Friday 30 April 2010

The Going Digital Blog Hop!




Welcome...
to the GOING DIGITAL blog hop
hosted by

Prairie Fairy Digital Stamps and The Paper Temptress

Follow the crumb trail to find see the DT's creations along the way - if you need to go back to the beginning start here
You should have arrived from Rachael's blog here


Be sure to wear comfortable shoes, it is a lot of traveling LOL! But don't worry, you have until the end of the day Monday to follow the trail and enter the giveaway (and the sale)!

Complete the Prairie Fairy DT part of the hop on Friday to get entered to win a draw for that day.
Complete the Paper Temptress DT part of the hop starting Saturday to get entered to win a draw for that day.
The prize for Friday is a $15 gift certificate from the Paper Temptress and 6 digital images of your choice from Prairie Fairy Designs. The same prize is up for grabs for Saturday too!

You will have until the end of the day on Monday to follow the crumb trail AND you NEED to enter a comment on both design team's end blogs for an entry to each giveaway. Please make sure to leave comments on the DT's blogs (you know how much they love comments) just know that those comments will not enter you into the giveaway.
BOTH DRAW winners will be announced on Tuesday.
Roberta has a prize here that you will have a chance of winning if you leave a comment at each of the Prairie Fairy Design Team's blogs along the way.


PaperTemptress carries many perfect cardstocks to use with digital images so starting on Friday and going all the way thru Monday all cardstock listed under the Digital Paper Category will be 25% off.
Be sure to use the code digital when placing your order to get the discount!

I've made my card using Fisher Beary, coloured with promarkers. I've followed our theme at Fairy Fun Fridays - Roberta asked us all to use a twig on our creations. I've used a piece of twig to hang my little sign from - it was the best I could come up with! My papers from Paper Temptress didn't arrive in time (they arrived this afternoon!) so I've used Doodlebug papers, with coredinations cardstock. Unusually for me, I've distressed them all - it seemed to work for this card.

This is my last week on the Prairie Fairy DT, the new team will be taking over next week so I hope you'll go and see what they all create - I'm sure they'll be fab :o) I've had lots of fun - thank you Roberta for letting me be a part of your very first team xx

I'm also entering a few challenges with my card:

Your next stop is the Prairie Fairy Fridays blog here


Wednesday 28 April 2010

Karens Doodles UK - 8th challenge


Wednesday's here again, so it's time for another Karen's Doodles UK challenge, and this week we have an 'animal magic' theme. Nice and easy and there are loads of lovely Karen's Doodles animal images to choose from, so I hope lots of you will join in :o)

I've used the gorgeous 'Special Delivery' image available here, coloured with promarkers. The paper is K&Co, with coredinations cardstock, and I've machine stitched a border - I made a bit of a mess of it to be honest but most of it is covered up with the other bits on my card! I'm really determined to get the hang of the sewing machine, it won't beat me... ok so the machine is winning at the moment but I'll get there in the end! I've added some raffia lace from Bunny Zoes and ribbon from Wild Orchid Crafts (white satin coloured with a promarker). The flowers were also plain white ones that I've shaped and coloured with promarkers, added a sparkly button from my stash and some leaves cut with a Woodware punch. Finished with a little tag stamp and a Papermania button.

I'm also entering my card for the following challenges:

Sunday 25 April 2010

Thank you cards








Firstly, apologies for the amount of photos - I made 12 cards in total (2 of each colour), so it could have been worse - I could have shown you every single card lol. Secondly, I'm sorry if I make no sense - hubby talked me into a glass of wine earlier and it just goes straight to my head, I'm hopeless! It was lovely wine though :o)

I've made these cards as a gift for a friend. She had her little girl, who's 3, baptised last weekend and I had no idea what to buy as a gift. So I offered to make her thank you cards instead. I've used a sweet image from Digistamp Boutique, coloured with promarkers. I've used circle nesties to cut out the images and then backed them with some little doilies I bought last week from Joanna Sheen. The gingham papers are from a Pink Petticoat download and the little thank you tag stamp was in a set, but I can't remember the make sorry. Added some little flat backed pearls to each tag and that's about it, I kept them quite simple.

I'm entering my set of cards for the following challenges:

Friday 23 April 2010

Fairy Fun Fridays week 16



It's time for a new challenge at Fairy Fun Fridays and it's nearly my last one - just one more challenge next week and then I'm done, it's going to feel very strange not being a part of this team anymore! Our challenge this week is 'distressing'... now regular visitors to my blog will know that distressing isn't my usual style. I went through a stage of distressing everything for a few months ages ago, got bored with it and didn't really bother again. However, I have to say I really enjoyed making this card :o) Maybe I'll do more of it, you never know. It upsets the perfectionist in me though, I do like my finished card to be as perfect as possible! Anyway, I'm rambling...

I've used this lovely Summer Fun image from Prairie Fairy, coloured with promarkers. The papers are a download, from Sweet Shoppe Designs I think, fairly sure the sentiment is also from there. Cardstock is coredinations and buttons are MME. I've distressed the papers and cardstock with my scissors, then machine stitched the papers, and I would've liked to stitch the corner pieces and around the image but I'm not quite brave enough yet - well it is only the 3rd time I've used my sewing machine on a card!

I'm also entering my card for the following challenges:

Wednesday 21 April 2010

Karens Doodles UK - 7th challenge



Well somehow it's Wednesday already, not sure where the rest of the week went! So that must mean it's time for a new Karen's Doodles UK challenge. This week our theme is monochrome and for some bizarre reason I've used purple - not a colour I find all that easy to work with usually. Hope you'll find time to join in, there are great prizes to be won :o)

I've used a lovely Rosie the elephant image available from Karen's Doodles, coloured with promarkers. She's such fun to colour, I love her! The papers are all Pink Petticoat downloads, with coredinations cardstock. The fab sentiment says 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' and was another of my TLC purchases. The big rose is from Wild Orchid Crafts, other flowers from my stash.

I'm also entering my card for the following challenges:

Monday 19 April 2010

Crafty Cardmakers 19 - desert island!



Time for a new challenge at Crafty Cardmakers and this fortnight our challenge is 'desert island' - basically we'd like to see all your absolute essential items that you couldn't be without, even if you were stranded on an island lol :o) And your card must be made entirely from those essentials. Hope to see lots of lovely entries!

I have a very long list of items that I couldn't possibly do without, but I had to narrow it down a bit because I didn't want this card to be too fussy - I wanted a sweet and simple card for my friend's little girl who's 3, and was baptised yesterday. I'll make all my essentials bold to make it a bit easier! I've used a digi stamp, this one is from Mo Manning, and I've coloured the image with promarkers. The lovely paper is MME (at least I think it is, I know it's meant to be a Christmas one) and the cardstock is coredinations. I've used lots of Green Tara flowers with flat backed pearl centres and some buttons from my stash. I have used circle and blossom nestabilities to mount the image. I also like to add a bit of sparkle - on this card the paper is glittery, I've used a sakura clear stardust pen on the little girl's headband, and one of my buttons is sparkly too.

I'm also entering my card for the following challenges:


Friday 16 April 2010

Fairy Fun Fridays week 15



Time for another challenge at Fairy Fun Fridays and this week Roberta asked us to use string and eyelets. I must admit I had little groan when I saw 'eyelets' lol, I'm so hopeless with them (and my cropodile) that I only ever use them if I absolutely HAVE to. Hopefully you're all better with them than I am, so it won't be a tricky one for anyone else :o)

I found a site with fabulous digi word art/sentiments, lots of them are free and (of course!) I bought a few too! Have a look at them here. Anyway, this cute sentiment was in one of the sets that I bought, and I couldn't wait to use it, so I've paired it with one of the lovely cupcakes from Prairie Fairy. I've coloured the cupcake with promarkers and added some glamour dust on the hearts. The papers are Daisy Bucket, cardstock is coredinations, heart shaped eyelets came with my cropodile (about 2yrs ago lol). I suppose I've cheated slightly on the 'string' part too, as my MME fibres aren't technically string... they're 'stringy' looking though... sorry Roberta!

I'm also entering my card for the following challenges:

Sorry for the not so great photo, I seem to have got a bit to much light on it... makes a change from it being too dark I suppose! I was hoping to get my new camera this week, but then Dex managed to break Morgan's DS, so my 'spare' money went on a new one unfortunately. Pav's promised me I can have the new camera as soon as he gets paid though :o)

Wednesday 14 April 2010

Karens Doodles UK 6th challenge



Time for a new challenge at Karen's Doodles UK and this week we'd like to see 'things with wings'. For me it was a great reason to use one of Karen's new spring releases - I love this little boy with a butterfly. Don't miss out on the sale at Karen's Doodles - you get a free image for every 3 that you buy until Friday!

So as I said my image is Butterfly Boy, coloured with promarkers. The papers are MME bloom & grow, cardstock is coredinations. The buttons are from my stash - I hunted around for ages looking for something that would look right in the centre of the big green button but I've ended up leaving it as it is because nothing worked! The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

I'm also entering my card for the following challenges:

  • Crafty Catz - fab sketch
  • Stampavie & more - butterflies
  • Cupcake Craft - childhood memories (not mine, but my boys both love being outside and my eldest was fascinated with the butterfly house at Chester Zoo)

Sunday 11 April 2010

Marty mouse



Here's my second card from my little crafty session yesterday, and I've just noticed I've forgotten to put my watermark on the photo, oh well!

This little cutie is from Digistamp Boutique, coloured with promarkers with some sakura clear stardust pen on the present ribbon. The lilac gingham paper is a Funky Fairy download, cardstock is coredinations and you might notice some more of my wonky stitching - yep, the sewing machine had it's second outing on this card. It still terrifies me but I'm determined to get the hang of it! I've used nesties to cut the plain and scalloped squares, and Woodware daisy punches to make the flowers. The silver flat backed pearls were from ebay, sentiment from Craftwork Cards (coloured with a promarker) and the ribbon is from Wild Orchid Crafts (also coloured this with a promarker, it was plain white).

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

Saturday 10 April 2010

Gerry Giraffe



I've had a lovely crafty afternoon today, thanks to my husband entertaining the boys for me. I must admit I've been struggling a bit with a lack of inspiration lately, but I think my mojo was back for a visit today :o) I made two cards but I'll put the other one on here tomorrow.

This fabulous little fella is Gerry Giraffe from Prairie Fairy - he's available here in a set (with a gorgeous cake and presents), and you can also buy him on his own. I've coloured him with promarkers, the papers are all Basic Grey, as is the die cut present. Fibres and button from my stash.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

Friday 9 April 2010

Fairy Fun Fridays week 14


This week at Fairy Fun Fridays we have a lovely photo for inspiration. I'm not completely happy with my effort - it could do with being a bit more 'vibrant' I think, but never mind!

I decided to use this lovely little fairy as I've not used her for a while - she's called sitting pretty and she's available here. I've coloured her with promarkers and used lots of glamour dust for sparkle on her wings. The papers are Basic Grey lemonade, with some lemon yellow cardstock from my stash. The bow and button are Papermania and the sentiment is from Craftwork Cards. I was actually meant to be following the sketch at Papertake Weekly, but I forgot to attach some raffia lace before I stuck down one of the layers and couldn't get it unstuck lol, so my card ended up quite simple!

