came free with a recent issue of Quick Cards Made Easy...

Not the most original of layouts but I make so many cards for Mother's day that I don't really have time to think of clever designs! I've entered this card into the challenges at:

Glitter n Sparkle Challenge - anything goes
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Mother's Day/Female
Polkadoodles - Mum's the word

Thanks for visiting my little corner of the Internet

Sharon
x

A Host of Golden Daffodils

Back in my craft room after a long break in London for my birthday and the Cup Final - shame about the result but I got some lovely crafty pressies for my birthday!

Today's challenge at Less Is More is the theme of Spring Flowers... with the added challenge of it being One Layer Week!

I used a lovely daffodil digi and sentiment from Daisy Doodles - what flower more represents the arrival of Spring than the daffodil? I've got a few buds showing in my garden which should be in full bloom leading up to Easter.

The image has been coloured with pastel pro markers and that's about it - I love the simplicity of One Layer Week!

Thanks for visiting

Sharon
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