Jada

Well there's several firsts in this card for me.  I've tried a new technique with the flower frame, which I picked up from my crafting buddy Wendy (aka Papersniffer), colouring black hair and dark skin and it's my first card for the Gems of Inspiration blog too.

It's always good to try and work outside of your comfort zone because if you don't you'll never know if you're any good at it or not, so the Pink Gem design team are all contributing to an inspirational blog spotlighting the designs from Pink Gem Designs with some ideas to get you started.  Why not pop over and have a look and see what ideas you can pick up from my teamies.

 Material used:

Stamp - Jada

Coloured with promarkers

Skin: Cinnamon, Burnt Sienna & Umber

Cheeks & lips:  Coral

Hair:  Cool Grey 1 to 5

Curls:  Black fineliner 0.3

Top:  Buttercup, Yellow & Sunflower

Trousers:  Tea Green, Pastel Blue & Denim Blue

Logo:  Poppy

Accented with glossy accents

Adirondack ink - sunshine yellow

Splodge-A-Mask - squares

Embossing folder - divine swirls

Stamp - letterbox set

Background stamp - bunch of flowers from the garden set

Adirondak ink - denim

Splodge Away Blending Mat

Pearl Heart

Liquid pearls - silver pearl & lemon yellow

Sequins, gems and flowers from my stash

If you want to have a go at the flower frame please pop along to Wendy's blog where you will find her fab tutorial.  I'm sure she'd love to hear your feedback too!  It's easy to make and looks so effective doesn't it?  Thanks for the inspiration Wendy.

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

I Love Promarkers - anything goes
Papertake Weekly - free for all
Whimsy Stamps - lots of layers
Emerald Faeries - punches/dies
Creative Inspirations - bingo (pearls/flowers/blue)
Sweet 'n' Sassy - something old, new & blue
Southern Girls - it's all about the flora
Divas By Design - let's celebrate




xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx

Tweet Bird

Well that's the end of another week and now it's time to craft - yeah.

Our friends became grandparents again last week and now have a beautiful grandson so I thought it would be nice to make them a card to celebrate his arrival.  It also coincides with the current challenge over at A Gem of a Challenge where the theme is "Animals or Teddies" and there are some lovely new digis at Pink Gem Designs so what better time to showcase them!

Materials used:

Stamp - tweet bird

Coloured with promarkers

Checked paper - Forever Friends - just for him

Distress ink - antique linen

Stamp - film strip

Stamped onto acetate

Nestability - labels 11

Bakers twine

Pearl hearts

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Whimsy Stamps - lots of layers

Sir Stampalot - take flight

Card Makin' Mamas - try something new

Creative Belli - winged things
Papertake Weekly - pins and needles
Divas By Design - anything goes

xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx

Madeleine

Welcome to a glorious sunny Sunday morning and a fab weekend weather wise too!  I bet the supermarkets are loving this weather with everyone taking advantage of it whilst it's here and having bbq's galore.   I know we are, what about you?

My card today is another one from the July Clarity Stamp show on Create and Craft showcasing the lovely Madeleine.

Materials used:

 Stamp - Madeleine

Coloured with promarkers

Sentiment - to see the world

Distress ink - shabby shutters

Ribbon and pearls

Corners - Persian motifs

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Emerald Faeries - bling

Catch The Bug - bingo

Craft Your Days Away - anything goes

Crafting For All Seasons - bright colours

xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx

New Gems of Inspiration Blog and some Blog Candy

Well what a glorious weekend we've had, just a pity that I've got to go back to work tomorrow!

I was at the Stamperama show in Stevenage today and managed to pick up a few goodies whilst enjoying the company of my crafting buddy Anne too.  We got to meet up with the lovely Maria Simms on the Clarity stand and saw loads of demos so plenty of ideas to put into action in the coming weeks.

Anyway enough of me, onto the reason for this post...

You may already be a follower of the A Gem of a Challenge blog where there's a new challenge every fortnight with prizes, but if you find challenges a bit challenging and you can never think of what to do, we have just the answer!

The Pink Gem girls have got a new inspirational blog to give you some ideas of how to use the fabulous Pink Gem Designs stamps, digi images and papers as well as tips, techniques and maybe a tutorial thrown in as well.  What more could you want?

To kick off our new Pink Gem Designs Inspiration blog we are offering some fabulous candy:

If you don't have a blog then just become a follower and leave your name with Inlinkz skipping the URL bit - sorted!

The winner of the candy will be drawn by Random.Org on Monday 20th August and announced on Tuesday 21st August.

We hope you get some great ideas from the new inspirational blog and we can't wait to see your entries into our forthcoming challenges as we've got some great themes coming up.

xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx

Meadow Dance

Yeah summer has arrived at last, or at least it has in Peterborough!  I'm torn between the garden and my craft room at the moment so have been a bit lapse with my posting recently.

I thought it was about time that I started to show you the cards that I've been working on lately for the lovely Barbara Gray at Clarity Stamp starting with the card designed for the German show televised on HSE24 last week.

 Materials used:

Stamp - meadow dance

Stamp - tree 2012

Adirondack ink - stonewashed

Big 'n' Juicy - soothing sunset

Brayered using Splodge Mat

Card Candi - icing sugar

Coloured with promarkers

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly - anything goes

Joanna Sheen - try something new

Crafty Ann's - circles

MAWTT - summer

Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes

Crafting For All Seasons - bright colours

Anything Goes - summer days

Outlawz - anything goes

xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx

Football Teddy

Has everyone been watching the Olympics over the last week?  Team GB are doing really well aren't they?  Well done to all of those that have taken part and especially those that have won medals for our country.  We have a couple of people taking part that come from Peterborough which makes it even more spectacular to watch and cheer them on! I wonder if the closing ceremony is going to be as good as the opening ceremony? 

It's Vicky's turn to host our challenge over at A Gem of a Challenge and she's given us this gorgeous sketch to work with.  I decided to dedicate my card to all of Team GB and a great big thanks to you for representing our country so well guys and gals!

 If you want some more inspiration why not pop over and see what my teamies have designed too?

Materials used:

Stamp - football teddy

Coloured with promarkers

Nestability - large deckled rectangle

Distress ink - tumbled glass

Nestability - lacey circle

Card Candi - icing sugar

Backing paper - wrapping paper

Ribbon and card from my stash

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Crafty Ribbons - spots & dots

S J Crafts - olympics

xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx