Christmas Cracker

I'm back - have you missed me?  Don't all shout at once!!!!!

Whoever said that moving house is one of the most stressful things that you can do was certainly correct, I never want to do it again :-(

We've still got things to unpack 6 weeks down the line but at least my new craft room is starting to take shape and there's only a bit more to sort out so at least I can get back to crafting and my design team duties again :-)

The current challenge over at Fussy and Fancy is an inspirational photo, so why not pop over and have a look and also check out the other design team members projects too.

I'll be posting a tutorial for this Christmas cracker shortly so if you're interested in making your own either for decoration or to give a present in please pop back.  I will be holding a class on Sunday to make these so don't want to give too much away beforehand ;-)  Here's the cracker that I've made:

I'm entering my project into the following challenges:

ABC Christmas Challenge - Y is for Yippee
Cooking It Up With Katie - anything goes
Creative Belli - winter/christmas
Divas By Design - anything goes
Freshly Brewed - christmas
My Mums Craft Shop - traditional christmas
Paper Shelter - it's a celebration
Penny's Paper Crafty - merry christmas
Pixie Cottage - christmas gifts
Paper Variety - christmas song inspiration
City Crafter - home for the holidays
Create Me Pink - christmas colours
Creative Card Crew - 'tis the season
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Party Time Tuesdays - holiday greeting
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - christmas with pearls
Crafty Boots - anything goes
Cupcake Craft - D.I.Y.
Heart Song Inspirations - christmas
Kaboodle Doodles - christmas colours
Pollycraft - christmas fun
Crazy Challenge - anything goes
Ribbon Girls - jingle all the way
Catch The Bug - anything goes
Just Some Lines - handmade gifts
Outlawz - tree ornament
Joanna Sheen - christmas


xx Happy crafting and glittery hugz xx

Just a quick note

For anyone following my blog, or just popping by to have a look, and wondering why I haven't posted recently - it's simple!  I've been on holiday and then moved house, but I'll be back in craft and blogland as soon as I can and as soon as I can find the boxes with my craft stuff in :-)

xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx

Halloween

Hello crafters, it's time for another challenge over at Fussy and Fancy and this time we asking you to design a card for fall or halloween.  So dust off all those pumpkins, witches hats, black cats and broomsticks and show us your projects.

Here's my card for inspiration and had great fun creating this background.  Why not pop over to the Fussy and Fancy challenge and have a look what the rest of the design team have created for this challenge too? 

Materials used:

Image - Cutie Sitter Witch

Coloured with Promarkers

Nestability - Scallop Oval Small

Distress Ink - Dried Marigold & Antique Linen

Backing papers, ribbons, peel offs and gems from my stash

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

C.R.A.F.T Challenge - recipe
Charisma Cardz - in stitches
Meljen's Designs - ribbon
Pixie Dust Studio - colour challenge - WINNER
Sarah Hurley Challenge - halloween
Crafting For All Seasons - pumpkins
Crafts And Me - colour challenge
I Love Promarkers - autumnal colours
Papertake Weekly - get in shape
Outlawz - colour challenge

xx Happy crafting and glittery hugz xx

Cuddle Cloud Baby Boy

Hello crafters and welcome to a new challenge over at Fussy and Fancy.

We think this fortnights challenge will really get your creative juices flowing as we're challenging you to try out a new technique.  We all have a list of things that we've wanted to try for ages and never found the time for haven't we?  So why not pop on the kettle and make yourself a cuppa, treat yourself to a biscuit and pop over and have a look at the DT's card for inspiration and pick something off your list and enter it into our challenge.  You never know you might be in with a chance of winning!! 

I've wanted to have a go at shrink plastic for ages and bought some ages ago, but always put off trying it so thought what better time to give it a go!  I did have a few misshapen stars to start off with but I think I mastered it in the end :-)

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:


Delicious Doodles - cute as a button
Jellypark - colour palette (summer refresh)
Sew Many Challenges - ovals
Stampin' For The Weekend - what a cutie
Outlawz - anything goes
Crafty Ribbons - anything goes
Southern Girls - anything goes
Digistamps 4 Joy - anything goes
Paper Shelter - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp - dies/punches
Anything Goes - anything goes
Bearly Mine - button it up
Creative Card Crew - babies
Get Hippity With Ippity - buttons
Ooh La La Creations - punches/dies
Paper Pretties - buttons
There's Magic In The Air - someone special
Card Cupids - anything goes
Corrosive Challenges - punches/dies
Dream Valley - buttons


xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx

Lily

It's challenge time again over at Lia Stampz and this time the theme is to create a project with a moving element.

I really struggled with this one and spent sleepless nights wondering what I could do!  It wasn't until my partner saw the image that I was working on and said "she looks as though she's sitting on something, why don't you put her on a swing?"  Well that's it sorted now,  he's my designer now and no more sleepless nights lol :-)

Here's the card that I've created for your inspiration (with the help of my designer) and the image has acetate behind it which has been made into a spring so that the swing goes backwards and forwards.  Hope you like it!

Materials used:

Image - Lily from Lia Stampz

Coloured with promarkers

Core'dinations card

Distress ink - tumbled glass

Liquid Pearls - lemon yellow

Birds - cut from birds and flowers set embossing folders

Backing paper - freebie from Papercraft Essentials magazine - Sweet Wishes Paper Stack

Flowers, brads, thread, gems and ladybird from my stash

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Cardmadfairy's - lots of layers

Crafts 4 Eternity - recipe
Crafty Ann's - out of comfort zone
Stampin' Dragon - 3D
Our Craft Lounge - color challenge
By The Cute & Girly - all things bright & beautiful
4 Crafty Chicks - embossing
Crafty Ribbons - anything goes
Digi Doodle - autumn colours
Little Miss Muffet - things with wings
Some Odd Girl - stitching
Cooking It Up With Katie - recipe
Digistamps 4 Joy - autumn colours
Papertake Weekly - things with wings
Stamping Boutique - recipe - WINNER & TOP 3
Craft Our Passion - "F" word
Happileigh Scrappin' - autumn
Critter Sketch - photo inspiration
Crafty Pad - goodbye summer
One Stitich At A Time - anything goes
Pile It On - layers
Di's Digis - anything goes

London

It's challenge time again over at Fussy and Fancy and this fortnights theme is "Back to School".  I know many of you have had the pleasure (oops did I say that?) of packing your little kiddiwinks back off to school or even taking them there for the first time, but I can safely say that those days are a long and distant memory for me as my daughter is coming up for 21 this year!!  Anyway at least with more free time on your hands you can get more crafting done eh?

Here's my card for some inspiration:

Materials used:

Image from Simply Betty Stamps (our sponsor for this challenge) - London

Coloured with Promarkers

Nestability - Scallop Oval Small

Liquid Pearls - Pastel Raspberry

Backing paper - freebie from Papercraft Essentials magazine - Sweet Wishes Paper Stack

Distress Ink - Tumbled Glass & Spun Sugar

Crayons made from cocktail sticks and coloured with promarkers

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Some Odd Girl - stitching

Divas By Design - back to school

Clear It Out - back to school

Creative Card Crew - anything goes

Jen's Digi's - back to school
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Stamping Boutique - back to school
There's Magic In The Air  - back to school
Come And Get It - back to school
Catch The Bug - anything goes
Crazy 4 Challenges - back to school
One Stop Craft - back to school
If The Shoe Fits - back to school
Simply Betty - back to school


xx Happy crafting and glittery hugz xx

White On White Sympathy Card

It's time for another challenge and unfortunately our last challenge over at:

 
Now this months challenge - white on white with the addition of a ribbon (which is the only thing that can have colour) - was a real challenge for me and I really struggled, but I got there in the end - see what you think!

Materials used:

Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Swiss Dots

Magnolia Doo Hickey Die - Heart Swirl Branch

Marianne Designs Embossing Folder - Swirls

Sentiment - Lily of the Valley set

Nestability - Scallop Oval Small

Butterfly Punch

Ribbon from my stash

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Art Impressions - lots of dots

Rainbow Lady's - let's emboss it
Crafty Creations - die cuts/punches
My Mum's Craft shop - 1 sentiment, 2 butterflys, 3 dies - WINNER
Paper Shelter - anything goes
Creative Card Crew - anything goes
Daisy Doodles - anything goes
Kaboodle Doodles - easel does it
KB Cute Monday - butterfly
Ooh La La - no backing paper
Quirky Crafts - flourishes & embossing
Crafty Ann's - all white on the night
Jelly Park - punches/die cuts
Crafty Catz - monochromatic
Sweet 'n' Sassy - white on white


xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx

Milly - Me And My Cat

This is another of the adorable images from LOTV called "Milly - Me and My Cat" which has been coloured used promarkers.

I've already decided who will be receiving this for their birthday as I've got a good friend who loves cats but her birthday is not until December so will have to store this one away safely until then.

Materials used:

Flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts

Sentiment - Woodware Janes Script

Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Spun Sugar

Nestability - Classic Scallop Circle Small

Magnolia Doo Hickey Die - Heart Swirl Branch

Glitter glue and backing papers from my stash

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Card Makin' Mamas - pink
The Outlawz - promarkers
Sketches By Carly - sketch

Art Impressions - summertime

Aud's Sentiments - anything goes

Crafts Us Crazy - anything goes

Digi Doodle Shop's Best - anything goes

Hanna & Friends - LOTV

Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes

Crafting For All Seasons - bingo (die cuts / stitching / glitter)

Paper Shelter - die cuts

Sisterhood Of Crafters - flowers

Truly Scrumptious - pink

A Spoonful Of Sugar - happy birthday

Bearly Mine - bring on the bling

Stamping Boutique - stripes and dots

Happileigh Scrappin' - girly

Stamps R Us - anything goes

The Outlawz - anything goes

Victorine Stamps - summer

Birthday Sundaes - colour challenge

Kenny K Krafty Girlz - layers

One Stop Craft - bright and bold

Disco Tween

It's challenge time again over at the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge and the theme for this fortnight is to use 3 or more of your favourite embellishments.  You have until 25th August to enter and you could be in with a chance of winning either a $10 gift voucher to spend on digis from Digis with Attitude or a stampset from Inspired Stamps.

For my DT card I've used Disco Tween from Digis With Attitude and coloured her with my promarkers.

Materials used:

Embossing folder - birds and flowers set 

Classic scallop circle die

Core'dinations card

Sanding block

Distress ink - tattered rose

Flowers

Ribbon, pearls, glitter glue, gems and lace from my stash

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Card Makin' Mamas - pink

Crafty Ann's - scallops - WINNER

Digis With Attitude - anything goes

Poodles Parlour - anything goes
Simply Create - distress
Stamp Man - anthing goes using summer colours
Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes
Paper Play - recipe
Pixie Dust Studio - tween teen's dream
Truly Scrumptious - lace it up
Bearly Mine - bring on the bling
Papertake - bingo (gems, free, lace)
Crafters Companion - glitter and glitz
Desert Islands Crafts - choose 3 (1,2 & 8)
Freshly Brewed - hot colours
Glitter Fairies - pretty in pink
Paper Playtime - anything goes
Pink Elephant - stitching
Pollycraft - distressing
Shabby Tea Room - polka dots
Pixie Dust Paperie - that's my girl

Fussy & Fancy 1000 Followers Celebration

We have a special announcement today over at the Fussy and Fancy challenge blog - we have reached 1000 followers - yeah!!!!!

We have decided to have an additional challenge to celebrate and have some wonderful sponsors who have given us some fantastic prizes for you to try and win - check out the challenge blog for all of the prizes on offer.  Here are the details of how to enter our celebration challenge:

• Create a project that celebrates something!  It can be a wedding, birthday or any other event that you have need of a card or project for.  As an extra fun challenge, use the Fussy and Fancy Friday color scheme
• You have until 12 a.m. PST on 16th September to enter your project to make sure you have a chance of winning one of these prizes

Here is the card that I have created for your inspiration:  (my tutorial for the exploding box can be found here)

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Allsorts - anything but a card

Outlawz - anything but a card

Craft Your Passion - anything but a card

Happileigh Scrappin' - keep it cool

Karens Doodles - fancy folds

KB Cute Mondays - babies

Paper Playtime - anything goes

Pink Elephant - stitching

Pollycraft - distressing

Stamp-N-Doodle - fancy folds

Crafty Pad - cute 'n' girly - TOP 3

Dream Valley - distressing

Stamptacular Sunday - fancy folds

Craft Us Crazy - anything goes - TOP 3

Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes

Shelley Images - anything goes

Stamp Insanity - anything goes

Anything Goes Challenge - celebration

Creative Craft Challenges - anything but a card

Papertake - bingo (pearls, ribbons, free)

 

Lia Stampz New Challenge and Blog Hop

Hi everyone and welcome to a brand new challenge which starts today over at Lia Stampz and to celebrate we're kicking off with a blog hop to introduce you to the design team members who have a few things of their own to give away on your hop to the prize at the end on Lia's blog.

