Hedgie Carollers

Evening All!

Now that the nights are drawing in its really hard to take a good a pic where the colours look like they do in real life -or is it just me!

Anyway, this little card actually looks more vibrant 'in the flesh' but hopefully you can get the gist. The papers are the latest Henbury Lane Christmas collection and a little piece of Anna Griffins'. I flit between liking lovely wintery blues and aquas or traditional reds and greens for my Christmas cards - tonight these little Penny Black Hedgies - coloured with Promarkers - made me feel all traditional!

The sketch this week was a great one from the Penny Black Saturday Challenge and I punched the flowers and holly leaves before adding gems and a sentiment from the Forever Friends selection. Hope you like it!

Bye for now

Karen x

I would also like to enter this in the Penny Black at Allsorts Challenge which this month is to 'Punch Away', Totally Gorjuss - Wild Thing challenge and The Secret Crafter - Anything Goes. I also thought my card fitted in with the colour scheme on the Passion for Promarkers Challenge which was reds, white and green.

Celebration Preparations!

Afternoon All!

Here is my entry for the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge. It's their second anniversary this week so they have a brilliant 'celebratory sketch' challenge and a whole host of fab goodies for one lucky crafter to win on their blog hop!

I've rotated the sketch 90 degrees to fit my oblong image in. The papers are Anna Griffin - I love the traditional muted reds and greens and tried to colour my mice and gerbil to match using a mixture of promarkers and sakura pens for a bit of subtle sparkle. I left the wires on the little flowers - which I thought looked a little bit like mini poinsettias - and coiled the wires to look like tendrils - I quite like the effect - hope you do too! A bit of ribbon, a few gems and my sentiment and I'd finished. I really like this sketch - it was easy to follow yet makes a great layout without being too cluttered - I'll definately use it again when knocking out another batch of Christmas cards!

Good luck with the blog hop everyone!

Best wishes Karen x

I'm a Winner!

Woo Hoo! I'm a blog candy winner! Today, I found out that I'd won the fortnightly candy over at Lorraine's Loft - the prize of a House Mouse stamp! I'm so pleased and would just like to thank Lorraine for her generosity! There's nothing like a win to brighten up a rainy day!

Why not pop over to her blog to see some really fab cards and join in the fun!

Thanks again, Lorraine.
Best wishes
Karen x

Feelin' Hot!

Nearly forgot! I've been having a decoupage session recently with the lovely House Mouse Decoupage from Joanna Sheen. I'm addicted to the images and find the cutting out in front of the telly in the evening really relaxing so although I've not yet got around to posting some of my finished cards, I am being quite productive behind the scenes so be prepared for a whole host of House Mouse creations turning up on my blog soon!

I love this image which is great for a men's card - I've decided to enter it into the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge which is 'water' themed. I'm a bit late with my entry and luckily will just make it before the new challenge is set tomorrow!

Bye for now

Karen x

Toadily Trio

Another day of strange weather here in North Wales - sunny one minute and chucking it down the next! Just time to create a quick little card which I've decided to enter for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge which this week is 'man' themed and A Spoonful of Sugar which is 'animal' themed. Love my little froggies which are great for birthdays, thank you's or general cards! I've also used this week's sktech from over at the Sketch Saturday Challenge blog.

Have a nice Sunday - whatever you're doing.

Bye for now

Karen x

Christmas Fairy

Hi All! This is an easel card I made using the LOTV Tiptoe Fairy. I decided to make her very christmassy in red and green and also used the beautiful red and green papers from K&Co's Winter Wonderland pad. I bought some new coffee cups the other day which came packaged in plastic so I recycled it by putting it through the cuttlebug and cutting out a plastic background to mount her on. I edged it all in Stickles. In hindight, I'd have placed my greeting a little further down but I still love this christmassy little card!

Best wishes and bye for now

Karen

PS - I'm hoping to enter it in the Simon Says Stamp challenge - Holiday Fun.

Bah Humbug - Favourite Medium (Stamping)

Charisma Cards - Something New ( I tried Cuttlebuging plastic and made my own plastic snowflake embellishments)

Vintage Bear

Hello All! Well, it's typical Bank Holiday weather here in North Wales - raining one minute then sunny the next! I've been having a little play with my crafty stash and decided to work on a pack of Forever Friend's Decoupage that I bought a couple of weeks ago - I thought that the images would be ideal for baby cards as I know a few people who will be having babies shortly. In the pack was an image of a bear in a car so I set myself the challenge of making it more 'manly' if that is possible and although I'm not sure if Forever Friends has ever 'gone vintage' I decided to give it a whirl and enter it in the monthly challenge over at Bunny Zoes Monthly Craft Challenge - if you fancy taking part in the vintage challenge you have until the 12th Sept to enter.

I used a cream DL card and distressed the edges with Scattered Straw. I then took a piece of paper that was in the pack and gave that the Scattered Straw and Walnut Stain treatment too! before layering it on some inked card. On a piece of red card I lightly stamped some images of vintage cars (unfortunately you can't see these as much on the picture as you can in real life) and edged that in Walnut Stain too. I layered up my papers and image and added some cream ribbon - again Walnut Stained - and distressed a little sentiment before adding some Distress Crackle Accents Rock Candy for an aged look. I couldn't help adding a few brown gems for a bit of vinatge bling. This is what I would call 'gentle distressing' as I could have done a lot more 'roughing up' of the edges but I know the person I am sending this too would appreciate it this way.

Anyway, hope you like my take on these Forever Friend's decoupage. I would also like to enter it into Dutch Dare Card Challenges which is for 'Vintage Summer'.

Enjoy the rest of the Bank Holiday!

Karen x