Inky Impressions- Flourish and Faux

Time for a new challenge at the Inky Impressions challenge blog and the challenge this time is "Flourish and Faux". So you need to use some flourishes and a faux technique of some sort, like faux stitching.

 This is the second card I have made for this challenge. Thr first one I made and was going to take a pic of it in the morning because it was night time when I finished it, then I went to get it in the morning and it had dissapeared! I still can't find it and I am convinced that my kids had something to do with it!! lol
So this is my second attempt and if I find the first card, I will post it too.

I followed the sketch over at Sketch Saturday but rotated it to fit my image better and instead of a sentiment, I added a little dragonfly in it's place as I don't like putting sentiments on cards until I know what it's going to be used for.
The bottom paper I used is by Paper Cellar from the Victorian Classic pad and the others are Basic Grey from the Periphery pad. I also used grey coredinations for all the matting.

The image is of course an Inky Impressions stamp- Lily's Prayer which you can find in Nicole's Inky Impressions store and you can grab her for the special show price! In fact Nicole has reduced all the stamps just now and is selling them at a special show price, so why not pop on over and grab yourself some of these sweeties before the price goes back to normal!

 I coloured Lili with Promarkers and used a Sakura white gelly roll pen for the highlights.

I.m not very happy with this colouring because I stamped Lili on a die cut shape that I had bought on Canson paper but I don't like this paper at all! A few people recommended it to me when I first started using alcohol markers but I had never bought it and I'm glad I didn't waste my money on it because it's rubbish. You can't blend much on it because the colours start to bleed. Maybe it has better results with Copics but I wouldn't recommend it for Promarkers. It's not the worst paper I have used but for the price of it, I expected better.
Ok rant over lol.

Here's the Promarker colours.

Skin-oatmeal, blush, ivory, baby pink

Hair- tan, cinamon, raw sienna

Clothes- ice grey 1-3, powder blue, pastel blue

Shadow- ice grey 2

For my flourish and faux part of the challenge I used a flourish die cut but I have no idea where it came from! I think I won it from a challenge blog along with other die cuts and embellishments but it was actualy on another card I had made and I took it off to use on this card and binned the card it was originaly on lol. I don't have any flourish/swirl dies of my own, so I really had a hard time finding one.
For the faux part I didn't really do anything because the die cut shape I used for my image already had faux stitching on it, so I kinda cheated there lol. The die cut was bought at Die Cut Dreams which is currently closed just now while Susie moves house, and the mat I cut myself from coredinations card. I do have some mats that I bought from DCD but they are pastel colours and none of them went with my card, so I just traced round one and cut it out.
And while I had a rant about the canson card, Susie does do these die cuts on other card too, which is great quality :) I have bought a lot of bits from her store and have always been happy with everything I have bought, and I must point out that I specificaly asked for the canson paper.

Finally I used some gems and flowers from my stash, not sure where the silver one came from, but the bigger blue one is a Prima and the small one I got in a bargain pack along with the dragonfly, both of which I glittered with stickles, and a American Crafts jewel brad to finish.

Wow that was a long post for one card!!

Digital Tuesday- A sketch by Natascha

It's time for a new challenge over at Digital Tuesday and Natascha has made a sketch for us to follow.

 I kind of ran out of space on my card because I am still using 5x5" cards instead of my usual 6x6" ones and my image was a bit big for the sketch.

Our sponsor this week is Spesch Stamps and Tracey very kindly let the design team choose an image each to use for the challenge. I chose Princess with Birthday Presents and coloured her with Promarkers and used a white Sakura glaze pen for highlights. Sorry the pic is a bit blurry but the light is terrible this morning.

The paper is one I have had for ages and I am not 100% sure who it is made by...possibly Basic Grey? but don't quote me on that because I could be totally wrong.
The sentiment is another freebie digi that I have had for ages and can't remember where it came from, ribbon is from The Papeterie in Aberdeen and the lacey stuff underneath it is from Hobbycraft, flowers are by Habico from Holburn Crafts, again in Aberdeen.
The crotchet circle my iamge is on is one I got from my blogging friend Geraldine who has an Etsy store called Little Snippets, where she sells gorgeous embriodered and crotchet embellishments. Geraldine sent me some of these for my birthday and I love them :)
You can hardly see, but I also used a mini paper doilie in the middle of the crotchet circle which I bought last week off Ebay. They are tiny ones, only 3 and 1/2 inches and so pretty, and I know I will use these loads. It's just a pity my image covers this one because you can't see how pretty it is.
The seller also has a website- poppyscabin.co.uk where she sells these and loads of other doilies, not just these dinky ones, but bigger ones and squares, hearts, borders and even black ones which are a lot harder to get a hold of. She also sells die cuts, some embellishments and other bits and pieces and at reasonable prices too and fast delivery...what more could you want? I know I'm away to order some more :)

Thanks for stopping by
 

2 late DT cards

I forgot to schedule my posts for Digital Tuesday and Charisma Cardz for this weeks challenges and I haven't been blogging at all this last week since I came home, so just realised that they hadn't been posted!

The challenge over at Digital Tuesday is to use punches, and our sponsor is Digital Delights who kindly gave the DT some images to use.
The image I used is called Hot Pot Larry from Digital delights and I coloured him as usual with my Promarkers.

 The spotty paper is by Craftwork Cards and the other one is another of my magazine freebies.....I'm trying my best to use them up because they normal just get left and never used.
As I said, I coloured the image with Promarkers (sorry no list today) and added some stickles to his wings.
The ribbon is from my stash and I nearly forgot to use punches on my card lol, so I punched out some circles with a 1 and 3/8" circle punch from Stampin Up and made them into flowers.
I just used some scraps of plain thin cardstock for the pink ones and scraps of the patterened paper along with some pink card for the other one and inked the edges with blue chalk ink. Easy peasy to make and fun too :)


 Here's the close up of little Larry, all sparkling :)

The challenge at Charisma this week is Jokes & Laughter (a creation to make you smile/laugh). I really struggled with this one because I am useless at this kind of card, but I gave it a go anyway.

The image is a digi freebie from Kenny K that I have had for a while and never used, and of course coloured with the usual Promarkers. Not my normal kind of colours, but it's a nice change.
This is another 5"x5" card and I am really finding them hard to work with..... there's just not enough space for all the flowers and embellies I normaly use lol, so I kept it simple again.
The papers are by My Minds Eye, ribbon from my stash and flowers are Primas.

I was going to add my sentiment to the front of the card but I didn't have enough room, so I put it inside instead.

I done the sentiment myself on the computer but I found it somewhere on the net while I was looking for something else.

And finally her close up.

Sorry I don't have a list of the colours for this one either. I did write them down but I've lost the piece of paper I wrote on. I wouldn't normaly use this kind of image, it's just not my kind of thing, but it wad fun to colour, except all the tiny detail.....I hate colouring tiny little bits like that, I always go out the line because the Promarkers tip is not thin enough.

Well that's it from me today, hope you are all having a great weekend and Happy Easter!!

Inky Impressions Blog Hop!!

Welcome to the Inky Impressions blog hop!!  We are very excited to show you some fabulous new designs that have just came out and we know you will LOVE them!  So please have fun hopping around the DT’s blogs to find inspiration and get a chance to win some Inky Impressions goodies for yourself! 

If you have come here from Carrie's blog then you are in the RIGHT place.  If you have not or are just starting out on the blog hop, then please start from thebeginning of the blog hop at the Inky Inspirations Blog so you don’t miss anything along the way! You are going to love this release, we are releasing 3 new stamps... Rock N Roll Donnie which I have used today and a new Zoe and Lizzie too,  there is something for everyone! Be sure to follow us all the way to the end and make sure to leave a comment on everyone’s blog, because if you do, then you are eligible to win a prize! You will have until Sunday at midnight Eastern Standard Time to comment on all the design team blogs for a chance at winning the blog hop goodies, which is 2 of the newly released images, a sentiment and some embellishments!! On the last stop, leave a comment to let us know which of the new release stamps is your favourite :)  This is the time when the blog hop will end and you will need to check the Inky Inspirations Blog to find out if you are a winner!!

For my card today, I used Rock N Roll Donnie which you can find in the Inky Impressions store

Isn't he a sweetie?

I have used K&Co Hopscotch papers, some raffia lace from Hobbycraft and a few stars that I cut from the same papers and aded glossy accents to.

Cute Donnie has been coloured with Promarkers, but I don't have a list of colours today....sorry.