If you didn't start at the beginning you may want to go back to ensure you collect all of the letters.

To join in the hop here are the blogs that you have to visit and the few simple rules that you have to follow to be in with a chance to win the prize and you can get a maximum of 3 entries if you follow all of the rules:

1. Laura

2. Mo

3. Heather

4. Cely 

5. Tina

6. Georgia

7. Sally  (you are here)

8. Ashley  (you need to go here next - good luck)

9. Jennie 

10. Lia 

1)   Comment on all the blogs along the hop and leave a comment on Lia's blog with the secret word
2)   Post the Lia Stampz blinkie on your sidebar (leave a 2nd comment on Lia's blog)
3)   Follow Lia Stampz on Facebook (leave a 3rd comment on Lia's blog)

****************************************************

The first challenge on Lia Stampz is "add a charm"and here's the card that I've made using one of Lia's stamps which is called June and I've also used the sentiments sheet that goes along with this image.

Materials used:

Tim Holtz distress ink - dried marigold

Promarkers

Nestability die - lacey circles

Martha Stewart edge punch - doily lace

Cuttlebug embossing folder - swiss dots
Ribbon, charm, gems, papers, card scraps from my stash

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Sir Stampalot - whatever you fancy

Crafty Pad - cute 'n' girly

Kenny K Krafty Girlz - summer sparkle

Crafty Calendar - hot colours

One Stop Craft - at the beach

Cooking It Up - recipe

xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx

The Hotspot Challenge - Subrina

It's time for another challenge over at:

I can't believe another month has just flown past, can you?  This month we are going to be using Pantone's top color trends for fall and winter 2011.  You can enter your card or project using one, all or any combination of the colors below.

Here's my DT card for some inspiration or why not pop over to the other DT's blogs for even more inspiration.

This challenge is open until the end of the month so why not come and join us?

Material used:

Image - Subrina  - McMahon Five Designs

Coloured with promarkers

Martha Stewart around the page corner punch

Tim Holtz distress ink - antique linen

Pearlescent card - PaperMill Direct

Marianne Design Creatables Die - Doily Square

Edged with a quickie glue pen and sprinkled fine glitter 

Ribbon, papers, pearls and bow are all from my stash

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Bling It On - A, B, C (Antique linen, Bow & Circles
Passion For Promarkers - diva's with glam & glitter - TOP 5
Sweet Stamps - bling it up
Cupcake Crafts - sew mad
Incy Wincy Designs - something old (ribbon), something new (image)
Stamp 'n' Doodle - recipe
Corrosive Challenge - earth tones
One Stitch At A Time - use a digi
Stampin Sisters In Christ - forgotten stash (bow & paper)
Catch The Bug - anything goes

xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx

Ava - Mistletoe Fairy

It's challenge time again over at the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge and the theme for this fortnight is Christmas in July, so come on drag out all of those Christmas papers and see what you can create.  You have until 11th August to enter and you could be in with a chance of winning either 7 digis from Bugaboo Stamps or a stampset from Inspired Stamps.

For my DT card I've used Ava - Mistletoe Fairy from Bugaboo Stamps and coloured her with my promarkers.

Materials used:

Embossing folder - snowflake

Tim Holtz distress ink - tumbled glass

Quickie glue pen

Ultra fine glitter

Spellbinders Nestabilities - classic scallop circle small 

Sentiment and ribbon from my stash

Backing card taken from a flyer I received through the post 

(see I'm a crafter through and through)

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Catch The Bug - anything goes

CES Challenges - water it
Little Claires - things with wings
Clearly Inspired - things with wings
The Stamp Man - stitching
Stamp Something - use a digi
Wags 'N' Whiskers - sparkly
Aud's Sentiments - merry christmas
Craft Us Crazy - anything goes
Crafty Sentiments - christmas
Delightful Challenges - stitching
Paper Play - christmas in august
Sassy Studio Designs - use a sentiment
Ambers Crafts - sparkle and shine
Crafts And Me - anything goes
I Love Promarkers - things with wings
Simon Says Stamp - christmas in august
Papertake - anything goes
Passion For Promarkers - hugs and kisses
Crafters Companion - glitter and glitz
Craft Your Passion - anything goes
Happileigh Scrappin' - anything goes

Box Card Tutorial

Here's another tutorial for you all to try and I hope you have fun with it!  I would love to see some of your completed cards so please pop back and let me know how you've got on.

This type of card is so versatile and can be used for any occassion especially as you can include a small gift or even make your own bouquet to put in the boxed section of the card.

Materials needed:

5 x A4 sheets of card
Wet glue (for the box assembly)
Double sided tape
Craft knife / guillotine
Pencil
Ruler / Hougie board
Bone folder

Instructions on how to make the basic box card:

1)  From your first sheet of card cut a 24cm x 12.5cm rectangle and score at 2cm intervals along the long edge (see diagram 1 below).  This will be the top of your box card aperture.

DIAGRAM 1

2)  From your second sheet of card cut a 24cm x 12.5cm rectangle and score at 2cm intervals along the long edge (see diagram 1 above).  This is not a duplication as you need 2 pieces of the same size.  This will be the bottom of your box card aperture.


3)  From your third sheet of card cut a 24cm x 14.5cm rectangle and score at 2cm intervals along the long edge (see diagram 2 below).  This will be the right hand side of your box card aperture.

DIAGRAM 2

4)  From your fourth sheet of card cut a 24cm x 12.5cm rectangle and score at 2cm intervals along the long edge (see diagram 2 above).  This is not a duplication as you need 2 pieces of the same size.  This will be the left hand side of your box card aperture.

5)  Taking these four rectangles zig zag fold to form a concertina (see diagram 3 below) using a bone folder to crease the folds.

DIAGRAM 3

6)  At this stage I've used distress inks to emboss the edges of the folds as well as all the way around the end fold (see diagram 4 below) as it is easier to do this before the aperture is assembled.

DIAGRAM 4

7)  To form the box aperture take one of the long zig zag folded pieces and, using the wet glue, place a small line of the adhesive along one of the zig zagged edges (see diagram 5 below) avoiding both end folds as one will be your finished edge and the other will be fixed to your base card in a later stage.

DIAGRAM 5

8)  Now take one of the shorter zig zag folded pieces and slot them together (see diagram 6 below) alternating the folds in each piece.

DIAGRAM 6

9)  Your finished corner should now look like diagram 7 and 8 below.

DIAGRAM 7

DIAGRAM 8

10)  Apply the wet glue to the edge of the shorter piece as before (see diagram 5 above) and slot in the other long zig zag folded piece as before (see diagram 6 above).

11)  This last piece is a bit tricky as you have to do both ends at the same time.  Apply the wet glue to both ends as before (see diagram 5 above) and slot together at both ends as before (see diagram 6 above).  The wet glue will give you time to complete both ends before it starts to dry.

12)  You should end up with your aperture looking like diagram 9 below.

DIAGRAM 9

13)  At this stage I have added peel off corners and faux stitching the both the outside and inside edge of the aperture (see diagram 9 above).

14)  From your fifth sheet of card cut a 29.4cm x 15cm rectangle and score at 13.7cm in from both short ends.  This should leave you with approximately a 2cm gap in the centre (see diagram 10 below).  This will form the spine of your box card.

DIAGRAM 10

15)  At this stage I've used distress inks to emboss all the way around the edges of the front, back and spine on the inside and outside of the card and also added faux stitching to all sections apart from the inside section where the aperture will be fixed.


16)  The ribbon needs to be fixed to the back section of the card base in the middle ensuring that it will not be seen when the aperture is fitted (see diagram 11 below) .


17)  You could also add a sheet of backing paper to the back section of the card so that it is visible through the aperture once fitted ensuring that it is cut slightly smaller than the outside dimensions of the aperture so that it cannot be seen.

18)  Apply double sided tape to the aperture and fix to the card base leaving equal distances all the way around (see diagram 11 below).

DIAGRAM 11

19)  Now you can decorate the front of your card but please ensure that you fix your other piece of ribbon to the front of the card before applying your your matted decoration (see diagram 12 below).  I have used the Christmas tree embossing folder through my Cuttlebug onto Core'dinations card, sanded it back and added glitter to hightlight some of the decorations on the tree.

DIAGRAM 12

20)  You have now completed this project.  I've added another couple of pictures below to show my finished box card.

Other box card projects can be viewed here and here.

I hope that these instructions, diagrams and pictures have been easy enough to follow and that you enjoyed making your own box card.  I would love to hear your comments and see your projects.

Please feel free to reference this tutorial, along with your project, on your blog and any craft sites but PLEASE spare a thought for the time and effort that has gone into producing this and a link to this tutorial would be very much appreciated :-)



xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx