The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - Q is for Quilts.

Wooo Hooooooooooooo!

I'm as happy as a miniature dancing Chandler to announce I'm joining The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers for a three month DT slot! Believe you me, I've pinched myself so many times to check it's true it's beginning to hurt! A big thank you to the Sisterhood for letting me 'seek my inner snark' in their company over the next few months!

So, let's jump right on in and see what the lovely Edna requires from everyone today!

Here's my offering for this fun challenge:

I used to be a quilter before I discovered the noble art of card making. I was very fortunate to have a fabulous quilting shop just five minutes from where I used to work and spent many a long, dreamy lunch-break surrounded by gorgeous quilt patterns and jaw-droppingly beautiful fabrics. Unsurprisingly, I was late back from there on quite a few occasions!

These lovely AI ladies are having a giggle about 'Fat Quarters'. 

For any non-quilters out there, a Fat Quarter is a pre-cut length of cotton fabric. To my rather juvenile brain in doesn't sound a million miles from being a butt joke: hence my card!
The pretty papers are from Basic Grey and I've tried to create a simple 'quilt block' effect as a background for the ladies. I've also thrown in a little subtle paper-piecing for good measure.

The Sisterhood have a done a great job with this theme, as you'll find out if you click here and take a look!

Naughty or Nice challenge #26 - Rainbows + DT Call.

It's mid-month reminder time over at Naughty or Nice Challenges for our current theme, which is Rainbows! 

I decided to conjure-up this little piece of canine craziness: doesn't this sweet Katzelkraft Rotty look completely delighted with his exploits?!?

To create my rainbow background I used a technique which I think started with the wonderful Jennifer McGuire.  Having seen quite a few cards made with this lovely technique I decided to give it a go myself. I painted stripes of watercolour across a card and them stamped with Versamark and then clear heat embossed. After the embossing had cooled I went back in with clean water and carefully washed away some of the colour not protected by the embossing.

In addition to our Rainbow Challenge we have a DT call over at Naughty or Nice this month and have already had some great entrants. If you'd like to try out for the team you have until April 25th to do so! I really hope you can join us for the current challenge...

Creative with Stamps Challenge #1 Mid-month Inspiration

It's the middle of the month and the CWS crew are back with some gorgeous mid-month inspiration for you!

As I'm sure you'll recall our theme for April is Butterfly.

My offering was pretty quick and easy but I have to admit I love how it turned out!

I used a very, very old stencil that was a magazine freebie. I've used it alot and it's looking a bit tatty but it never lets me down. I stencilled with various Distress inks after die cutting the card, then stamped the Technique Tuesday sentiment and layered my card.

My teamies have created some lovely cards, so why not pop over, take a look and play along with the hottest new challenge in town!

J is for Joke: Playing with the Sisterhood again!

Just look at Edna rolling her eyes!

I couldn't resist playing along with Challenge #56 over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers as I love making funny/punny/jokey cards! The Sisters are a witty bunch and I love the DT cards for this challenge. Take a look: their cards are hilarious!

Here's the adorable Jean from AI (Still Livin') again. Sadly, I don't think she's available now so I'm glad I bagged this geriatric beauty when I did! Edited to add: Hurray, Jean is still available here!

I wanted a 'punchy' backdrop for Jean so decided to use my brightest green Distress Ink Twisted Citron and over-stamped Waltzingmouse's Mini Crackle background in Peacock Feathers.

I found a single sheet of purple paper in my stash and managed to get a base layer and a small embellishment from it. I love green, purple and turquoise together!

When I was looking at the Art Impressions site to see if they still stocked Jean, I discovered that they have a blog and a regular challenge. I guess because I don't buy from them (I'm in the UK and international postage is sooooo expensive) I've never really explored the site. I have to say that I like the blog and can see myself settling back with a cuppa to enjoy the videos and the excellent posts... and then searching for UK stockists!

The current AI challenge is 'Add a Brad'... So I added three for good measure!

Finally, I spotted that Allsorts Challenge Blog is running an April Fools/Humorous challenge this week. The DT cards are brilliant and certainly made me laugh-out-loud big time! So, finally,  I'm linking-up and playing along with the lovely Allsorts crew.

Have a happy day everyone!

Let's do the Snark Off!

I've made no secret of my long-standing admiration of The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers. When I was recently lucky enough to win a GDT gig with them I was giddy as a proverbial kipper! 

Now Edna and the girls are inviting us good crafty folk to try out for a six month design team slot and guess who can't resist throwing her hat into the great, fiery 'Ring of Snark'!

After that big build-up I'll bet you were expecting a sizzlingly-snarkladen offering... Well, let's just hope this glamour puss from Art Impressions at least gives the Snarkettes a giggle!

I always enjoy paper-piecing the sofa on this AI stamp as it gives a great effect for very little effort. I coloured and fussy-cut and then spent ages trying to fit the speech bubble!

 Here's the inside of the card...

I couldn't resist sneaking in a MFT cat!

So there we are, I'm off to view the Snark Off and then to make my card for SoSS Challenge #56 which is J is for Joke!

Happy crafting everyone!

March Card Chain Challenge

I can't believe that another CCC reveal is upon us! 

My card was made using my lovely new Jane's Doodles set and went on it's travels to the lovely Janet in Mauritius.

The colour scheme for my card was inspired by Deborah's colour scheme. Yup, I went a little off-script with the colours, especially with the brown of the coffee!

I received this beautiful, beautiful card from Judy in Florida.

Don't you just love the soft, washed colours and the way the stitched ribbon echoes the simple black outline of the bird and branch? I know I do.

As always, Deborah has done an A-mazing job of organising the challenge. Why don't you come and play with us in April? You can join participants from more than 25 countries who've made and mailed more than 2,000 cards just by signing-up at the linky here.

Creative With Stamps Challenge #1 - Butterflies

Wooohoooo, it's Challenge #1 over at Creative with Stamps and I couldn't be happier to be a Design Team member for Lilian and Monika's new challenge blog.!

So here's comes Creative with Stamps Challenge #1:

What a great theme Monika and Lilian picked for a first challenge... Well, who doesn't love butterflies??!

My card was very quick and simple to make. I die cut a panel and then got all lovely and inky with Distress Ink. I then stamped some small Hero Arts butterflies once the ink was dry and finished with a sentiment (also from Hero Arts). I mounted the panel onto some glitter card and mounted that onto a card blank.

To meet the new DT and take a look at their gorgeous cards why not head on over to Creative with Stamps and get acquainted.

House of Cards - April Challenge

It's time for another new monthly challenge over at House of Cards. 

There were some simply stunning entries last month, and I, for one, can't wait to see how everyone gets on with this month's challenge!  Mynn and the team want you to create a card with script and/or using this beautiful colour inspiration.

To be honest, I had to think long and hard about sharing this card. It's a sad truth that every now and then we have to create a card to send love and sympathy to someone who has lost someone special. This card has been made for the wife of a very good friend who has finally lost his long, brave battle with illness.

I used one of my favourite Hero Arts Peeking Pansies plus a subtle script background to create this simple card. I wanted it to be a pretty card rather than a sombre card so decided to paper piece the flower and use the green paper again for layering. I masked the square after stamping the image and then coloured, and stamped the script, with Distress Ink. 

As always, there's a stunning selection of cards on show for this challenge (with a total show-stopper of a card from Mynn) so why not head on over and check them out...

Naughty or Nice Challenge #26 Over the Rainbow

Yes, we're going 'Over the Rainbow' this month at Naughty or Nice!

We want to see you best and brightest rainbow colours: all your glorious reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, indigos and violets! Plus, we've got a DT call this month so if you'd like to join the Troublemakers please drop by and take a look at the details.

Don't you just LOVE Danielle's gorgeous graphic? The cat's expression is hilarious.

I took a while to get my act together with this challenge. I really wanted a unicorn on my card but discovered I don't have any unicorn stamps... Just about everything else but sadly no unicorns. Perhaps they really don't exist!

Instead, I decided to go with this gorgeous little Toucan-guy from Jane's Doodles. 

I dressed him in the colours of a Keel-billed Toucan. Nature just has the best colour palettes ever, don't you think?

I knew I wanted him to have a jungle background but couldn't get get the leaves to look right until I remembered Kathy's brilliant card that she made for Day 1 of her recent colouring challenge. I went heavy on the leaves and flowers as I wanted this card to look a little crazy. One I'd added all the layers and bits and pieces I realised there was no way this would ever work as a card. However, it works just great as a small wall hanging!

To take a peek at my fellow Troublemaker's creations and find out about our DT call click here.