Fairy Gemstone - Amethyst

Hi Everyone,

Happy Easter to you all.  I hope you've been able to enjoy some chocolate and sunshine.  We have had such great weather lately.  I'm going to cook come summer!

I was having a little experiment with the new Linda Ravenscroft Fairy Gemstones CD-ROM from Card Creations Plus and thought that if took an image into Serif I could use it make matching papers and embellies.  And it worked! 

I used the latest sketch from Sketch Saturday which is another great one...

I changed it up and made a 5" square card instead.  My printer seems to be a bit slow on picking up the images in Serif so my shadowing hasn't shown up so well.  It has also lightened the main backgournd colour so much that it is almost white instead of pink!

I also added an insert with the same bubble pattern.

To finish off I added Tim Holtz Glossy Accents to three of the bubbles on the front.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Sketch Saturday #252
Everybody-Art-Challenge #229 - Fairy
Charisma Cardz Challenges #12 - Happy Birthday

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

Fab'n'Funky Challenges #164 - Boxed In

Hi Crafties,

We are on Wednesday again!  It'll be summer soon!  Okay, I've really jinxed it now!  I really feel for all the people who have been battling the snow.  We've been so lucky so far and are enjoying some sunshine this week.  It is ever so cold though. 

Fab'n'Funky Challenges are back with a brilliant new challenge.  We have announced last week's winner and Top 3 over on the blog if you fancy checking it out.

For this week, our host is the talented Ciska who always makes the inside count!  Click here to see her wonderful cards.  Ciska has chosen a great challenge and this week we are...

Boxed In

So, we would like you make a box for your project this week.  I'm sure you'll all have lots of fun with this one.  Our sponsors is the fabulous Stamp Fairy.  They have lots of cute digis over on the Stamp Fairy website - click here to head on over.

This is my boxed in project...

I've gone Christmassy!  I started by using the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 2 Cricut cartridge and cut the box on page 47 in Coredinations cardstock at 11.5".  This one has an interlocking snowflake on top.  My image is from Stamp Fairy and is called Santa World 1.  I used ProMarkers to colour him up in Amethyst, Fuchsia Pink, Blossom, Blush, Satin, Gold and Cocoa.  For the sparkle I added Flower Soft Glitter Frosting and finally attached my image with foam pads.

I really hope you can join us at Fab'n'Funky Challenges to get Boxed In!  Be sure to take a look at my teamies creations.

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

Pearly Thank You

Hi All,

Another day, another card!  I really should be making wedding invites but this just came to me last night and I had to make it there and then.  It's another Spellbinders card and I have used kraft cardstock again. 

After pink, turquoise is definitely my next favourite colour.  The turquoise colour on this card is from Coredinations cardstock.  I stared with an 8x8 piece and attached to my card blank with double sided sticky tape.  My main layer is kraft cardstock which I embossed with an Embossalicious embossing folder that I had inked with Versamark on the debossed side.  I ran it through the Grand Calibur and then covered in white embossing powder before heating with my heat tool.  I inked around the edge with Broken China Distress Ink from Tim Holtz.  My ribbon is Creative Expressions Silky Crush in gold and Ribbon Kings sheer ribbon in turquoise. 

I used the Spellbinders Grand Decorative Ovals for my base topper and inked again with the DI.  The pearls, from Creative Expressions, were all in one but I cut in half and then added on top.  I used the Spellbinders Standard Ovals Large in Coredinations and kraft for the next layers and stamped the same Thank You sentiment stamp in Broken China again.

I hope you have lovely plans for the weekend.  I'm sure it'll be Monday before we know it!

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

Butterfly Delight

Hi Friends,

I'm back with another card and if anyone was watching Ideal World last night you might have seen a sneaky peek!  When I saw all the wonderful embossed cards on the Crafter's Companion Embossalicious Pick of the Day show at 9pm I set about making one of my own!  I emailed in on the 11pm show and they showed it on air!  Mega cheesy grin!  So without further ado, here is the card in question...

Funnily enough I've used the same colours as our current challenge on Fab'n'Funky Challenges - pink, green and brown.  Head on over to the blog to see my teamies inspiration.  We have a great prize from MayzyArt too.

My base is a piece of pink Centrua Pearl cardstock.  I used an 8x8 Embossalicious folder on kraft card for the next layer and it is such a pretty flourish design.  Must use this more often!  My green doilies were cut using a Cheery Lynn die called French Pastry.  The green paper is from the Garden Fairies CD-ROM set by Debbi Moore.  I cut two of the Spellbinders Decagons for my main topper and then added a butterfly from the Spellbinders Les Papillion Two set.  My clear gems are from Create and Craft.  Finally my sentiment is stamped in black and I actually bought this stamp from ebay.  I was really impressed with the quality.  Another great bargain! 

Hope you are all having a great week.  I've totally blown my crafty budget this month with all the great deals on Create and Craft.  Oops!  I can't wait for the post man to bring them to my door.  Has anyone else bought any new goodies lately?  I'd love to see what you've made.

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

Challenges entered:
Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge Blog #72 - Think Spring
My Creative Time - Tic Tac Toe (top line - use a die, embossing and bling)
The Perfect Sentiment PSC71 - Fairies or Butterflies

Fab'n'Funky Challenges #163 - Colour Challenge

Hi Everyone,

Well, isn't the time just whizzing by.  I can't believe we are back on Wednesday again!  As you know Wednesday means a great new challenge at Fab'n'Funky Challenges and this week is no different.  But first we have to say a big thank you to each and every one of you who entered our last challenge - we saw so many wonderful sentiments.  The winners and Top 3 have been announced over at Fab'n'Funky Challenges so head on over for a look.

Have you seen our exciting DT Call?  If not, all the details can be found at Fab'n'Funky Challenges.  You don't need to have previous DT experience - just a love of craft! 

Now, we had better announce the next challenge and it's a corker!  Pat is our host and you should definitely pop by her blog for some inspiration.  She also has a lovely brood of gorgeous grand-daughters! 

Pink, Green and Brown

Our sponsor this week is MayzyArt. 

She is becoming a firm fave of mine and the DT were so lucky to be able to work with her images this week.  I chose Frog Princess and here is my card...

I started by colouring my image with ProMarkers in Peony, Fuchsia Pink, Cerise, Marsh Green, Pear Green, Lime Green, Walnut, Cocoa, Cinnamon, Blush, Satin, Gold and Blender.  When I finished, I scanned it using my Brother printer and then took it into Serif's Craft Artist 2 Professional.  I had only intended to make some matching papers but this card just came together almost by itself!  I used the current sketch on Sketch Saturday blog which looks like this...

Great sketch and I love all the ideas they have over at Sketch Saturday.  My papers are from different kits so I haven't got a note of them.  The ribbon came from the Afternoon Tea kit.  I tried the 3D decoupage tool for the first time on this card.  It was really easy and I love the result.  Here is a shot of the inside of my card...

This was a super quick card to put together but I like that I've been able to use my coloured image in a different way.  I really hope you can join us for our Pink, Green and Brown challenge this week.

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

Challenges entered:
Sketch Saturday - #250
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Girly
Fashionista's Challenge #13 - Make it Pink

Fab'n'Funky Challenges #162 - Add a Sentiment

Hi Crafty Followers,

It's better late than never with this post as I completely forgot to do it last night for this morning!  We've had a fair bit of snow over the last couple of days but thankfully it is looking a little less white now! 

We have a brand new challenge over at Fab'n'Funky Challenges but first we have picked our winners and Top 3 from last week.  Thanks to everyone who shared their cute and cuddly creations - you really made us smile.

So, I won't keep you in suspense any longer!  This week, Vicky is our host and she is a truly brilliant crafter.  Check out her blog here.  She has chosen a great challenge...

Add a Sentiment

Super simple!  Just make sure there is a sentiment somewhere on your project and link up.  It couldn't be simpler.  I have a feeling this might be a popular one this week!  We also have two sponsors - Digi Darla Designs and StampArt Design by Kathryne.  Just click their name to have a look at their wonderful digis.

The DT were very lucky to have some images to use and I chose to use Hooded Raincoat Kitty from Digi Darla Designs on my card. 

I started with some papers from Bo Bunny's Vicki B Collection which I layered onto a scalloped card blank from Anita's.  I love the fresh colours and lovely patterns in this paper pad.  My image was coloured with ProMarkers in Satin, Putty, Bright Orange, Honeycomb, Pale Pink, Dusky Pink, Pear Green and Lime Green.

What a cutie!  I finished off with my favourite set of sentiments from Lili of the Valley.  These are clear acrylic stamps and I think they are a really versatile set.  I cut out my sentiment with Spellbinders Standard Circles Large which was the perfect fit.

I hope you can join us on this challenge.  Why not take a peak at my teamies blogs too.

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

Fab'n'Funky Challenges #161 - Cute and Cuddly

Hi All,

We're back with another great challenge at Fab'n'Funky Challenges.  But first, if you were one of the lovely people who entered our Pastel Colours challenge last week head over to the Fab'n'Funky Challenges blog to see our random winner and Top 3.

I'm sure you're all wondering what we have in store for you this week.  Well, the glamourous Judith has picked a fab theme for you all...

Cute and Cuddly

We will be looking for cute makes featuring cuddlies!  It's really up to you how you interpret this one.

Our sponsor this week is the wonderful Bugaboo Stamps.  The winner will receive 7 digi stamps of their choice.  Click here if you fancy checking out the great designs in advance.

The DT were lucky to be able to use Bugaboo stamps for this challenge and as soon as I saw this image I knew it would be perfect.  This is Sock Monkey Boy...

I used the current layout from Sketch Saturday for this card and here is the example

I coloured my little cutie with ProMarkers in Walnut, Cocoa, Cinnamon, Starfish, Cornflower, Cobalt Blue and Capri Blue.  Using the blender pen, I dotted around the image to add texture. 

My brown and orange cardstock are Coredinations and I scrunched up the orange and then sanded back to reveal the core.  I created the background with an embossing folder from Spellbinders - Twigs and Tweets.  I hoped you can see the dimension.  The dotty paper is from Create and Craft and I bought it ages ago in two sizes!  My buttons started as plain white but I used the Walnut ProMarker to make them match my image.  They dried really quickly too after I had blotted with some of the Hunkydory foam pad backings!  Crafters really do use everything in sight for creating!

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Sketch Saturday #248
Dutch Dare Card Challenges #206 - One for the Boys
Eclectic Ellapu - Something for a child
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #196 - Use embossing
A Gem of a Challenge #69 - Button It
Send A Smile 4 Kids - For the Boys

I really hope you can make it cute and cuddly this week.  Be sure to click onto my fellow Fab'n'Funky's blogs for inspiration.

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

All Kinds of Cuttlebug News

Hi Cuttlebuggers,

I have some good news, along with some sad news.  The Cuttlebug Spot is closing.  Boo!  But.....there is a brand new Cuttlebug blog for you - Cuttlebug Mania. 

Unfortunately, I've decided to step down, for now, from the design team.  I'm so busy creating wedding stationery for my brother's wedding and some other things have come up so I'm not able to dedicate as much time to these challenges as I'd like.  Hopefully once things settle down, I might be back at Cuttlebug Mania.  Watch this space!

The first great challenge at Cuttlebug Mania is live right now.  This week the theme is...

Butterflies

My absolute favourite thing to create on a project so this was an easy one for me and here is my card...

It's a twisted easel style and was the birthday card I gave to my best friend, Vicki.  There was a chorus of "Wows" around the room when she opened it so I think it was a hit!  For the topper, I started with matt silver card and then using a piece of designer paper from a free paper stack designed by Kate Knight I used the Spellbinders Butterfly Corner die in the top corners.  I added a butterfly cut with Create and Craft textured cardstock in purple and spritzed with Mister Huey shine spray.  I added gems to the centre to really bling it up.  The ribbon is from Papermania.

My base layer was again made using the silver matt cardstock and Kate Knight designer paper.  This was free with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine a couple of years ago.  To make my stopper I used Spellbinders Fancey Labels Two and then the sentiment was cut from white cardstock using Spellbinders Framed Tags One.  I propped this up on foam pads to make sure my card stayed open.  All my die cutting was done using my beloved Cuttlebug.

I hope you'll join the team at Cuttlebug Mania this week and for many weeks to come.  They have some brilliant challenges coming up that are not to be missed.  I'd really like to thank Jannie, Kerry and all the lovely ladies at Cuttlebug Mania, along with Nilda from The Cuttlebug Spot.  I've loved using my Cuttlebug to create these cards and it'll always be my No 1 crafting tool.  All the best with the new blog, ladies.

Happy crafting,

Rachel x