Ching-Chou Kuik at Jade's Sparkling Butterflies

Hi everyone, hope you are all well. Today sees a new, Anything Goes, challenge at Jade's Sparkling Butterflies.

Our sponsor this week is the fabulous Ching-Chou Kuik.

I was thrilled to be able to choose one of these digi stamps to work with as they are so wonderful. My digi choice for my DT card was this beautiful image called Key to my Heart.

I coloured the image using Spectrum Noir markers and used papers from the beautiful Trimcraft Santoro Willow collection. The textures and colours of these papers are amazing. I also used the dies from the collection to cut the hearts and lock and used a X Cut border punch to cut the heart border. 

My Spectrum Noir colours were:

Skin FS2 FS4 FS9 CR2

Eyes TB1

Hair GB10 EB5 EB8

Dress EB1 EB2

Roses CR2 CR3 CR4 DG2

Key Gold Sparkle Marker

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges;
Crafting for All Seasons #123

Thank you for visiting today and for commenting. It is always appreciated x

Daffodils

Hi everyone. Hope you had a fabulous day yesterday. Today I'm sharing the Easter card I made for my parents.

Daffodils have a special significance for me as they remind me of my lovely Granny, who died when I was 17. She had a swathe of daffodils in her garden when I was small and I can remember the garden vividly. This stamp is from Crafter's Companion, called Springtime. Not only is it beautiful but stamps like a dream. 

I stamped the image using Versafine ink then coloured using Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens and a wet brush. The colours I used were Moonlight, Holly Leaf and Harvest Moon. I've just about managed to capture some of the sparkle here:

I kept the design very simple, just using the embossing folder which came with my Cut n Boss for the background. I used a little Scattered Straw distress ink around the edges and added some gems and a ribbon to finish it off.

Thank you all for taking the time to visit today. I really appreciate all of your comments x 

Happy Easter

A very Happy Easter to you all, whether you celebrate the Christian festival or simply enjoy eating chocolate. I always do both!

Today I'm sharing the Easter cards I made for my sons, both made using the Trimcraft Me to You Easter collection.

The first card is an Easter shaker card. I used an egg shaped die to cut the aperture for an Easter twist. A full tutorial for this is in my Trimcraft gallery. 

My second card uses up the waste from the shaker aperture.

I love the delicate colours of this card and of course Tatty Teddy is so sweet.

Thank you for taking the time to visit and comment today xxx

Challenge One at A Beautiful Mess

Hi everyone. Today is a special and exciting day as it sees the first challenge at A Beautiful Mess Challenge blog. I'm thrilled to be on the DT of this new blog, along with some lovely and very talented people.

Our first sponsors are Sassy Studio Designs and A Day for Daisies. For my card I've used this fabulous Buttercream Babe- Garden Party digi from Sassy Studio Designs.

I coloured the image with a mix of Spectrum Noir and Copic markers (for skin and hair). My papers are from my Trimcraft First Edition Love Story pad with paper roses from the Dovecraft Floral Muse collection.

It would be fabulous if you could join us for our first challenge, which is Anything Goes. Please do visit and meet the rest of the team too.

Thanks for dropping by today and for all of your lovely comments x

My Besties Same But Different for March

Hi everyone. Well it is officially Spring, although I have to report that I am yet to recover feeling in my hands and feet after 4 hours on the rugby touchline yesterday. It was bitterly cold!

Today sees a Same but Different post over at My Besties UK. I always enjoying these posts as it is so much fun seeing everyone's versions of the same image. Today we've all used IMG729, available to buy here. I love this cute little Bestie girl!

I don't often colour with yellow but wanted to use my Trimcraft First Edition Pick n Mix papers and these yellow papers are so much fun. I really like the combination of pink and yellow too.

Spectrum Noir colours used:
Skin FS2 FS3 FS4 TN2
Hair TN5 TN7 TN8
Clothes FS6 CR2 CR3 TB1 TB3 TB5 LY2 CT1 CT3 GB5 LG3

Thank you for visiting again today and for all of your lovely comments. Xxx

Die cuts and punches at Jade's Sparkling Butterflies

Hi everyone. Here is my DT card for the new challenge at Jade's Sparkling Butterflies.

Our sponsor for this fortnight is:

Crafty Sentiments

The image I have used is the super cute Benson Bear Couples, available to buy here.

 This time the optional theme is Use Die Cuts or Punches. I've used the following dies:

X Cut Doilie Die

Trimcraft Torn Edge Nesting Dies

Sizzix Thinlits Butterflies

Tonic Pinhole Square Nesting Die

My papers are Trimcraft First Edition Love Story, which I've distressed with Tea Dye distress ink. 

I printed the image onto Crafter's Companion Watercolour Card and I've used Spectrum Aqua markers blended with a little water for my colouring. I rarely use watercolours so I'm fairly happy with the result. 

Spectrum Aqua colours used are:

Desert

Fawn

Bud Green 

Moss

Blossom

You can join in our challenge here and please do follow the link to see all the other fabulous DT creations.

Thank you for visiting today and for all your lovely comments.

Have a ball

This week is proving to be scarily busy so a quick, late post today to share this card I've made for one of my eldest son's rugby team mates.

I've used a Crafter's Companion Scruffy Little Kitten stamp called Alfie and an Angelica and Adam backing paper. The sentiment is from another SLK stamp set called Benji. I've kept the design simple to keep the image as the focus.

Spectrum Noir colours used:
Skin FS2,4,9  CR2
Hair TN5,7,8
Clothes and ball IG1,2,8,10 PL3 TB5,6,7
Grass and flower HB1, LG3,5

Thanks for visiting today and for your lovely comments x

Pick n Mix

Today's card is a shaker card for a little girl whose birthday is coming soon  The post title refers to two things: firstly the fabulous bright papers I used are from the Trimcraft First Edition Pick and Mix pad I won last week and, secondly, I have used a real mix of products on this card.

The fox and bear (along with the balloon and cute party hats) come from the Lawn Fawn die and stamp set, Party Animal. This was another of my lucky wins last week. I had admired their products for a while, so I was excited to play with these. I'm happy to say both the stamps and dies are fabulous to use.

I have coloured the stamps using Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens. I have had these a while but only used them on Christmas cards. However, I watched Leann Chivers on Hochanda at the weekend and decided to try my pens more often. The bear has just been coloured directly but for the fox I wanted a less vibrant orange so blended the colour with a wet brush. 

Finally I cut some of the Pick n Mix paper using a Crafter's Companion Die'sire die.

Full list of Spectrum Noir Sparkle colours:

Solar Red, Harvest Moon, Smoked Quartz, Pink Garnet, Aquamarine, Clear

I would like to enter this card for: 

ABC Challenge C is for Cute

Spectrum Noir Show us some Sparkle

Dreamtime Craft Supplies Inspirational Challenge #1 Anything Goes

My Besties UK March Challenge

Hi everyone

Today sees a new challenge over at My Besties UK, Anything Goes with the option of using a sketch. Make sure you pop over to the blog to see all the DT members' fabulous projects. It would be lovely if you could join in the challenge too.

For my card I chose one of Sherri Baldy's new Fluffy Besties digis, Fluffy Sunshine Girl, which you can buy here in the My Besties Shop.

I must admit I really love these new curvy Bestie girls, they're a lovely reminder that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. I think the sentiment adds to that idea too.

I wanted to give my card a summery, tropical feel so I have used papers from the Trimcraft Crowning Affair paper pad. I've added some pink lace I picked up in The Works and some gems.

I used Spectrum Noir markers to colour her. I found this hair combo a bit orange for my liking- I'm definitely still learning when it comes to hair colours!

Skin: FS2 FS4 FS9 CR2 

Hair GB3 GB6 GB7 GB10

Swimsuit/ bow PP1 BP1 BP2

Rubber Ring BT2 BT4 BT5

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:

Alphabet Challenge Blog A for Anything Pink

Allsorts Challenge International Women's Day
Crafts Galore Encore Make a Card
Cardz 4 Galz Challenge 17 Woman
Ooh La La Creations Challenge 199 Use a Sentiment

Happy Mother's Day

Today it's Mother's Day in the UK, so I'm sharing the card I made for my mum. I'll be spending my Mother's Day cheering on my eldest son in a rugby match, so we visited mum last night and she loved her card.

I got the inspiration for the card from this month's Quick Cards Made Easy Magazine. This issue's card school shows you how to make this fabulous Circle Gatefold card. I followed the step by step instructions to create the card shape:

I also took inspiration from Becky James' use of the Floral Muse collection in the article but chose different papers from the 8x8 paper pad and embellishments to create my own design.

I inked the edges of the papers with Victorian Velvet distress ink and punched some of the corners to soften the card. I layered the inside and outside with papers adding lace and butterfly ribbon to the front.

Finally I added a sentiment sticker, frame and embellishments to the circle part of the card.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:
Alphabet Challenge Blog Anything Pink
In the Pink Challenge #89 For a Special Lady
Creative Inspirations #246 Pretty Projects

Thank you for visiting today and for all your lovely comments x

Monochrome challenge at Jade's Sparkling Butterflies

Hi everyone. Hope you've had a good week so far. I seem to be on a lucky streak- in the past week I've won a Trimcraft paper pad, some Lawn Fawn stamps and dies and a DVD for the children. Then I found out yesterday that I have won 3 Scrappers Delight digis by winning the Crafting for All Seasons challenge. I think I need to do the lottery this week!

Today we have a new challenge at Jade's Sparkling Butterflies. As always it is Anything Goes but this time our option is Monochrome.

Our sponsor this time is StarStampz.

I chose to use this gorgeous digi called Spring Rain. I knew I wanted to colour her in blue so I found these blue papers, which are from the Trimcraft First Edition Mulberry Kisses Pad. I decided to use a sketch for the card layout, this one is from the Sketch Saturday Challenge Blog.

The Spectrum Noir markers used this time are:

Face FS2 FS4 FS9 CR2

Hair, clothes, umbrella, puddle BG1 TB1 TB3

I would like to enter this card for:

Sketch Saturday Challenge #401

Thank you for visiting today and for all your lovely comments x

March Calendar

Hello and happy March everyone. Today I'm sharing my March calendar layout.

For this one I kept the design really simple but liked the idea of creating a different shape this time, so I used my Sizzix banner dies to create this shape.

For me the real fun of these pages is choosing the papers that best match that month. I love Spring colours so this month I chose these gorgeous Trimcraft First Edition Love Story papers. I think they look great with kraft card too.

To finish I just added a paper flower from the Trimcraft Dovecraft Floral Muse collection and twine and a button from my stash. There you have it, sweet and simple, just like me!

Thank you for visiting today, I really appreciate all of your comments x