Thursday 23 June 2011

Charisma Cardz- White plus one

I should of had this post on this morning, but I have been away all day on a trip with my Daughters class then the doing the kids school disco straight after so I haven't been home since early this morning.

The challenge this week at Charisma is "White Plus One".....in other words you can use white and one other colour of your choice.
Robyn's Fetish is sponsoring and most of the design team have used one of her images on their cards this week.

I went for white and pink (of course! lol), but as much as I love pink, I actually found this challenge quite difficult because I kept adding things that had more than just white or pink in it (and I have just noticed that my flower has green leaves...oh well I tried my best! lol).

Both papers I used are My Minds Eye but from different collections. The image is from Robyn's Fetish, and I coloured it with my usual Promarkers and used Dazzling Diamonds glitter for her wings. I even gave her pink hair!! lol
The heart is a sticker that I found in my stash and have no idea where it came from. The lacey ribbon stuff is from Hobbycraft, white flower is an Anna griffin one which I pulled the gem off the centre and added a rose from janlynn on in it's place, and some gems and pearl sprays from my stash.


Well I think it's an early night for me because I am pooped tonight.

Thanks for stopping by
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Wednesday 22 June 2011

Inky Impressions- Amazing Lace

The new challenge is up over at the Inky Impressions challenge blog, and this fortnight the challenge is "Amazing Lace" ....Karita wants to see us use our amazing lace on our projects, and the DT as always have done a fab job with their samples again this fortnight.


I used another of the 5x5" cards I bought a while ago....I'm determined to use them all lol, but every time I use one, I hate the card I have made ...just not enough room to play with lol.

The stamp I used is obviously a Inky Impressions and is called Lili's Prayer which you can buy along with loads of other cuties in the Inky Impressions store. I coloured Lili with Promarkers as usual and gave her some sparkle on her eyelids, belt and bracelet which you can't really see in the pic above but I have added another pic below that you can see it a little better on.


 In fact you can't really see it better in this pic at all lol, you can see it when you click on the pic though, although the glitter just look s a mess on this pic, but irl it looks fine.

Promarker colours:
skin: blush, ivory, baby pink
hair, raw sienna, cinnamon, burnt sienna, spice
clothes: baby pink, cocktail pink. soft green, mint green


The designer paper I used on this one is by K&Co, some lace from my stash which I threaded some tulle through the holes and tied in a bow.
The rose is from Hobbycraft and I added some pearl sprays from my stash and cut a few leaves out freehand, and the pretty lace doily is from Poppy's Cabin who is one of our sponsors over at By The Cute and Girly this month. She has a great selection of doilies as well as other bits and pieces for crafting too...a  must see shop if you love doilies! You can click on her banner in my sidebar which will take you to the store.

I hope some of you will join in with this fortnights challenge over at Inky Impressions. All you have to do is use some lace on your card/project and you can use any images/stamps you like, but if you use an Inky Impressions stamp, you will get an extra entry. Also if you enter every challenge for a month (which is only 2 challenges because it's a fortnightly challenge), you will be entered into a draw to win a goodie bag :) I have no idea what will be in the goodie bag because it comes straight from Inky owner Nicole, but I know it will be fab! :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Digital Tuesday and By The Cute and Girly

This is gonna be a long post, so you might want to go get a cuppa and get yourself comfy first.
 It was my turn to choose the challenge over at Digital Tuesday this week and I chose "Ice Cream Combos"- use the colours of your favourite ice cream combo.
Our sponsor this week is My Grafico who are giving the winner a digital stamp set of their choice (and there is loooads to choose from!) and also 20% off an order in their store.
They also let the design team use one of their digital stamp sets. This time it was their Unicorns set by Blackleaf Designs.


 I chose Neopolitan ice cream for my colours, not really because it's my favourite flavour of ice cream but because I love ALL ice cream and couldn't decide lol, then I came across this stripey paper by My Minds Eye and it had all the colours of neopolitan in it so I went with that.
The other paper is the other side of the same sheet, pink sparkly flower is from Little Snippets Etsy Store (link in sidebar) which I added a gold spacer and gem from my stash onto and the brown flower underneath is also from my stash, as is the ribbon which I messed about with to get the pearl heart slider onto.
I had the bright idea of using a ribbon slider in the middle of my bow, but have you ever tried to tie a bow and get a slider in the middle of it?? Well I'll save you the trouble of even trying and tell you now that it just doesn't happen! lol. I was determined I would make it work though, so I just glued the ribbon in place instead of tying it lol.
The image is from the Unicorns set from My Grafico and I coloured it with the usual Promarkers and added loads of dazzling diamonds glitter from SU!.


You can see a lot better in this pic that I glittered this Unicorn almost everywhere. It would probably be easier to say that the only bits I didn't glitter were it's body and hair, I even glittered it's eyelid! lol

I also have a card that I made for this months By The Cute and Girly challenge to show. The theme this month is "In The Garden" and as always, we have some fab prizes up for grabs from Simon Says Stamp, Joanna Sheen and Spesch Stamps.


I went for a male card for a change because I thought this Molly Blooms image was perfect for the challenge theme. As usual I coloured him with Promarkers.
I know one of the papers I have used is Basic Grey, but I have no idea where the blue one came from because I made this card ages ago.
Quite a simple card since I couldn't pile on the flowers lol, but I managed to get some raffia on there, a photo corner from my stash and some cute mushrooms from Meyer Imports


I think this image is so sweet:)

 And how cute are these little mushrooms? I've had them for a while now but never knew what to use them on until now. I think they look great on a card though, what do you think?

That's it from me today, sorry if I have put you to sleep with the length of the post!
Thanks for stopping by


Sunday 19 June 2011

Card for the Sugar Bowl

I got some time to play tonight, so I had a look through my stamps and decided that I would use one of my old Sugar Nellie's to make a card for the Sugar Bowl where there is a fab sketch by Marlene.
Normally when I enter their challenges, I do the extra option which this time is Summer, but I missed out the theme and just followed the sketch, which I rotated.


I used an older Gorjuss Girl and coloured her with Promarkers but unfortunately the colours don't look the same here as they do irl because it's night time here and I just finished the card and took a pic (otherwise I would of forgot about it if I left it ill morning! lol).
The papers (which I love by the way :)) are all My Minds Eye from the Lost & Found collection. The only trouble is working out which side of the papers to use because they are both gorgeous!
I inked all the edges of the papers with Antique Linen Distress Ink and also inked the edges of the border.
the pretty butterfly which I added some pearls to, is from Little Snippets Etsy Store....LOVE Geraldine's butterflies, they are sooo pretty! Oh and the sentiment is from a Stampendous clear stamp set.

A close up of my gorjuss girl to finish.
Still not happy with the colouring because I am using that horrible paper I bought the other day! ....mind you I don't really need an excuse, my colouring is terrible anyway!! lol



Thanks for stopping by. Oh and if anyone else has any suggestions about paper/card for Promarkers that I can get in the UK, pleeeease let me know because this paper is driving me crazy!! lol


Thursday 16 June 2011

A colour combo for Charisma

It's my turn to choose the challenge over at Charisma cardz this week and I went for a colour combo of Pink and Green. One of my favourite colour combos but I haven't used it for a while.
As always there is some fabby prizes up for grabs, and for my card I used an image from one of this weeks sponsors, All That Scraps (cc designs).


 I used some new paper for the image which I got at Hobbycraft the other day because they didn't have the one that I normaly buy but I thought this one would be the same or very similar....how wrong was I??!!
I normaly buy the Personal Impressions smooth paper which I actually stumbled upon by accident and tried it with my Promarkers and it worked fine, no bleeding and easy to blend with, but this time I bought Premier Quality smooth white card by Crafts UK Limited which I thought would be around the same quality as it was the same price, but it's rubbish!! The ink bleeds, so I am not a happy bunny because I don't have any other card/paper just now for colouring on :(

Anyway enough of my moaning! I coloured as usual with Promarkers, but didn't do much blending or use many colours because I was wary of it bleeding.
The green strip of paper at the bottom is by Fancy Pants and the others are My Minds Eye, flowers are Prima's, Papermania little roses and the rose in the middle was from Janlynn.com but unfortunately they don't stock them anymore, which is a shame because they are  lovely.
Some ribbon from Hobbycraft which I coloured with a Promarker and the leaves are die cut with a Marianne die.

I followed the sketch from the Creatalicious challenge, but I had already coloured and cut my image before I found the sketch, so I used a rectangle for my image instead of a circle, apart from that, I followed the sketch to the letter...for a change! lol.

And last but not least, a close up of the image, which I am really not happy with the colouring on, but it's done now.


Promarker colours
skin: blush, ivory, baby pink for cheeks.
hair, cinnamon, raw sienna, burnt sienna
clothes: baby pink, cocktail pink, meadow green

If anyone has any suggestions of paper/card to use with Promarker, it would be much appreciated :) I'm in the UK so needs to be something I can get over here and preferably something that doesn't cost a fortune lol. I was using Bristol Board for a while but I looked at the price in Hobbycraft yesterday and they wanted nearly £16 for an A4 pad which I really can't afford to be paying at the moment just for paper. I did used to get it from another shop in town and it was much cheaper (and they did smaller sizes) but they have closed down, so I really need to find a brand that doesn't bleed with the markers and one that you can blend quite a bit on.

Thanks for stopping by and please do leave any suggestions :)

Thursday 9 June 2011

Charisma DT card

It's time for another challenge over at Charisma Cardz and this week we want to see you use an age on your cards.
This challenge couldn't of came at a better time for me because I needed to make a 65th birthday card, so that's exactly what I did.


 I kept this card quite simple and didn't us4e any flowers for a change (I know, shock horror!! lol). The bottom paper is by Papermania and you can't really see it in these pics, but it has a pretty gold sheen to it, and the other dp I used is by Kaisercraft.
The image is a clear stamp by Nellie Snellen (KARS) that I have had for ages and never inked up. I found it while looking for another stamp and decided I would use it for this card.
I'm really not happy with my colouring because I have ran out of my normal paper again!! so had to stamp onto normal cardstock and the colouring looks terrible because the Promarker ink was bleeding everywhere.
I used some Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the wings and dotted it over the little sprays of "champagne" and used Glossy Accents on the bottle to make it look more like glass.
The number are digi ones that I got ages ago (sorry don't know where I got them) and I also used Glossy accents on them.


I don't know why I have never used this stamp before now because it's really cute......probably because it's a clear stamp and I'm not too keen on clear stamps. I just don't think you get the same kind of crisp impression that you do with rubber stamps.

This card is for my Step-Mum who will be 65 soon, so I hope she likes it! I will also be making her another one, so she will have one from me and one from my kids, so hopefully I will get it made in the next few days.

We have the school Summer Fayre on Saturday, so I have been busy all week getting things ready for that, so I haven't been able to do much blog hopping, but I really appreciate you stopping by and leaving comments and I promise that I will get around to visiting you all very soon :)


Wednesday 8 June 2011

Inky Impressions- Aqua and Pink

The new challenge is up over on the Inky Impressions Challenge blog and this fortnight it's a colour combo of pink and aqua.
This is one of my fave colour combos but when I was looking through my papers for aqua coloured ones, I could only find 1 or 2......think a crafty shop is in order!



 I used more of the Fancy Pants papers that I got free in a magazine a few weeks back, they are so pretty :)
The image is of course an Inky Impressions stamp and this little sweetie is called Lili's Present which you can find in the Inky Impressions store along with a whole lot of other cuties. She is coloured with Promarkers (colours listed at the end).

I found the pretty ribbon in my stash and have no idea where it came from, I don't remember buying it, but it came in handy for this card.
The butterfly is from a pack I bought at The Works (£1 for 6 or 8 of them!!) and I added some tiny pearls on the body.
The flower is from a pack I bought at WHSmith and they come already layered with the pretty brads. I also used part of a Prima pearl flourish and the little "sweet" embellishment was found in my stash...no idea where this came from either.I'm not doing very well here, am I? lol


 Promarker colours used:
Skin: oatmeal, blush, ivory
Hair: raw sienna, cinnamon, burnt sienna
Clothes: baby pink, cocktail pink
Present: rose pink, baby pink, cool aqua

Thanks for stopping by

Tuesday 7 June 2011

Digital Tuesday- In The Garden

The challenge over at Digital Tuesday this week is "In The Garden" which just so happens to be the same theme as this months challenge at By The Cute and Girly, so why not combine the two challenges and enter for a chance to win double the prizes? :)

Our sponsor at Digital Tuesday this week is Spesch Stamps and the lovely owner Tracey gave the design team a digi image of their choice each to use this week.


I chose the lovely "Meadow Girl" image by Silvia at Spesch Stamps for my card and as usual coloured with Promarkers.
I don't usually colour with any of the darker or bright colours but I was brave and used some of the brighter blues and I have to say that I quite like it and will be using them more often.

I followed the sketch at Sketch Saturday, so am entering this card into their challenge.
The papers are all Fancy Pants and I used some ribbon from my stash, a pretty flower from Little Snippets Etsy Store which I added a gold spacer and pearl from my stash on and the decorative corner bit which you can hardly see in this pic (although it does show up better in real life) was done with an old McGill corner punch and I layered it onto some blue card.

Here's the Promarker colours I used for anyone who is interested.

Skin: Oatmeal, Blush, Ivory and baby Pink for cheeks.
Hair: Raw Sienna, Terracotta, Spice
Top: Baby Pink, Cocktail Pink
Trousers: Azure, Cyan, Sky Blue
Greens for leaves etc: Leaf Green, Meadow Green

I have had a few emails lately from people asking which Promarker colours I use, so I have been trying to remember to list the colours, but sometimes I just forget....sorry.
Also I have had a few emails from people wanting to know how to make some of the flowers I have used on my cards (the handmade ones obviously). I will try to get a tutorial done soon but if you have any questions in the meantime (about marker colours, flowers or anything else), please feel free to ask a question in my chat box and I will get back to you asap :)

Thanks for stopping  by

Lora x

Thursday 2 June 2011

Inky Impressions, Charisma and a few challenges

I have two cards to show again today, one is my Charisma Cardz DT card and the other is an Inky Impressions DT card that is being shown on the Inky Impressions Inspirational blog later today.
Last time I had a card shown on the Inky blog and only showed a sneak peek here, a few of you said that you would of liked to see it on my blog, so I decided I would show it here as well as the Inspirational blog, but please do pop over there as the design team post on the blog every day, so there really is loads of inspiration going on over there.

Ok first up is my Inky card (well actualy it is just a topper because I have ran out of white card lol and I am sick of using those teeny tiny 5x5 cards so I will just mount it onto a card once I get some) which I am also entering into the Papertake Weekly challenge because I followed the sketch from there and also Stampin' for the Weekend where the want to see blue, buttons and bling.




I used Lili's Prayer for my card today which is still one of my fave Inky stamps and I coloured her as usual with Promarkers. You can pick her up from the Inky Impressions store along with a whole lot of other cuties.




The papers are all My Minds Eye from the Lost & Found collection. I just love these papers, they are sooo pretty and such good quality. The only thing is that I don't like cutting into them because they are double sided and each side is as pretty as the other.
I distressed the edges of all the patterened papers and the light brown coredinations cardstock with my scissors to give it a bit of a shabby chic feel.
The gorgeous butterfly was a gift from my By The Cute and Girly DT member Geraldine who very kindly made them up in the colours I wanted (thank you so much sweetie mmwaahh).


Geraldine sells these beauties in her Etsy Shop, Little Snippets (link in the sidebar) along with a whole lot of other pretty embellishments.
I used some ribbon from my stash, a paper button which I got ages ago on a magazine and I coated it with Glossy Accents then bent it a bit to make it crack once it was dry, and the pretty flourish is by Prima.


 This is my card for the Charisma Cardz challenge which this week is something that flys. I used some more of the My Minds Eye papers for this one, and another butterfly from Little Snippets.
the sweet image is a Wags n Whiskers digi  called "Say A Prayer"which I coloured with Promarkers and used some Dazzling Diamonds glitter from SU on her wings and sash.


The pretty heart doily is from Poppy's Cabin (link in sidebar) and I coloured the edge of it with a baby pink Promarker.
The flower I made by cutting out some "bumpy" circles by hand just by moving the paper as I cut and then covered them with gold Cosmic Shimmer Mist, scrunched them up, then opened them up and layered them all together with a brad and added a large pearl in the middle.




Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you are having a great day!


Wednesday 1 June 2011

By The Cute and Girly DT cards

I can't believe it's June already! but it does mean that there's a new monthly challenge over at By The Cute and Girly, and the theme this month is "In The Garden".
We have some fab prizes up for grabs as always from Simon Says Stamp, Joanna Sheen and 2 new sponsors for this month, Spesch Stamps and Poppy's Cabin.
The design team were very kindly allowed to choose a digi stamp from the Spesch Stamps store to use for the challenge and Helena the lovely owner of Poppy's Cabin sent the design team some of her lovely paper doilies to work with. Thank you both so much ladies! :)

I made 3 cards this month, but I will show 2 today that I used bits from our sponsors on, and the last one I will show another day.


 I followed the sketch over at Sketch and Stash for this one and used a Molly Blooms image that I have had for ages and coloured as usual with Promarkers.
I used a paper doily from Poppy's Cabin, some papermania roses, ribbon and lace from my stash and I have no idea who makes the paper I have used (sorry).


 I really enjoyed colouring this image, she is so easy to colour :)


I don't know who makes the papers I used on this one either because I can't find the cover of the pack, but they are from a pack that was only a couple of quid and they have some really pretty fairy images on a lot of them, although I used the ones without the fairies this time.
The image is called Loves Me Not, and is a digi from Spesch Stamps and again coloured with Promarkers.
Another doily from Poppy's Cabin, the large purple rose is from Hobbycraft and the tiny ones I got from Joanna Sheen's website about a year ago. The flourish is cut with a Marianne die and the spray is from a local flower warehouse.
Soem ribbon from Hobbycraft, pearls from my stash and a pretty butterfly which was actualy off a cheap necklace (which had about 12 charms on it so I have kept them for later lol) that I bought a few weeks ago just for the charms lol.




I hope you will come and join in with this months challenge for a chance to win some fab prizes, and we are also looking for a few guest designers for our August challenge if anyone is interested.

Thanks for stopping by