Now to keep going along the blog hop trail, your next stop on the hop is Lisa

 Thanks for stopping by

My first Inky Impressions card :)

Today is a new challenge over at the Inky Impressions challenge blog and the challenge is to use flowers. This is my very first card as a DT member:)

I have used Lili's Prayer which you can find along with loads of other cuties in the Inky Impressions store.
I coloured her as usual with Promarkers (list of colours at the end of the post).
I followed the sketch from the Sweet  Stamping Challenge blog.
The paper is another freebie from a mag......it was actualy a book of papers that came free with a magazine, not that thin rubbish paper you sometimes get.
I used a SU flower punch for the flowers and some flowers from my stash for the middle, and pearls in the centre that were originally white but I coloured then with Promarkers.
The pretty lacey ribbon stuff that you can just about see (sorry don't know what it's actually called), it from Hobbycraft and is sooo pretty irl and I used a paper border strip by making memories. I got them for a bargain price from TK Max of all places! I spotted them while in there looking for clothes for the kids, they had 2 packs stapled together priced at £2.99, so I got 48 borders for less than I would be for 24 at the price they are in craft stores :)

 I love this little cutie, so pretty :)
Sorry about the pics, I've really been struggling to get decent pics this week.

Promarker colours
skin: oatmeal, blush, ivory, baby pink
Hair: cocoa, cinnamon, raw sienna
Clothes: baby pink, cocktail pink, rose pink, pastle blue, powder blue, denim blue
Shoes: blush, ivory

Digital Tuesday- Litttle Women

The challenge at Digital Tuesday this week is "Little Women"- use a female image. Nice and easy :)

 I used an image from Pink Cat Studio and of course coloured her with Promarkers. The papers were more freebies from a mag, ribbon from Hobbycraft and the flower I made with the same ribbon, a papermania fabric flower and little rose. Oh and the white ribbon was a bargain from a local shop.
Another really simple card for me, but it's because I have been using 5x5 cards instead of my usual 6x6 because I couldn't get the cardstock I normaly buy to make my own card blanks and my local craft store don't sell 6x6 card blanks so I picked up some of the smaller ones and will have to make do with them until I get some new card and can make my own.
There's just not enough room on this size for all the embellishments I usually use, and I am really struggling with them, but I bought a pack of 50 so still have 40 something to use so I'd better get used to it lol.

Here's the Promarker colours I used to colour this little cutie.
Skin- oatmeal, blush, ivory and baby pink for cheeks
Hair- Cocoa, Raw Sienna, Cinnamon
Clothes, bags and all the other little bits- Orchid, Lavendar, baby pink, rose pink


As I mentioned yesterday, it's by birthday tomorrow (wednesday) and I think I might have a little bit of candy to celebrate :)
I have stopped doing my fortnightly mini candies for a while, but I will do some random giveaways for my followers/commenters, so you will never know when I might spring a prize on you ;) and I will start the fortnightly giveaways again in the next few weeks....just got to sort out some stuff to give away first lol.

Oh and before I forget to mention it, you may have noticed the blog hop banner on the top of my blog.....well Inky Impressions are having a new release blog hop at the end of this week. The new release stamps are so sweet, you won't want to miss them.

Thanks for stopping by

Here Comes The Bride.....

The challenge over at Charisma this week is weddings or Anniversaries, and I should of had my cardes posted here on Thursday, but writing with that stupid on screen keyboard was driving me crazy, so I waited until I got a new keyboard so I can actualy type my post!
 So now I have a nice new keyboard, I will be back to my chatty old self...I do feel sorry for you all having to read all my rubbish that I write lol.

So here is the wedding card I made.

The sweet image I used is a Precious Moments digi coloured with Promarkers. I think this image is sooo sweet :) the paper is by papermania, flower from John Lewis, and some ribbon and pearls from my stash.
this was a really quick card to make and quite simple to what I normaly do....in fact a lot of my cards lately have been simple ones. Instead of a hundred flowers I have only used 1 or 2 and sometimes like in this case, only 1 patterened paper, instead of the usual 3 or 4, but I still kinda like them like this and I must admit, it is a lot quicker to make than the ones that have loads of papers and embellies. Once the image was coloured, it only took me a few minutes to make the card, and the image itself only took me 5 minutes to do :)

Now I did ppromise that I would give a list of the Promarker colours I used on my images, and I keep forgetting, but I did remember to keep a list of the colours I used on this one :)

Skin- oatmeal, blush, ivory and baby pink for cheeks.
Hair- girl- cocoa, cinammon and raw sienna. boy- cocoa, cinnamon and tan
Boys clothes- ice grey 2, 3 and 4and satin for bow tie
Girls dress and veil-  baby pink and cocktail pink for the sash and bow, satin for shadow on all the white bits.
Flowers- baby pink, satin, meadow green
Birdies- canary yellow and buttercup

And finally I have a card to show that my 7 year old Daughter Rhianna made for her DT spot at Messy's Mini Missions. If you have any kids who take after you in the craft department, this is the challenge for them! the challenge is monthly and is open to anyone under the age of 16. They have some fab prizes each month too :)
The challenge for April is fairytales and one of their sponsors is Dustin Pike who gave the kids some images to use for their dt projects.