I'm also entering my card for the following challenges:

My husband seems to have taken several hundred photos from our trip to Chester Zoo yesterday, so once I've sifted through them I might add a couple of animal related ones... for now I couldn't resist adding a cute and very cheeky looking pic of Dex - making a nice mess with an ice cream :o)




Wednesday 7 April 2010

Karens Doodles UK 5th challenge



It's time for a new challenge at Karen's Doodles UK and this week we have a recipe for you - 1 image, 2 papers and 3 embellishments. Now I must admit I generally run a mile when I see a recipe challenge, they're really not my favourite things and usually my cards do not turn out well! So I'm pleasantly surprised with my card, I'm quite happy with it :o)

I've used this cute bear which was actually a freebie from Karen's Doodles, coloured with promarkers. The papers are from a My Mind's Eye pad that was free with a magazine, cardstock is coredinations. I used an inverted corner punch around the image. The flowers are a mix of Green Tara and Papermania, with Craftwork Cards card candy centres, sentiment is also from Craftwork Cards.

I'm also entering my card for the following challenges:

Well we're off for our little overnight trip soon, so I apologise if I don't get around all your blogs - we might have internet connection in the hotel later but otherwise I'll try to catch up when I get back tomorrow evening. We're off to Chester and will be spending tomorrow at the zoo, although I must admit I'm not feeling very enthusiastic today as my cold has really kicked in and I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself! Must pack the Lemsip :o)

My Karens Doodles blog hop winner

I hope you all enjoyed the Karen's Doodles blog hop. The winner from my blog, who wins the 'time for tea' image that I used is:



Please email karensdoodlesuk@hotmail.co.uk with my name and blog hop winner in the subject header.

Tuesday 6 April 2010

Little princess



Oh I do love this little gorjuss girl, she's so pretty isn't she? I've made this one for an order, and I was so pleased to be asked for this image :o) She's coloured with promarkers with a touch of sakura clear stardust pen on the hearts on her dress, and I've decoupaged her crown for a bit of dimension. The card blank is a cream scalloped one from Craftwork Cards, papers are MME and pink cardstock is coredinations. Lace is from my stash, heart pearls were from ebay, blossom nesties used to cut out the flower shape, and the sentiment is computer generated.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

Tomorrow we're going to Chester, Morgan's very excited and I'm sure Dex will be when we get there. We've wanted to go to Chester Zoo for a while, but it takes 2 or 3 hours to get there so we thought we'd stay overnight - just need to find something to do tomorrow afternoon when we get there and then we'll spend Thursday at the zoo. Should be fun :o)

Monday 5 April 2010

Crafty Cardmakers 18 - a challenging challenge!



Well this really was a challenge for me! The idea this fortnight at Crafty Cardmakers is to do something that you would normally avoid - so maybe a past challenge that you didn't fancy trying for some reason, a technique that you wouldn't normally do, equipment that's been gathering dust, basically anything that you'd normally run a mile from lol!

I've chosen to challenge myself in a couple of different ways for this one. Firstly I would normally avoid black & white themes - I just don't think I'm very good at them and I really love to work with colour. The major challenge for me though was using my sewing machine - bought about 6 months ago, and it's been sat in the corner of my craft room gathering dust ever since! Honestly I don't know why, but the bloomin' thing terrifies me! I've never used one before (ever!) so I'm not sure why I thought I'd just be able to buy one and suddenly be an expert... Anyway this is it's very first use on a card so PLEASE excuse the wonky stitching, I'm sure it'll get a bit better with some practise!

The tree image is from a Kanban stamp set, stamped and then heat embossed. I've been looking at this set in my local craft shop for ages - it's not my usual style (not being cute!) and I wasn't sure if I'd get enough use out of them, but I really do love this tree, so in the end I bought them! I've added some black flat backed pearls to the tree here and there. The papers are Papermania, with Coredinations cardstock. The flower was cut with a Woodware daisy punch, with a button from my stash. Lace is from my stash and sentiment from Craftwork Cards. Both the flower and the sentiment were positioned to cover particularly wonky bits of stitching!

I'm also entering my card for the following challenges:

While I'm posting - does anyone have any camera recommendations? We have a little bit of spare cash this month that (if I get my way) will hopefully be spent on a new camera. We can't spend too much though. So what do you have and would you recommend it? I'm soooo tired of slightly blurry pics - my current camera doesn't even have a macro setting.

Sunday 4 April 2010

Pink fairy



I've made this one for an order, and really enjoyed making it - it's fun to make really girly pink cards sometimes isn't it?!

The image is one of my favourites (yes, another one!) from Karen's Doodles, coloured with promarkers with glamour dust for some sparkle. The papers are from my local craft shop, not sure of the make, cardstock from my stash. The white ribbon is from Wild Orchid Crafts, bow tied using the bow-easy, and a Papermania button added. The little flat backed heart pearls were bought on ebay, fancy corner is a sizzix die and the sentiment is computer generated. I had a huge panic in the middle of making this because I couldn't find my bow-easy - I'm absolutely useless at bows without it, so I had a frantic half hour turning my craft room upside down. I finally found it down, it had slipped down the back of the drawer where it usually lives - what a relief lol!

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

Friday 2 April 2010

Fairy Fun Fridays week 13



**If you're here for the Karen's Doodles blog hop, please scroll down to the next post**
I'm running very behind with this card - it was one of those where everything goes wrong! First I sliced the skin off my knuckle (just managed not to bleed all over the card!) with my guillotine, then the printer wouldn't work so I couldn't use the cupcake with the stars that I wanted to use and had to use one that was already printed instead. I got there in the end though!

This week at Fairy Fun Fridays the challenge is 'texture', and I decided to use a little gadget I've had in my stash for years and I'm not sure if I've ever used it - a paper crimper. I think I quite like the effect. The image is from the cupcakes set available here, I coloured it with promarkers, layered up the top of the cupcake for some dimension and added some Papermania spotty buttons. The papers are MME - a customer (waves to Laura, hello!) asked for a card similar to one I made before but I didn't think I'd got enough of this paper - luckily I found enough leftover to piece this together. Shimmery green cardstock from my stash, green MME buttons and a Craftwork Cards sentiment to finish.

I'm also entering my card for the following challenges:

Thursday 1 April 2010

Karens Doodles Easter blog hop!


To celebrate Karen's Doodles more than 1000 Blog Followers, we are having Easter Blog Hops. Yes, I said Hops! There are 4 separate Hops going on....
For each individual hop, visit all the participating members blogs between April 1st and April 3rd and you will find an Easter Egg with a number on it . Collect the numbers and add up the total. Be sure to leave a comment while you are visiting, as each Design Team member will be choosing one person from their comments to win the Karen's Doodles image they have used. There will be 4 Grand Prize winners, one for each Blog Hop, chosen from the visitors who send in the correct total of the eggs for that particular Hop.

The winners will get their choice of 4 Karen's Doodles images.
For this hop, please send your answer to

karensdoodlesuk@hotmail.co.uk


But wait, there is more, anyone visiting all the blogs for all 4 Hops can enter to win a

Super Grand Prize of 4 Karen's Doodles images plus an autographed
Karen's Doodles original piece of art.

Just visit all 4 Country's blog hops, collect the numbers from the eggs and send the grand total to karensdoodleseasterbloghop@gmail.com The Hops will close on Saturday, April 3 at midnight EST. Winners will be announced on each Challenge blog before their weekly challenge.

If you are following the UK blog hop you need to go here to start, then

Anne - DT Leader

Elaine - DT Leader

Amy

Catherine

Joey

Lisa (me!)

Suzette

Tracy

Viv

Yvonne

Here's my card showing the image you could win if you leave me a comment :o)


My image is time for tea - isn't it sweet? I've used a 5 x 7 card, the papers are Cosmo Cricket, with coredinations cardstock. I've used the MS scallop dot punch for the scalloped edge and added some large flat back pearls (a recent ebay purchase), a Green Tara flower and a red rose from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Here is my egg to add to your total for the UK hop
Have fun hopping!


I'm also entering my card for the following challenges: