OSAAT #209 Favourite Things

This week at One Stitch at a Time the theme is Favourite Things. I chose the image 'Balloon Boy 1' by BBKakes at the Stitchybear Digi Outlet. The card is for my great nephew's second birthday and as I used 'Birthday Boy 1' for William's first birthday I thought it was ideal to use the same little boy for his second birthday. Thanks BBKakes.

The card blank is a large square by Joanna Sheen. The checked backing paper is by Papermania and it's matted on to Papermill's pale blue card.as the base. I coloured the image with my Promarkers and after cutting with my Xcut guillotine I used Distress Ink in the colour Barn Door on the edges. I used my Xcut heart nesting dies for the extra balloons and for the sentiment. I distressed the edge of the sentiment heart after printing on the computer. I added three small Card Cani pieces to the bottom corner.

My favourites? Well, first of all, little boys! I love little boys and having had two of my own I wish I'd had another ten. Secondly, dies - any sort of dies, I love them all but hearts are pretty special. Third on my list is Card Candi which is safer than using gems on a child's card. Following on from these are Promarkers (which are usually number one on my list) and Distress Inks. Then, of course, checked paper - anything in checks or spots has to be on my list of favourites. So you can see that I've used everything that's ever on my list of favourites, come and join us and let me know what are your favourites.

Check the OSAAT blog for the prizes this week.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:
2 Cute Ink Digital Stamps Challenge - Celebration
City Crafter Challenge - Up, Up and Away
Shopping Our Stash Weekly Challenge - Tax Man
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Paper Pretties Challenge - Masculine
Rhedd and Rosie Challenge - Anything Goes
4Kraftygirlz Challenge - Anything Goes
TIME OUT Challenges - Masculine Birthday
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - B is for.....balloons, boy, birthday
Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes

Thank you all for your best wishes and condolences that you left for me.

OSAAT #208 - Use a Digi

This week the theme is Use a Digi so come along and join us at One Stitch at a Time. It was Josephine's turn to choose an image for our mini team and she chose Ike's 'Dragon', available at the Stitchybear Digi Outlet. 

I coloured the image with my Promarkers and then tore him out! I used Distress Ink in Barn Door on the edges - it's the fire in him. The image was raised on foam pads to lift him up off the mat for some dimension. My card blank is by Joanna Sheen. The pearlescent card in that lovely bluey grey colour was bought at the Bluewater Craft Fair a couple of years ago but I have no idea who supplied it. I embossed it with a Crafter's Companion embossalicious folder and then raised it on foam pads. I wrapped three strands of Creative Expressions' baker's twine round the mat before fixing. The red heart just behind the sentiment is cut with my new X Cut nesting die set. The only other embellishment is a small brass heart tied to the twine on the left. I think this heart was a freebie in a magazine but I can't be sure.

Please check the OSAAT blog for details of the prizes.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Digi Makeover Challenge - Anything Goes
The Squirrel and the Fox Challenge - All Creatures Great and Small
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - Animals
Crafty Hands Challenge - Anything Goes
Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes
4Krafty Girlz Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafty Calendar Challenge - Things with Wings
Paper Creator's Crafts Challenge - Spots and Dots

Well, that's it for this week. My son and daughter in law are coming up for a visit on Tuesday and they'll be travelling up here from Kent. On Wednesday we're off to my brother's funeral in Lincolnshire. I'm sorry that I won't be visiting you over the next week. I hope you all enjoy the challenge and I'll catch up with you all when things are back to normal here.

Thanks for your comments.

MAWTT - Easter/Spring

This week the host of the Moving Along with the Times challenge is Sue and she chose the theme 'Easter or Spring'.

The small card blank is by Craft UK. The image is a digi, available over at the Stitchybear Digi Outlet. I coloured it with my Promarkers and then cut it with my Xcut guillotine and matted it on to bright orange card by Papermill. I added a little bit of glitz by colouring the centre of the flowers with a Sakura  Gelly Roll pen. The backing paper is from a pad by Kate Knight called Spring Fling. I matted that on to the orange card too. I added some faux gems by JJD Cards. A CAS card which I enjoyed making.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:
Creative Card Crew Challenge - Spring
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Digi Makeover Challenge - Anything Goes
Melonheadz Friends Challenge - Time for Spring
Stamp and Create Challenge - Spring Flowers

Thank you for visiting and thank you so much for your comments - good or bad!

Hydrangea and Butterfly

I've done lots of shopping, washing and general housework today so I thought it was time to relax and do some colouring this afternoon. I had one of the Delicious Doodles images, Hydrangea and Butterfly, already printed so I set to work on it. I was pretty pleased with myself when it was finished as I liked it! That doesn't always happen. lol

My card blank is a large square by Joanna Sheen. I used my Promarkers to colour and then cut it out VERY carefully. I had saved this Godfruit sentiment a few weeks ago and so I printed it to fit in the frame and in a toning colour. I matted and layered the image on to two shades of Papermill card and added three gems to the bottom corner of the frame. It actually looked very nice just as it was but then I decided to add some more butterflies. I'm not sure whether I've gone overboard with the Martha Stewart punched butterflies! Perhaps you can tell me what you think?

OSAAT #207 - Flowers

This week the theme is Flowers so come over to One Stitch at a Time and join us. It was my turn to choose one of Hope Jacare's images and I chose Phalaenopsis which you can buy at the Stitchybear Digi Outlet.

If you come over to OSAAT you can check out all the design team cards.

My card blank is by Craft UK. The yellow card and maroon card used for the mat are both from Papermill. I used a Crafter's Companion embossalicious folder on the maroon card. The image was coloured with my Promarkers and cut following the shape of the drawing. I used a Distress Ink in Spun Sugar to soften the edges. I placed it on the right side of the card and then used some pressed orchids in the top left corner. I've had these for years after buying them at the Joanna Sheen website. They're not the same colour as the orchids in the drawing but they tone in with the matted layers. The leaves are all cut with a Memory Box die. I used a Best Wishes stamp that I must have had for about ten years and never used before! This was stamped and then heat embossed with Cosmic Sparkle N Sprinkle in palm green.

The prize this week is $9 to spend in the Stitchybear Digi Outlet but please head over to OSAAT to check out the prizes.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:
Digi Choosday Challenge - Flower Power
Oldie but a Goodie Challenge - April Showers Bring May Flowers.  My oldie - orchids + the stamp
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Crafter's Companion Facebook Page Challenge - Floral
Ladybug Crafts Challenge - Here Comes Spring
4KraftyGirlz Challenges - Anything Goes

Tiger Lily

This image is called 'Lilleth' and is by Teri of Delicious Doodles. However, I've decided to call her Tiger Lily because I've coloured the lilies as tiger lilies. We had masses of tiger lilies in our garden when I was young and I always loved them. Unfortunately, I've never been very successful at growing them in my own gardens over the years.

After I'd decided to colour them as tiger lilies that decided the rest of my colour scheme - orange and green. A very bright and cheery card. I coloured the image with Promarkers and after cutting as a rectangle I matted it on to lime green card. The card blank is by Joanna Sheen and the orange and green card is all from Papermill. The image is so beautiful that it doesn't really need many embellishments so I kept it relatively simple. It was matted on to a bright orange base that I embossed with a Crafter's Companion 'A Stitch in Time' embossalicious folder. I added a lime green cord down the right with a Lili of the Valley sentiment set at the top of the cord. I stamped the sentiment and embossed it with Cosmic bronze embossing powder before cutting with a Spellbinders lacy circle die. I added a few green gems in the corners, job done.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge - Creating with colour (use your favourite colour - mine is green).
Crafting by Designs - Anything Goes
Digi Choosday Challenge - Flower Power
Ladybug Crafts Ink - Birthdays
Oldie but a Goodie Challenge - April Showers bring May Flowers oldie is green cord, I've had for years.

Easter Greetings

A friend on Facebook, and a DT buddie on one of my DTs, asked if I would like to be guest designer for today on this site   I was up to date on my DT cards and as I'm trying to get back into blogging more I accepted.

She sent me the sheet of images to use. It's a pre-coloured sheet and includes the little girl, an image of lilies, a selection of sentiment tickets, a border of little chicks and some eggs. I decided to use the little girl and one of the sentiment tickets - unfortunately my writing isn't the best. In the past I would have asked Eric to do the writing for me because his writing was perfect and mine leaves a lot to be desired. It was good until I broke my right wrist and now my hand has a mind of its own and jumps when I don't  want it to and the pen does a scribble. lol

The sponsor is High Tea Design.

I tore round the image of the little girl and then used Distress Ink in peeled paint on the edges. The yellow card was embossed with a Crafter's Companion embossalicious folder and then the same Distress Ink was used on the top of the pattern. I matted the yellow on to pink card, both from Papermill, as the mat. The card blank is by Craft UK. Before affixing the mat to the card base I wrapped a strip of flowered washi tape round the left side of the card to tie in with the flowers in the little girl's basket. I fussy cut the sentiment ticket and distressed the edges before raising on foam pads. I then added some silver flowers to complete the design. These are like little charms and I bought them at the Bluewater Craft Fair a couple of years ago but have no idea of the make or supplier.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Brown Sugar Challenge - Easter
Challenges and Candies - Embossing
Simply Create Too - Easter or Bunnies
Aud Sentiments Challenge - Easter
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes