LIM and a small colouring crisis!

Hi everyone, it's amazingly bright and sunny again today!
I've been sitting in our dining room today as it's just too hot in my craft room. This has meant plenty of running up and down stairs to get all my bits and pieces, so hopefully I've burned a few calories along the way.
I needed a few thank you cards following the generosity of my former colleagues and the staff at the school where I have been volunteering.

I tried two different colouring styles: watercolouring using pencils

... and then with Distress inks.

To be honest I'm not totally happy with either effort, so if anyone can recommend a good colouring tutorial for these mediums I'd be very grateful. The flower stamp is from a Hero Arts cling set and the sentiments are from Papertrey Inks Signature Sentiments set.

The essential ingredient for the LIM Challenge is 'sewing' so I've opted for some faux stitching. If you get the chance you really must drop by at the LIM Blog as the entries for this week's challenge are fabulous!


Happy crafting everyone!

Back in black...

I'm not sure why I've not joined in a CAS-ual Friday Challenge before as I always enjoy taking a peek at the DT cards and entries.

This week the challenge was simply too good to miss as it involves creating a card with a black background. I love making cards with a black base as it always seems to add a little dash of drama!

Here's one of my most favourite Hero Arts stamps making yet another appearance. I would certainly include this set in my desert island crafting kit!

Anyhoo, I'm going to link this one up and then settle back and enjoy a lovely, lazy Friday evening.
I got a new job yesterday so feel like rewarding myself with a take-away and something nice to drink.

Have a good one girlies and happy crafting!

Three...

How can it be Wednesday already??? Who stole Monday and Tuesday???

One good thing about it being Wednesday is that it's 'nosey nosey around blogland' day with the lovely Julia over at Stamping Ground for WOYWW. I'll grab a cuppa and join the fun asap.

As you can see today my workdesk seems to be covered by catfood boxes. I'm not on commission for Whiskers, nor has my cat taken total control of my desk! I've simply discovered that these boxes are great for storing stamps etc. When I get the opportunity I'll cover them or paint them, and rearrange my storage. Does anyone else use slightly 'odd' things for storage? I'd be interested to hear your weird but wonderful storage solutions.

You can also see my list of cards that still need to be completed - it never seems to get any shorter! The stamps that are on view are for future projects...

This week the Less is More challenge is:

Three of anything: three colours, three images, three stamps, three words, the number three.... or in my case three bears.

These little sweeties are obviously missing Goldilocks: life is so quiet without her eating their food, using their furniture and sleeping in their beds.

I wanted to try my hand at colouring with pencils on a textured paper, but I'm not that pleased with the result. Usually, I like texture to show through my colouring but I think this is a bit distracting much! Anyhooo, you can still see that these bears are adorable. Because they are digital lovelies from the very talented Torico I could make them larger/smaller and flip them to give each it's own personality. You'll notice that Momma bear is carrying a few extra pounds bless her!

Happy crafting everyone!

You are my sunshine.

 Hi peeps, hope your Saturday is bright and sunny!

Here's a little card that I made last week for my Mom. She's had a rough time with some tummy problems recently, and has been feeling low. Mom loves sunflowers, so I thought I'd surprise her with this little beauty from the super talented Torico at Birdie Brown.

The image is paper pieced from scraps. I used Distress inks and Envelope Pattern Design Block from Hero Arts to create her little straw hat!

I'm linking up with OSAAT - Sun
and The ABC Challenge - Surprise

Have a happy day everyone!

Using your twinchies

Twinchies make great toppers!

Here's my second entry for the current Twinchies Challenge, which morphed effortlessly into my entry for the current 'Less is More' colour challenge below.

The flowers were cut using a scrap of gold card (thanks Mom) and my new Memory Box Die - so pretty. A sentiment stamped in gold versacolour, the addition of some gems, a little scoring and my twinchie card was good to go.

Happy crafting everyone!

Show us your Twinchies - Challenge #1

Twinchies are 2 inch x 2 inch squares of 'Art' and I have to say that they are possibly going to become a new crafting obsession for yours truly!

Here's my first 'Twinchie': paper pieced using a favourite Hero Arts stamp and some teeny, tiny scraps of paper. The twinchie is matted on black card and looks very sweet IRL!

The new Challenge Blog can be found here and looks like it's going to a fun and inspirational new addition to Blogland.

Happy 'Twinchie-ing' everyone!

 

Less is more/WOYWW

Another wet, soggy day in the UK, but a good opportunity to wall-up in my craftroom and get stamping and cutting.
This is what was on my workdesk earlier today...

A festival of paper piecing AND the beginnings of my Less is More card, drying on the top right of the picture. Don't forget that you can check out all the other Wednesday creativity as usual via Julia's blog.

This week the LIM Challenge is to use their rather elegant header as the inspiration for your card.

I love the LIM colour combo so came up with this card. Possibly not enough black on it, but I like the effect of the Distress inks, which I spritzed with Glimmer Mist.

 I also tried this design in brighter colours and my crafting buddy Mr C came to supervise the outdoor photoshoot!

Happy 4th July to my friends in the USA, and to all my friends in the UK a little advice: take an umbrella!

Whatever the weather - happy crafting everyone...

Rain, rain... and more rain.

It's raining cats and dogs outside yet again... and there are poodles everywhere!
Sorry, couldn't resist that.

At least the weather means that I don't have to feel too guilty about an afternoon in the craft room. I've got a friend dropping by for coffee and to collect a birthday card soon so I'll keep it brief.

Here's a card made to order for my friend Amanda's sweet daughter Felicity (Fliss) who is three next week. I created the big number '3' on my PC, printed it out and ran it through my Cuttlebug. The papers are from the last few pages of my Echo Park Springtime pad. I'd love to buy another pad as these papers are just perfect for little girl cards, but alas they seem to have all sold out.

I thought this Saturated Canary image was just what I wanted for Flissy's card as she always wears her hair in sweet little bunches. I cut out the image very carefully so that I still have her sister to use on another card! The sentiments are from Hero Arts.
I'm linking this card up with the following challenges:
Charisma Cardz Challenge #25 - Anything Goes
MAWTT - Birthday Week 2 (Many happies girls!!!)
Crafts and Me - Challenge #90 Birthdays
Chocolates, Coffee and Cards Challenges - Anything Goes.
OSAAT - Use a Digi (The girl's have got a DT call out).

Well, I best go and put the kettle on as my mate will be here any minute. I'll also go and check for leaks as we had a huge flood of almost biblical proportions in our laundry room the other day.

Happy crafting everyone!