Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 61 Monochrome Magic

For my first ever hosted challenge since I joined the DT I really didn't have to think too hard about what I wanted to do.  I love monochromatic projects and for that reason I have based my challenge around that theme. You can use any colour you choose, it doesn't have to be black, but I want to see your creations made using only shades of one colour. I will allow highlights of one different colour but it must not be a major player in your project. You can also, of course, use skin tones and hair, but other than that please stick to the one colour.

Any creations entered which do not meet the criteria listed above will not be eligible for our fabulous prizes nor for one of our Top 5 spots. So please ensure your challenge meets the criteria if you don't want to miss out. We are seeing an increasing number of entrants who are either not reading our rules, or properly reading what we are challenging you to do and as we need to be fair to those people who do play by the rules we need to be strict with those who don't.

Please also remember we only accept entries from people who have entered NO MORE THAN FIFTEEN CHALLENGES, so 14 plus this one.

We are sponsored for this challenge by



IndigoBlu are an English rubber stamp company, offering high quality, deep etched, red rubber stamps with unique designs around 'Quintessentially English' themes.
The revolutionary FlitterGlu is an IndigoBlu product - the best Glu for stamping. Works with any stamps and is water soluble. Great for using with Flake or Glitter...
They also offer a variety of unusual embellishments and wooden blanks in their online store to compliment their stamps...
Please visit at www.IndigoBlu.com

and we have a fabulous prize on offer from them.....

It's a two parter and for those of you who watch Create and Craft TV you will know what an absolutely fantastic prize this is as it has sold out each time it has come to air.
Part One
IndigoBlu FlitterGlu Starter Kit



Starter Kit with everything you need to start using FlitterGlu
Contains:
FlitterGlu
Phat Foam
Scoochy sponge
Easy peasy stamp cleaner
Mega-Flake Winter Dawn
Plus - FlitterGlu Hints and Tips Sheet

Part Two

The gorgeous 'Love Is' stamp

We are also sponsored by

Digi Doodle Shop
Who are offering a $10 Gift Certificate for their Store to the challenge winner



Digi Doodle Shop is the results of a mother and daughter’s love for the arts and crafts. It was started a little over 3 years ago with a little more than 100 stamps, and has since then grown to almost 500 stamps. Joy (the mother of this team) designs realistic images, while Judy (aka/daughter) loves the “fun side of life”, and create images with a cartoon flair. Having these two complimenting styles have enabled Digi Doodle Shop to offer a wide variety of stamps.

It is a real honor and pleasure to sponsor this challenge, and we look forward to seeing all the amazing creations. We thank the design team for their incredible creations, and wish all the participants the very best of luck in this challenge.

Thank you so much for having us, and again the very best of luck to all of you.
Sincerely,
Judy and Joy.

For my card I chose to use black and white, but instead of my usual black upon white I thought I would challenge myself as well as you and use white upon black for a change!  This is what I came up with:

The fairy is one of my favourite Lili of the Valley stamps which I stamped onto black card using Archival Brilliance Moonlight White and then embossed using clear embossing powder.  I also used the same ink to colour in the fairy.  The roses and flourishes are made from a Marianne Design Creatables die and the white glitter paper was cut with a Spellbinders border die.  I added some tiny black gems to the border strip as a bit of extra bling.  The following two photos show the card in more detail:

I had great fun making this card and I do hope you all enjoy my challenge as much as I did.  I can't wait to see what you all come up with!  If you need any more inspiration, please check out the rest of the DT's blogs.  The links are on the right hand side of this page and they have come up with some truly stunning projects!

Good luck to everyone.

Love,

Beth. xxx

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 60 Use Beads

The challenge this time at Crafty Cardmakers is hosted by Jack.

"For this challenge I would like to see beads used. You can make a project using just beads or use them as embellishments on something you make. The important thing is that beads are there for all to see."

We are kindly sponsored for this challenge by The Stampman (and Lady of course!) who are offering the winner a £10 voucher for their store, you can spend this online, in the shop or if you're lucky enough to see them at a show! They have a ton of items in store, enough to tickle any crafty taste bud.

and

Di's Digi Downloads 

$10 Gift Voucher
Di says, "I have been drawing since a child and studied graphics at College many years ago, I now work as a Medical photographer part time but my love was always drawing. I started cardmaking about 4yrs ago when I bought my daughter a cardmaking kit which we did together, but I’m afraid I got the bug! My daughter preferred scrapbooking. I then started looking online at other blogs and this then became my passion and I loved sharing my cards with likeminded people.

I love stamping and loved finding images, but sometimes I could not find what I wanted so I started to draw myself.

This then has become my second addiction and I have never looked back, I love thinking of new images, and its just fabulous to see others take them and make them into beautiful works of art. Long may it continue!"

Some fab prizes on offer, so please come along and join in the fun!

I was really struggling to come up with an idea for this challenge as I'm not good with beads.  I find them too small for me to see clearly with my dodgy eyesight, but having seen the other wonderful creations by my fellow DT members was determined to have a play and this is what I came up with:

Now you're probably wondering where the beads are?  If you look closely at the top of the pin I've used as a sceptre you can see five tiny ones!  The stamps are from the Kanban Vivienne range stamped onto Clarity cardstock and coloured in with promarkers and a Sakura gold pen.  The flowers are hand made by cutting rough circles of thin card and scrunching them to within an inch of their lives before shaping and securing the layers with a small brad.  The background paper was printed by me as was the 'Queen for a day' sentiment.  The gold flourishes are from a Marianne Design Creatables die.

If you need any further inspiration, please pay a visit to the rest of the DT's blogs.  The links are over on the right.  They have created some wonderful items and you are sure to find lots of ideas for your own projects.

Thank you for playing along and good luck everyone!

Love,
Beth. xxx

Less is More ~ Week 50 ~ Birds

It's been a while since I joined in with a challenge over at the 'Less is More' blog.  Partly because I'm not very good at the LIM principle although I do love it, and partly through lack of play time.  However, when I saw that their new challenge involves birds I felt I had to have another try, especially as I've finally caved in and bought some Distress Inks!

Here is the card I made:

I masked off a panel and used Peeled Paint and Tattered Rose Distress inks and then stamped a flower border and some wee birds from the Kanban 'Peacock' set of stamps using Adirondack Pitch Black dye based ink.  The sentiment came from the same set of stamps.  I'm not totally happy with the positioning of the panel.  I think it's a little too far to the left, but on the whole I'm pleased with the overall look of the card, and my stamping went well, just for a change!

Enjoy the rest of Monday evening and thank you for looking.

Love,

Beth. xxx

Romantic Lady

Good evening bloggers!  I hope you've had a lovely Saturday and are looking forward to a relaxing Sunday?

A friend of mine at Craft Telly Forum celebrated her birthday yesterday (yes, on Friday 13th!  Eeek!) and as a member of one of the card swaps I have joined, naturally I made a card for her.  I wanted to make something which was not my usual style (whatever that is) and decided to go for something more delicate than my normal creations.  This is what I came up with:

The image was a copyright free one I found on the internet and printed out myself and highlighted the pearls on her dress with a touch of glitter.  Well, you've gotta have a little bling, don't you?  The backing paper was also printed by me.  The doily was originally white so I inked the edges in pink to match the roses in the main image and the pink flowers I got from Wild Orchid Crafts.  Here is the card in close up:

I really enjoyed making this card for such a talented lady as Paula and I'm delighted to say that she loved it.  If you get five minutes, please pop over to her blog, Ephemera's Attic and check out the gorgeous creations she has on display there.

Well, that's me done for Saturday evening.  I'm off for a glass of wine or two before bed.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Love,

Beth. xxx

I have entered this card in Challenge #12 - Anything Goes Using Your New Stash at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and the new stash I used was the paper doily.

Absent Friends

Hello fellow bloggers.  I hope you've had a good week?  Mine has been pretty naff.  Everything that could go wrong at work has done so and even my birthday last Tuesday was a bit of a damp squib as I had to work late.  The highlight was opening all the cards I received from my birthday swap friends over at Craft Telly Forum.  They were all beautiful and made my birthday much more special than it would have otherwise been.

Anyway, enough of my yakking on.  A very dear friend of mine has been going through a rough patch and I haven't been able to get in touch via our usual means.  Several of our mutual friends have decided to get together and post her a whole bunch of hand crafted cards just to let her know that we are thinking of her and this is the card I have made:

I made the background by stamping with Versamark a piece of Clarity card using one of my favourite Marion Emberson stamps which I embossed with gold embossing powder.  I then used Peeled Paint distress ink to colour in the background.  The wooden fan/leaf shape is something I discovered in a box of pot pourri that I have had for a while.  The added bonus of using that is it smells good!  The sentiment is just printed out on my PC.  It's a simple card, but I love the way it turned out.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Love,

Beth. xxx

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 59 No Flowers

The challenge at Crafty Cardmakers this time is hosted by Fiona

You can use flower Backing Paper, flowers in your image or even a flower as an image, but NOT any flower embellishments.

We are sponsored today by ONE STOP CARD CRAFTS who are offering a £10 voucher for their store as a prize.

"At One Stop Card Crafts we have a big range of ever changing discount making and card making craft supplies.

We are always adding to our range of craft supplies which are ideal for making handmade greeting cards, do-it-yourself invitations scrapbook pages, altered items and much more.

Our card making craft supplies include free UK postage, our popular discount scheme and quick service means our customers keep coming back for more.

Our prices are very competitive and this & makes us an ideal place to buy your card making supplies online. Some of our new products include Petaloo flower layers, Ranger Glitter Glue and Martha Stewart Punches. We also host a regular challenge at http://onestopcraftchallenge.blogspot.com/"

Digi Doodle Shop

$10 gift Certificate for the store

For this challenge I chose a fabulous digi stamp called "Let's Do Lunch" from one of our new sponsors Digi Doodle Shop.

I paper pieced the piggies and their trough and the rest of the image was coloured in using Promarkers.  The corner of the card was stamped with a La Blanche foam stamp and embossed in bright gold embossing powder and I popped a few lime green gems to give a little extra highlight.  The sentiment was attached with a plaited length of plain old garden twine which I made into a tassel.  The inside of the card reads "It's your birthday, so you're allowed to pig out!"  It was made with a dieting friend in mind,  I sure hope she's not offended!

It's quite a challenge to create a card without using any floral embellishments, and we would love to see how you all get along, so get creating and give it a whirl!  If you are in need of inspiration check out the rest of the DT ideas.  You can find links to their blogs over on the right hand side of the page.

Love,

Beth. xxx

New DT Members

We had lots of amazing entrants to join our Design Team, and finally we reached a decision. Unfortunately we couldn’t take everyone on, but thank each and every one of you for applying.

Without further ado (insert drum roll here) the following are now official members of our DT ~ Yay!

Please take a moment or two to visit their blogs. They have produced some amazing work and you are bound to become inspired!

Aj

Alan

Anne

Annette

Marie

Mynette

Yvonne

I am sure they will fit in brilliantly with the rest of the team and look forward to working with them.

Don’t forget we will be back next Monday 9th January with our first challenge of 2012 and we look forward to seeing all your lovely entries. Until then everyone at Crafty Cardmakers would like to wish you all a fabulous and creative 2012.

See you all on Monday with your fabulous entries for the new challenge :-)

Love,

Beth. xxx

Another Birthday Card

Hello everyone.  I hope you are safe and well after today's awful weather?  It wasn't too bad where I live and we are lucky enough to still have the house and garden intact.

This is another card I made for one of the birthday swaps I am in over at Craft Telly Forum.  This one was made for a member who is lucky enough to be flying off to New York on her birthday so I think I can post it safely as she will be knee deep in preparation for her trip on Thursday.  So, happy birthday for Thursday, Jenty, and I hope you have a fabulous trip!

Anyway, without further ado, here is the card:

The stamp is a Travilla cling on rubber stamp of Marilyn Monroe which I bought off the infamous auction site. I coloured the image with a Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll Pen and then highlighted with Art Institute Crystal Clear glitter.  The pearlescent purple card was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.  The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards, layered up with circles cut with my nesties.  The flowers are made from a punch I've had for years with a clear gem popped in the centre for added bling.  It was really difficult to photograph as the silver mirror card and purple pearlescent card reflected badly, but hopefully you can see the finished card well enough.

Hope you all have a good week and the weather improves.

Love,

Beth. xxx

Birthday Card

Hello fellow bloggers.  I hope you are all ready for the New Year?  It will be a quiet night in our house as we will be trying to calm our beautiful greyhounds down during the fireworks that will inevitably go off at midnight.

My 'boss' over at Crafty Cardmakers has recently celebrated her birthday so I thought I show you my creation for her as she is in one of the same birthday swaps as me over at Craft Telly Forum.  Now I know she received it safely I can finally post it here.

The background image was printed on my computer and I added some sparkly glitter to give it some bling.  The flowers were made by me and the edges pressed into a Versamark pad and embossed with silver powder.  The swirlies were made using my Cuttlebug and the greeting is a peel off (something I use very rarely these days).

This is a close up of the flowers:

I had great fun making it and I'm sure that Lin appreciated it.

All that's left is for me to wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2012 and I look forward to reading your comments and visiting as many blogs as I can do in the coming year.

Love,

Beth. xxx

Thank You Cards

Hello fellow bloggers!  I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and didn't over-indulge on the food and booze?  I have to say that I really did eat far too much at lunch yesterday and have just eaten a mountain of leftovers so I'm feeling rather stuffed right now!  However, one of my traditional Boxing Day activities is to write my thank you cards.  It's something I've done ever since I was a child and it's stayed with me ever since, although these days I actually make the cards as well, of course.

I don't really like making bulk lots of cards so I try to keep the design as simple as possible and this year's design is shown below:

The cards are made using embossed pearlescent card made with my Cuttlebug which I stuck at the bottom of a DL card.  A strip of ribbon was attached just above this and then a simple embellishment to complete the decoration.  The 'Thank You' is a peel off sticker from Anita's range.

Enjoy the rest of your Christmas festivities and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Love,

Beth. xxx

50th Birthday Card

Hello fellow bloggers.  Just a quick post to show you a card I made for the wife of one of the guys I work with who is celebrating her 50th birthday soon.

Most of the card was created in Publisher and just printed out.  The swirlies are from a Creative Expressions stamp set called Strings of Bling which I stamped onto the card and then glittered.  The flowers are created using a punch and finished with a gemstone in the centre.

I think it is a very pretty card and I'm sure she will like it.

This is probably going to be my last blog post before Christmas so I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my followers and visitors a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2012.

Thank you all for your comments and I look forward to more blogging next year.

Love,

Beth. xxx

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 58 Use It Three Times

This month's challenge at Crafty Cardmakers has been chosen by Tracy and her theme is 'Use it three times'.  Use the same stamp/image three different ways.  It could be the background, main image and a tag for example. Using different colourways is another option, or, even, as some of our DT have done, three different cards or the same image three times on one card.

Sadly this is the last challenge where we will be sponsored by the lovely Joanna Sheen and we would like to thank her for her sterling support of our challenge blog.  Please take advantage of your last chance to win a £10.00 voucher to be spent at Joanna's wonderful online store which is crammed to the gills with gorgeous goodies!  Thanks for everything, Joanna!

Next year we will back with some exciting new Sponsors as well as our regular ones, One Stop Card Crafts and The Stampman.

Anyway, onto my card for this challenge.

This time I chose to make a CAS card using a sweet little digi-stamp from Pink Petticoat which I printed directly onto my card.  I added just a touch of colour with my Promarkers and a pretty border layered up with some copper coloured mirri board and a strip of green velvet ribbon.  Three tiny pearls which I coloured in the same shade of green Promarker complete the ensemble.

For more inspiration, please visit our DT's blogs (links on the right hand side of this page) or the Crafty Cardmakers blog and, whilst you're there, add your entry because, as the saying goes, you've got to be in it to win it!  

Good luck everyone and have fun :-)

Hugs,

Beth. xxx

Kanban Fashionista Stamps

Hello everybody.  I hope you are all well and getting ready for Christmas?  It's a busy old time for all of us and crafting seems to take a back seat, doesn't it?

I have a colleague at work who's birthday is on 2nd January, which is before we have to go back after our Christmas break, so I have to remember to be well prepared so she can have her card before we finish work.  I'm not usually very organized, but this year I have managed to get things sorted well in advance, just for a change!

I created this card using one of Kanban's Fashionista range of stamps.  This particular image is from the 'Vivienne' set.  It is stamped onto Clarity's stamping card and coloured in with Promarkers.  The dress itself has been slightly decoupaged to give some dimension to the card.  I've added some faux stitches around the edge to give it a feel of a dressmaking theme.

This is the dress in closer detail:

I seem to be going through an orange phase at the moment.  I think it looks quite dramatic against the black though and makes a change from red and black.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend and if you drop by, please leave a comment as they always make me feel good :-)

Love,

Beth. xxx

I have entered this card in the latest challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges ~ Challenge #10 ~ Dressmaking/Corsets/Accessories.  I am hoping that it qualifies as I suppose it's not strictly speaking a dressmakers dummy, but perhaps they will think it's close enough?  Let's hope so anyway!

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 57 Heat Embossing

Our challenge this time at Crafty Cardmakers is hosted by Josephine and she chose Heat Embossing.  You can do anything you want as long as it includes heat embossing.

We are kindly sponsored for this challenge by The Stamp Man (and Lady, of course!) who are offering the winner the wonderful prize below:

Starburst Stains Brush On The Fun - Holiday Wreath

Sadly I'm not eligible to enter, but you can, so why not give it a try?  There's nothing to lose and some delicious goodies to win!

Here is the card I came up with for this challenge:

For my creation I used a wooden stamp that I found whilst rummaging around for something else!  I used Versamark to stamp onto Clarity cardstock and embossed with Cosmic Shimmer Bright Gold embossing powder. I then layered the image onto some plain black cardstock and another layer of gold card I had in my stash.  For the base card I used an A4 sheet of plain black card folded in half.  I then embossed one corner in the same powder using one of my favourite La Blanche foam stamps.  To finish off the card I added a pink satin ribbon tied in a simple bow.

Here is a close up of the embossing:

I really like the finished card and I hope you do too?

One more thing, we are running the DT call again for this challenge.  If you wish to be considered (and I encourage you to try as we have a fabulously friendly DT) please add DT after your name when you enter your submission.

Good luck everyone, and have fun!

Beth. xxx

I have entered this card in the Fashionable Stamping Challenges - #9 - I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Playing with my Promarkers

Good morning, bloggers!  I hope you're having a lovely Saturday?  The weather here is grey and damp, so I thought I'd have a play with my Cool Grey Promarkers as I don't use them as often as I should do.

I was inspired to make this image by the lovely Nikky Hall over at Polka Doodles and used her Be Neighbours clear stamps for the image.  I stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  My colouring is definitely improving and, whilst it's not up to Nikky's amazing standards, I'm very pleased with this.  My only problem now is what to do with it!  I expect I'll eventually make a card from it, but for now I've propped it up on my shelf in the hope that it inspires me to do more and better things using my Promarkers.

I'm off now to have another play.  I hope you all enjoy the rest of the weekend and hope to see you soon.

Hugs,

Beth. xxx

Simply Gorjuss!

Hello everyone.  I hope you are all feeling good and having a great week?

I've got a couple of days off work so thought I'd have a play with some new Gorjuss stamps I bought but never had time to use.  These beauties are truly gorjuss to use!  I'm not someone to whom stamping comes easily.  I seem to spend most of my time throwing images into the bin and getting very frustrated, but these stamped like a dream.  I used Memento Tuxedo Black and stamped onto the lovely Barbara Grey's stamping card.  I then coloured both images with Promarkers and even I was pleased with the result!  Now that's a miracle, especially as they were both first attempts.  Whether it was the stamps, the ink or the card that helped, I've no idea, but I will definitely use this combination again.

Anyway, here are the cards I made.  The first one is called Gorjuss Ruby:

and here is the stamped image in closer detail:

The second image is called Gorjuss Waiting:

and again here is the stamped image in closer detail:

I apologize for the quality of the photos.  I took them in artificial light this evening and they aren't as good as I would have liked them to be.

If you have a moment to spare, please pop over to Crafty Cardmakers.  They have a fun challenge going on right now and you could win a £10 voucher to spend in Joanna Sheen's on-line shop!

Anyway, I hope you like my efforts and that you all have a wonderful weekend!

Thank you for looking.

Beth. xxx

Blog Candy Winners

Thank you to the 8 people who entered my blog candy giveaway!  I can now announce the winners!

Drum roll please ...............................

Entry number 8. Claire wins stamp set number 1

Entry number 1. Lin wins stamp set number 4

Entry number 7. Joanne wins stamp set number 3

Entry number 2. Carole wins stamp set number 5 and last but not least

Entry number 3. Annd wins stamp set number 2

Please email me at the link on the left hand side of my blog with your snail mail addresses and I will get your stamps posted off to you as soon as I can.

Thank you all once again for having a go and I'm sorry that you couldn't all win.

Beth. xxx

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 55 Colour

The challenge this time is hosted by Vix and it is to make an item (card/tag/altered thingy) using ONLY the colours brown/cream/pink.  You can use other colours for faces but otherwise please only use just brown, cream and pink.

We are sponsored this time by ONE STOP CARD CRAFTS who are offering a £10.00 voucher for their store as a prize.

For this challenge I used a selection of papers and an adorable image from the wonderful Polka Doodles A Double Sprinkle of Kraft CD which I printed out onto the lovely Ultimate Graphic Paper again from Polka Doodles. Before anyone says anything, no, I'm not employed by them, I just love their products! I chose to make an easel card as I adore them. The main image has been decoupaged although you can't see that from this photo.  I have also used a very pale cream coloured cardstock, but for some reason it looks as though it's white.  I guess photography ain't my strong point LOL!

If you want to be in with a chance of winning a fabulous voucher, please pop over to Crafty Cardmakers and show us all what wonderful creations you can come up with!

Good luck to you all and I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Beth. xxx

Halloween Card

As the creepy time of year is almost upon us, and Polka Doodles have a spooky challenge this week, I thought I'd set to and get creating.  Their challenge is to create a card using either all or some of the images below or an element from their fabulous Sundae of Seasons CD.

Here is what I came up with:

The background and all the images were created in my graphics program and printed out onto glossy card.  The wee witch was coloured with Promarkers and cut out then layered onto the card.  I also added a touch of opaque white pen just to highlight some of the elements.

This is a close up of the witch so you can see the detail:

I had real fun creating this card!

Enjoy your weekend, bloggers and thank you for looking.

Beth. xxx

Blog Candy

To celebrate my newly acquired position on the Design Team at Crafty Cardmakers I thought I'd offer some blog candy.  I have 5, yes, 5 brand new and unused stamp sets to give away to 5 lucky winners!  All you have to do to be in with a chance to win is add your name using the linky below, place a post on your blog linking back to this blog candy post and leave me a comment.  To make it fair for everyone please follow the rules.  The blog candy offer opens at midnight on 21st October and closes at midnight on 5th November.  The winners will be drawn at random on 6th November, 2011.  The prize you win will also be chosen at random, so please do not specify which stamp set you want.

So, without further ado, here's what you could win:

Stamp set 1

Stamp set 2

Stamp set 3

Stamp set 4

Stamp set 5

Please also pay a visit to the Crafty Cardmakers blog as they are responsible for me giving away this candy!  You might also like to join in their current challenge.  You never know, you could win something there too :-)

Thank you for joining in and good luck everyone!

Beth. xxx