Halloween Christmas

Good morning all!

I actually managed to win a candy this week, I'm so happy about it! I won a lovely set of Promarker pens which just came in the mail. Lovely colours, I will certainly try them out real soon!

As it's Thursday, another challenge @ Delightful Challenges is in order. Our theme this week is Halloween Colours. We want to see your projects using Purple, Green and Orange. You can make a Halloween project, but you don't have to. I went the alternative route and made a Christmas card using these colours, which was quite challenging actually. I found it pretty difficult to make my project still look 'Christmassy', even though the colours weren't traditionally associated with Christmas. But I think I pulled it off at least to some extent, the brads definitely helped that along :) I also got to use my musical bars stamp I had bought ages ago, but never got around to using, that's always a satisfying feeling! Here's my card:

Materials: 
* Create & Craft CS
* Digital Delights Caroling Petey & Polly Set & Christmas sentiment set, coloured with Promarkers & Spectrum Noirs
* Studio Light & K&Co HW Mat Pad DP, plus some scraps from my scrap shoe box, distressed with green and black ink
* Posh Impressions Musical Notes rubber stamp
* Christmas tree brads from stash

We are sponsored by Digital Delights

You can win a 10 dollar gift voucher to spend in the store

I'm curious to see your makes, have fun creating!

Challenges:
* Fashionista Challenge (Anything Goes Christmas challenge + Blog Hop!)
* Hobby Vision (Non-traditional Christmas Colours)
* I Love Promarkers (Male Theme)
* Allsorts (Inspired by a Song) Caroling, Caroling
* Polka Doodles (Inspired by a Song) Caroling, Caroling
* Crafty Pad (Inspired by a Song) Caroling, Caroling
* By the Cute and Girly (Boys/Men)
* Hooked on Craft (Cards for Men)
* Dreamvalley (Celebrations)
* Lia Stampz (3 of Something) 3 brads, 3 colours

Tweet

Alice in Pearls and Lace

Good morning my fellow crafters!

Did you have a good weekend? I had a lovely relaxing one, first time this year we had candles on in the evening for me is always a sign that summer is well and truly over and we're heading into autumn. Not long now until we need to crank up the heating again!

Today we are starting another challenge @ PCD, we are challenging you to make a crafty project using pearls and lace. I love pearls and use them a lot of my cards, so that wasn't really difficult to incorporate, but the lace was a different story altogether. I had a card made, but then noticed a blob of glue, attempted to wipe it away and took the DP design with it......I hate that. So this is my second attempt, let's see if your makes come together a little more easily :)

Materials:
*Create & Craft CS
* PCD Alice, coloured with Promarkers and Spectrum Noirs
* Art Talent & Docraft Country Companions For Someone Special DPs
* Lace from local department store (HEMA)
* Prima Violet Daisy Doodles Flower
* Eline Vintage sentiment stamp
* Pearls from my stash

Challenges:
* Dutch Card Lovers (Dots)
* Crazy Challenge (Spots or Stripes)
* MAWTT (Girly, Girly)
* That Craft Place (Bling it On)
* Stamptacular Stamping Sunday (Bling it Up) I've used glittered DP and pearls
* Challenges for Everybody (Anything Goes)
* Ladybug Crafts (Anything Goes)
* Heck of a Challenge (Anything Goes)
* I Brake for Challenges (Use a Digi)
* Live & Love Crafts (Lovely Lace and/or Terrific Trim)

Tweet

Distressing Dotty

Good morning everyone!

I can finally say that I've gotten rid of my cold, man that took a long while! So if I didn't manage to visit you and your blog the last few weeks, I'm sorry about that but have really been not feeling my best. I promise to make it up to you though and come and see you all this week ;)

Another week gone means another challenge @ Delightful Challenges: Distressing! In my sample, I've used both paper and ink distressing, but you can do either or both or distress in another way. Just don't get distressed yourself, that would be a waste. And it doesn't count :)

Somehow I really think Kraft card suits a distressed style better than a white base card, I don't know why. Hope you can join us! We are being sponsored by Joanna Sheen once again, offering the winner a 10 pound store voucher!

Materials
* Digital Delights Delightful Dotty set & Just for You Flower sentiment , coloured with Spectrum Noirs and Promarkers
* Kraft base card
* My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy True Blue DP
* Vintage Photo Distress Ink & TH Distress Tool
* K&Co Roam Tag Pad
* Inside sentiment from Eline's Vintage sentiment stamp set
* Ribbons, gems and brads from my stash

Challenges:
* Bunny Zoe (Distressing)
* Hiding in My Crafroom (Distressing)
* Card & Scrap (Flowers) My sentiment is a flower
* Craft Your Passion (Bingo) I've used Flower (sentiment), Ribbon & Yellow
* Great Impressions (Sentimental Journey)
* Crafty Pad (Autumn Colours) I've used Yellow and Brown
* Crafty Calendar (Browns & Creams) I've also included a tag (optional extra)
* Mark's Finest Papers (Favourite Technique) I've used three of my favourites: using up scraps, paper piecing and distressing (paper and ink)
* Paper Pretties (Use Ribbon)
* A Blog named Hero (Tag You're It)
* Emerald Fairies (Use a Tag)

Tweet

More Christmas Presents

Hi everyone,

Halfway through September already, time really is flying! There's only about two weeks left for you to enter the monthly Christmas challenge @ CCAYR, the September theme is "Presents". Here's another of my makes to hopefully inspire you, I've again raided the scraps shoebox for this one:

Materials:
* Giftful Lily, drawn by my former CMM teamie Lizzie, coloured with Promarkers
* Studio Light and assorted scraps, Studio Light sentiment
* Tiny scrap of ribbon, just managed to tie it into a bow!
* Gem earring, gem peel offs from stash
* MS Doily Lace border punch
* SEI Christmas Mint Vanilla Icing Accents
* Tumbled Glass Distress Ink

I love using up scraps, gives me a very satisfied feeling, are you the same? I'd love to see you all at the challenge!

Challenges: 
* Anything Goes (Christmas)
* Nutcrafters (Countdown to Christmas)
* Stampin' for the Weekend (Starting Christmas Early)
* De Creatieve Zeba (Anything Goes)
* Sparkles Christmas (Sparkle & Bling)
* Creative Card Crew (Trees)
* Paper Pretties (Paper Punches)
* Ladybug Ink (Inspiration Photo) I've used the tree and the wintery/Christmas feel
* LEJ (Winter Wishes)
* Tuesday Throwdown (You're a Gem) I've used gem peel off stickers

Tweet

Not a Card!

Hello again :)

<<<If you're looking for my Platypus Creek DT make, scroll down a little to my previous post>>>

Another challenge at Delightful Challenges, the theme is "Anything but a Card". There's so many things you can do, perhaps you'd like to make a bookmark, a gift tag, pimp a notebook or even make some jewelry! I chose to alter a match box that had been lying around in my craft room for quite a while now. I really wanted to do something with it, but never got around to it. Until this challenge that is! I think it would work really well as a gift card holder, or filled with sweets :) I've actually used the match box sleeve as a template and made a new one from card stock, as the original was a bit tatty and I was having problems sticking the card to the sides where you strike the matches. I then used some contrasting DP to cover up the seam in the corner. Hope you can join us and share your non-card ideas with us, I'm very curious to see what you will come up with.

Materials:
* Tulips from the Digital Delights Holland Mieke set, coloured with Promarkers and Spectrum Noirs
* Hunkydory Cameo & Echo Park A Walk in the Park DPs
* Gems, pearls, lace and ribbon from stash

We are being sponsored by Scrapy Land this week, our winner will receive a 20 dollar gift card for their store:

http://www.scrapyland.com/

Challenges:
* Oldie but a Goodie (1 image, 2 papers, 3 flowers) I've used up some CS and DP that were birthday presents last year
* Stamptacular Sunday (Anything but a Card)
* Pile it On (Patterned Paper)
* Amusing Challenges (Anything but a Card)
* Kaboodle Doodles (Flowers)
* Shopping Our Stash (1,2,3) 1 image, 2 papers, 3 flowers/pearls/gems
* Papelitos (Anything Goes)
* Top Tip Tuesday (Recycle It) I've recycled an empty match box
* Craft Your Passion (Blast from the Past) # 126 Floral Images
* Sparkles Forum (Nature)

Tweet

Thanksgiving gift card

Hi everyone!

At PCD, we are already getting in the Thanksgiving mood with the new release this month. The set consists of a pilgrim boy and girl as well as the cute little turkey I've used for my make today. Have a look on the blog to see the set and more lovely examples from my fellow teamies!

I decided on a gift card I guess you could use for just about any gift. I wanted to use some leaves on the card and found some chipboard ones in my stash, but they were bright blue and pink and therefore not really that suitable. However, I just covered them with some orange & red scraps I still had, making them fit the theme perfectly. I then used Distress Ink and glossy varnish to give them some interest. Leaves aren't perfect after all :)

Materials:
* Platypus Creek Digi Thanksgiving Turkey, coloured with Spectrum Noirs
* Sakura Clear Glitter Pen on the turkey feathers and body
* Chipboard leaves + scraps
* Distress Ink Vintage Photo
* Clear Varnish
* Personal Impressions Sentiment stamp
* Ribbon from stash

Challenges:
* Scrapalicious USA (Welcoming Fall)
* Raise the Bar (Celebrate Fall)
* 2 Sisters (Fall)
* The Crafty Pad (It's Scraptastic)
* Polka Doodles (What's the Word Bird?)
* Creative Belli (Autumn)
* Clearly I Stamp (Leaves)
* Just Keep On Crafting (Anything Goes)
* Tammy's Scrapping Corner (Fall Inspiration)
* Gingerloft (Birds of a Feather)

Tweet

Daisy Birthday

Good Morning everyone!

What a week it has been! I was back at work last Monday and it was all hens on deck as much work needed to be done. However, I also managed to get the flu on Monday, which has had me "entertained" for the rest of the week. You can imagine I was glad when Saturday came around! I'm feeling better now though :)

Today we are starting a new challenge @ Platypus Creek: "Let's Celebrate a Birthday", nice and easy this time! For my inspiration card, I've combined a PCD digi image with a more traditional decoupage image, I think it really works as you can colour the digi any shade you need to compliment the pre-coloured decoupage image. I'd love to know what you think, all your comments are very much appreciated!

Materials:
* Platypus Creek Digital Daisy digi, coloured with Promarkers/Spectrum Noirs and Sakura glitter pens
* Studio Light Decoupage image
* Art Talent Pink and Purple DP & assorted scraps, aged with Distress Ink Victorian Velvet & Distressing tool
* Eline's Vintage stamp set
* Circle digi sentiment from the Internet
* Pearls from stash

Challenges:
* Southern Girls Challenge (Flowers)
* Simply Create Too (So Old or Vintage)
* Crafty Bloggers Network (Purple)
* Cupcake Craftroom (Pretty Pastels)
* Dream Valley (Something Old, Something New) Old: Decoupage image, NEW: digi
* Joanna Sheen (Going Dotty)
* Allsorts (Layers)
* Paperminutes (Combining Something Old and Something New) Old: Decoupage image, NEW: digi
* There She Goes (All Dressed Up Birthday) 4 Pearls
* ABC Challenge (Wishes) Birthday Wishes

Tweet

Candy Corn @ Halloween

Good morning everyone!

Today I can share with you the new release @ Digital Delights and it's all about Halloween! We don't really celebrate Halloween in the Netherlands, but it's still fun to create with these lovely images. I've used one of September's New Release: meet Candy Corn Kiddles! I've made a little sweet wrapper to be wrapped around a bag of candy. I love what you can do with digi's, as I set the image within a frame from the Ghoulish Frame set, they originally come seperately. I also used the banner shape in Microsoft word as a frame for my Ghoulish Sentiment. Anyway, here's a picture of the finished article. 

Unfortunately, I had no idea what candy corn was, so asked some of my lovely teamies, did a bit off Googling and finally found what the little blighters look like. However, I did manage to colour the main image the wrong way around (It should be white, orange, yellow. I did white, yellow, orange). You would think the DP was a dead giveaway for the right colour order, but not so much in my case apparently. Oh well, never mind, I thought it still looked good :) As candy corn isn't sold here as far as I know, I've used a bag of mixed caramels as a substitute, but I am sure it would look even cuter wrapped around a bag of candy corn.

Materials:
* Digital Delights Candy Corn Kiddles, Ghoulish Frame set and Ghoulish Sentiment set, all coloured with Promarkers and Spectrum Noirs

<<These digis are all newly released, see this link for the full release!

* K&Co HW Mat pad
* Pebbles black chipboard chips
* Green washi tape from local department store chain (Hema)
* Ribbon, peel offs, gems from stash

Our sponsor this week is Digital Delights, there will be a 10 dollar store gift card in it for the winner of this challenge!

http://www.digitaldelightsbyloubyloo.com/

Challenges:
* Frosted Designs (Use Office Supplies, I've used staples to adhere the wrapper to the bag of sweets)
* Lollipop Crafts (Fall Frolic)
* Cutie Pie Challenge (No Flowers)
* Stamps & Fun = Creativity (Anything but a Card)
* Anything but a Card (Anything but a Card)
* One Stitch at a Time (Use a Digi.....again!)
* Hybrid Chick (Pop it Up, I've used foam pads to lift the image and the sentiment off the background)
* Lexi's Creations (Autumn Colours)
* Alota Stamps Challenge (Halloween)
* Mema's Crafts (Choice of 5 themes, I've chosen Holiday Bliss & Fall Colours)

Tweet

Spicy New Release @ PCD

Happy Monday everyone!

Well, as happy as a Monday can be I suppose ;) I wanted to share a new release from Platypus Creek Digitals with you this morning, featuring a lovely gingerbread man. You can have a look at the whole new release at the PCD challenge blog. There's several "accessories", such as a sentiment and a baking sheet. There's also a cutting file for those of you with cutting machines, that was released a little earlier last month. This is my make with the digis:

I've been raiding the scrap box again as you can see, though the mountain never seems to change in size very much. I guess that's what happens when you save every last piece of scrap, however small :) For this card, these little snippets actually came in really handy, as they were used for a quilting-inspired panel. Hope you like it! You can find this new release and other lovely digis at the PCD Shop.

Materials:
* Platypus Creek Digitals Gingerbread New Release image and sentiment, coloured with Promarkers and Spectrum Noirs
* Several scraps from my scrap shoe box
* Eline's Winterhuis sentiment stamp set
* Cosmic Shimmer Red Fire Twinkles
* Flower punch (used as snow flake)
* Pearl, gem and ribbon from stash
* Green, red and chocolate brown ink
* White gel pen to create some faux stitching

Challenges:
* ABC Christmas (Quilting)
* Bearly Mine (Anything That Glitters)
* Creative Card Crew (Christmas)
* Crafty Sentiments (Let's Sparkle)
* Everybody Art Challenge (Anything Goes)
* Party Time Tuesday (Anything Goes)
* Shopping Our Stash (Use Your Favourite Things: Pearls and using up scraps of DP)
* Through the Craft Room Door (Diva or Anything Goes)
* Penny's Paper-crafty Challenge (Sparkle & Shine: Glittery Heart and Pearl)
* Challenge Up Your Life (Patchwork)

Tweet

Christmas Presents, Ribbon and Bows

Hi everyone,

Well, my August holiday is almost over and come Monday it is time to go back to work :( I've loved being away for so long but I guess the fun is over :( Nevertheless, I can look back on a great month with lots of crafting, hurrah!

Since it is the beginning of another month, it's also time for a new Christmas Cards All Year Round Challenge and this time the theme is "CHRISTMAS PRESENTS with an optional extra of RIBBONS AND BOWS". Remember, it has to be Christmassy too! I hope you can join us, you have the entire month of September to link up.

Here's my make, using SMIRK decoupage. I'd purchased this SMIRK decoupage pad a few years ago and I have to say I'm a little disappointed in the quality of the pad. Not a whole lot of thought seemed to have gone towards layering the layers up, as each layer is surrounded by white, which makes the image look a bit funny when completed. I ended up ditching a few layers and fuzzy cutting around the others to tie in properly with the base image. It ended up more work then just cutting out decoupage, as that is usually geared toward making it possible to cut the image out without white edges. Such a pity, because I love the SMIRK characters. Also, I had also bought the matching DP pad, thinking that they would look so good together. Unfortunately, it didn't work at all, colours and images didn't really compliment each other and the card just looked to darn busy with all the different patterns, I hate it  when that happens! Sorry, I'll stop ranting now :)

Materials:
* Docraft SMIRK Christmas Decoupage image and sentiment on front on the card, using foam pads
* Studio Light DP scraps, some of them distressed with a green ink pad
* MS Presents border punch
* Ribbon, peel off borders and sentiment from stash

Challenges:
* Polka Doodles (Stitching)
* Sentimental Sundays (Stitching)
* LEJ Designs (Anything Goes)
* Use It Tuesday (Use That Ribbon; Hoarded supplies = the Decoupage image)
* Emerald Fairies (Punches & Dies)
* Crafting For All Seasons (Stitching)
* Creative Card Crew (Christmas)
* Perfect Sentiments (Anything Goes with a Sentiment)
* Sassy Studio (Christmas Carol, Twelve days of Christmas: all the presents that were given)
* Cute Card Thursday (A Stitch in Time)

Tweet