 Rhianna used the Heart Castle that she got from Dustin and also 2 other Dustin Pike images which I think were freebies a while ago and she coloured them with my Promarkers.
The paper is Papermania and the little chipboard charm is by Making Memories.

Right I will be back tomorrow with my Digital Tuesday card and then it's by birthday on Wednesday :) and I am taking the kids away for a few days on Thursday. We are going camping near my parents home (they live 60 miles away from us and the place we are camping is 8 miles away from where they live), but I will have some posts scheduled while I am away :)
The weather has been great this past week, but my Dad was telling me yesterday that he heard is was supposed to snow this weekend!! Hopefully he is wrong!!, but it has been pouring of rain all day here today, so wish me luck! If the weather is bad, we will just go to my Dad's for a few days instead but I don't think the kids will be very happy lol.

Thanks for stopping by



p.s for anyone who is interested, I have some stamps and papers for sale on Facebook just now. Some older Sugar Nellies, WOJ, Hero Arts, Stampedous, Stamps Happen, K&Co and many more.
If you are not a friend of mine on facebook, please feel free to add me as a friend......just look for Lora Mcintyre and you will find me :)

A late dt card

My keyboard is broken and I am using my on screen keyboard to write this so I'm gonna make this short.
The challenge this  week at Digital Tuesday is "Easter Parade" and our sponsor is Pixie Dust Studio.
I have used one of their sweet images for my card.

 The papers are from a magazine, sentiment is a freebie digi,  image is coloured with Promarkers and everything else is from my stash.

That's it from me today. I will be back tomorrow with my Charisma dt card.

Some Girly cards and some news

I have to warn you that this is going to be a long post, so you might want to get comfy before you start reading!

It's my turn to host the challenge over at By The Cute and Girly  so I thought I would use our name for this months challenge theme and go with "Cute and Girly".

I made 2 cards this month and my first one is made with a digi stamp set from one of our sponsors this month, My Grafico, who very kindly gave  the design team one of their digi stamp sets to use but I forgot which set we got and used the wrong one lol.... oh well, at least I used a set from the same designer ;)

All the images/elements I have used are from Zenware Designs Slumber Party/Sleepover set from My Grafico.
All the images were printed seperately and cut out then I made the little "scene", but if I had thought about it, I would of combined them in a graphics program and then printed them instead of having to cut them all out individualy because that phone wire was a nitemare to cut out!! lol
I coloured everything with Promarkers, the papers are Papermania, flowers are all Prima's and the ribbon and pearls are from my stash.

My other card was made a while ago and I can't remember what papers I used but the image is one of Meljens.

 The flowers are Prima's and Papermania roses and the leaves are ones I just cut from green card, and the lace is some from my stash that I have had for ages.

I have one more card to show which is my DT card for Charisma Cardz which I forgot to post!!
The challenge this week is Bling and Sparkles.

As usual I coloured the sweet Tilda with Promarkers and added stickles to her wings for some sparkle.
The papers are craftwork cards and.........actually I am not sure who makes the lacy patterened paper, sorry.
I followed the sketch at Friday sketchers but as I am late in posting my card, the challenge is finished lol.
The circle sentiment is a digi from Pink Gem which I got in a decoupage set that I bought. I don't do decoupage but I bought the set just for the 2 sentiments lol.
The lace I bought last week from a local haberdashery and the flowers I made myself.

A close up of sweet baby Tilda and her sparkly wings :)

And I promise this is the last pic! I made the flowers with tissue paper and paper doilies and the sparkly gem brad is American Crafts. 
I know I said I would do a tutorial on the last flowers I made (the ones with the fabric), but I just haven't had time to this week. I will get some sort of tutorial put together this week though now that the kids are off school on their Easter holidays.


Finally (I promise this really is the last thing!! lol), I have to tell you all that I was chosen as a DT member for Inky Impressions!! Their stamps are sooo cute and I can't wait to use them! :)

Thanks for stopping by.