Winnie Christmas Wreath

Hello crafty peeps.  It's been a bit of an odd week in our household.  My daughter returned to school and my son has now left.   It was hard seeing her go but it needed to happen.  She was so excited to see all her friends again it was lovely to hear about everything when she got in from her day.  The school, to be fair, have done an excellent job in trying to get 1800 pupils back into education and it's going to be a learning curve in these strange times so I think we'll just take each day as it comes.

So, how have you all been?  I've noticed a fresh crispness to the air first thing in the morning now and the leaves are just starting to turn so looks like Autumn is just around the corner.  This pleases me greatly as it's my favourite season.  I spent a day switching up all my planters on my decking and front garden with flowers in beautiful autumnal colours and it's lovely to sit on the decking of an evening and watch my solar lights slowly come on one by one and light up the flowers, so pretty.

Anyway, I digress lol.  I'm actually popping in today to share my latest DT make for Polkadoodles Crafting Challenge.  Our theme for the team this week was 'Christmas' but for all you lovely peeps wanting to join in with us you can share anything you like it doesn't have to be Christmas related or even Polkadoodles goodies for that matter.  You can share anything with us and we'd love to have you join us and be in with a chance of winning some goodies.

Well, for my make I decided to ink up Winnie Christmas Wreath.  I stamped and coloured her with my copics to match the beautiful LDRS 'Country Christmas' papers.  I used a little Frantage around the edges of the die cut oval.  I love this stuff and I really should use it more.  I didn't really want to crowd my card with too much so opted for a simple bow and a couple of poinsettias.  I just love these poinsettia dies too.  They cut and layer up beautifully and I love how delicate they look.

Image:  Polkadoodles 'Winnie Christmas Wreath

Medium:  Copics

Papers:  LDRS 'Country Christmas'

Dies:  Polkadoodles 'Poinsettia Lace' die set

Ribbon and pearls from stash

My usual close up of Winnie.  She's so sweet isn't she and what struck me when I got her is it's a real decent size stamp to work with and you get a little separate robin stamp in the set too, although I haven't used it on my card.

Okay so that's all from me today.  I better dash as I've got school uniform and stuff to get ready for tomorrow.  I guess that's one thing I didn't miss ... getting the lunch boxes ready and ironing school uniform lol!

Take care folks and happy crafting.

Ann-Marie

xxx

Challenges

Allsorts  -  incorporate things you love (for me that's my favourite colour red, absolutely anything Christmas, my favourite colouring medium copics)

Jingle Belles  -  Baby it's GOLD outside

Krafty Chicks challenge #524  -  Christmas

It's a Magnolia Christmas kind of day

Happy Wednesday lovely crafty peeps.  I'm popping in today to share a little something festive.  I've made my first Christmas card of the year and again I seem to be very late to the Crimbo party as everyone's been making festive goodies for a little while, but hey I'm here now and that means that all my Christmas crafting goodies won't stray far from my desk now that I've made a start lol.

So as the title suggests I have something Tilda related to show you.  I have the pleasure of being a guest designer over on the fab Magnolia Forever blog for this month's challenge and the theme we were given to work with was black and white and this is what I came up with.

Image:  Magnolia Tilda 'it's cold outside'

Medium:  copics

So the card itself is made from acetate and I've just layered up some embossed white card which I've roughly torn to look like hills/snowdrifts and stuck it to the front as foreground snow and then did the same for the inside but placed them higher up the acetate to look like snow in the background.  All the die cuts are in black for contrast and Tilda is coloured in copics in shades of grey to compliment it all, cut out and 3d'd on the front.  To finish I die cut some snowflakes and added little black gems in the centre and then dotted some liquid pearls around to fill in some of the gaps to make it look like it was snowing.

I really enjoyed making this card.  It was actually quite simple to do but very effective I think.

Okay so that's all from me today.  I'm off to colour some new stamps that fell through my letterbox yesterday and hopefully I'll be back shortly to share them with you.

Take care and happy crafting folks.

Ann-Marie

xxx

Challenges I would like to enter:-

The Holly and the Ivy Christmas challenge  -  anything Christmas goes

Love to Craft #50  -  anything goes

Merry Little Christmas challenge #26  -  anything goes

Crimbo Crackers  -  anything goes

Simon Says Stamp  -  Stamp it

It's all about the paper!

Hello lovely crafty peeps.  How are you all?  We're all good here.  We've had the school uniform marathon buying session this week.  What a nightmare that was but I think we're almost there.

So I'm popping in today to share my DT make for the new Polkadoodles Craft challenge.   The DT were tasked with making a shaped card this week and I went with something I've been seeing around blogland lately and have been wanting to have a go at for a little while.  I decided to try my hand at a 'hat' shaped easel card and decided not to use an image this time on my make.  Instead I focused on some really pretty papers from Polkadoodles and actually it was nice to be able to showcase them as normally I end up covering the majority of them up with layers and embellishments.  

Papers:  Polkadoodles 'Winnie Celebrations Papers 1' 

printed on to Ultimate Graphic Paper

Sentiment:  Polkadoodles 'Winnie Celebrations 3' sentiments

Dies:  Spellbinders Grand Nestabilities 'Stately Circles'

Magnolia label die

Ribbon and flowers from stash

Okay so that is all from me today.  I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and get to do a little something that makes you happy as life is far to short not to!

Take care and happy crafting.

Ann-Marie

xxx

Challenges I would like to enter:-

Creative Knockouts  -  anything goes

Simon Says Stamp  -  anything goes

Creative Fingers #191  -  anything goes

Polkadoodles Summer Fun

Good morning lovely crafty friends.  I've woken up to a rather dull Friday but hey at least it's a little cooler than it has been so I'm a happy bunny.  Roll on Autumn I say!

So with it being Friday we have a fresh challenge up over on the Polkadoodles Craft challenge blog and I'm popping in to share my DT make.  The team were challenged with 'summer fun' and citrus colours this week but for all you lovely peeps it's as always an 'anything goes' theme.  Well I had a little think and a looksie around my images and decided to colour up Winnie 'Stepping Stones' as she reminds me of when I was a child playing in the stream in summer ... oh I had such fun I'd spend hours down there with my friends.  Anyway, she's been coloured up with copics and I added a touch of my white gel pen to give her a spotty hat.

Image:  Polkadoodles Winnie 'stepping stones'

Medium:  copics

Papers:  Polkadoodles 'tropical sorbet' printed on to Ultimate Graphic paper

Flowers and dragonfly from 'tropical sorbet' collection

I decided to matt all the papers onto black cardstock as I love how it makes all the colours pop.  I wanted a flower in the corner but didn't want it flat so printed it three times and layered it up.

Okay so my last piccie is my usual close up of sweet Winnie and I am really pleased with how she turned out.  I used my RV copics with a touch of BV for shadow and extra depth.

copic list

Skin:  E41, E50, E53, E33, R20

Hair:  E41, E43, E44, E47

Clothes:  RV21, RV23, RV25, RV29/Y35, Y38, YR16, YR68 + BV23, BV25 for shadow

Grass:  YG11, YG13, YG17, G28

Stream:  BG0000, BG000, BG01, BG07/C1, C3, C5

Okay so that's all from me today folks.  I'm off to work now unfortunately so no crafting for me until later on this evening.

Take care and happy crafting.

Ann-Marie

xxx

Challenges I would like to enter:-

Cute Card Thursday  -  bright colours

Crafty Gals Corner #210  -  summer fun

Creative Moments #196  -  anything goes (optional citrus colours)

Sweet Stampers  -  outdoor fun

Creative Inspirations  -  summer fun

Little Rocco in shades of grey

Well happy weekend lovely crafty people.  I hope you have had a good week and are ready to craft it up at the weekend.  We are all good here ... I think lol!  No seriously we are good I'm doing the usual chasing my tail kinda thing but hey that seems to be the norm around here.

Anyway, there is a new Polkadoodles Craft challenge up over on the blog and I'm here to share with you my DT card.  The team were challenged this week to come up with a card in shades of grey with one coloured paper so here's my take on that.  However, for all you lovely craft folk the theme is as always 'anything goes', so why not pop over and share what you've been working we'd love for you to join us.

I printed off little Rocco and coloured him in cool grey copics and my pop of colour is this beautiful paper which I printed off onto Ultimate Graphic paper.  For something a little different I used the spray die (sorry I don't know it's name) and cut into the edge of the card.  To tie everything together I coloured his flower to match the papers and popped a couple of gems on the edge and flower and I think it worked.

Image:  Polkadoodles 'Flower Bunch' from the Winnie Special Moments collection

Medium:  copics

Papers:  Winnie Christmas Wishes Papers 2 collection printed on to Ultimate Graphic paper

Twine, gems and buttons from stash

When I started putting my card all together it felt like there was something lacking it felt a little plain so after a little thought and trying various things out came my fine liner pen and I doodled around the edge of the image.  I was always scared of doing this as I thought I'd muck if up but you know I've come to realise that it doesn't matter as the doodling doesn't have to be perfect at all and it just works.

My last piccie is the usual closer look at the image.  He's a sweetie isn't he and perfect for so many occasions.  In hindsight I would have coloured his face in grey also but I wasn't thinking and just reached for the skin tones and it wasn't until I was virtually finished I realised and by that time I wasn't going to start again, so hey he's mostly in grey!

Okay so that's all from me today folks.  I'm off to work in about an hour so I'm off to hang some washing out and do a couple of chores before I go, but I'm hoping to sneak back into my craft room for an hour or two when I get back.

Take care and happy crafting.

Ann-Marie

xxx

Challenges I'd like to enter:-

Colour Crazy challenge Wk 30  -  anything goes

A bit more time to craft #120  -  anything goes

The Cutie Pie challenge #149  -  delightful digis

  

A little Maggie for a change

Happy Thursday peeps.  I'm popping in to my little old blog this morning before I go to work to share this recently finished card of mine.   I do so love my Magnolia's but don't seem to ink them up as often as I should so when I was having a little rummage through my stamp collections and came across this little beauty I put that right.  The image is two older stamps which I masked together before colouring with copics.  I am actually really pleased with how it turned out.

I went with a slightly larger size card base than normal and a different shape for a change.  Again whilst I was having a rummage through my craft stash I came across an old GCD Studios paper pad.  I remember I loved this pad so much that I was very frugal with how much I used of it.  Silly now when I think about it as it's a few years down the line and it's just been sat there.

Image:  Tilda with Straw Hat and Magnolia Stone Path stamp

Medium:  copics

Papers:  GCD Studios 'Ella Blue'

Dies:  card base Go Create XXL dies, Whimsy Stamps 'Poppy' flower die (just used the leaf die), Whimsy Stamps 'Honeycomb Pattern' die, Magnolia 'Dream Tag' die for the stopper

Ribbon and flowers from stash

As you can see I went with an easel card design.  I like the fact you can get to show off more of your beautiful papers this way as I find sometimes they all get covered up on the main section with all the layers and embellishments.  Everything was inked to within an inch of it's life lol.  I had a bit of a meltdown when I went to use my good old faithful Tim Holtz 'Walnut Stain' distress ink as it had come to the end of it's life.  Panic set in as that is my 'go to' for distressing the edges but no fear I found I had a Frayed Burlap which has done the job just as well.  I've decided my ink pad stash is sadly lacking so I shall be doing some browsing later to see what I can find.

My last piccie is a closer look at the sweet image.  I decided to use a bit of Frantage around the edges but had a little mishap and it sort of went everywhere but hey I like the effect.  Even the poppy leaves got Frantaged too lol.

Okay so that's all from me today.  I'm off to work for a few hours now but hopefully when I get back I shall be settling down for a little colouring session.  Part of me so wants to get cracking on my Christmas cards as I've seen so many people already making theirs, but in the craft room makeover mayhem I've pack all of it away in boxes and I'm not sure I feel like trying to find everything.  I don't know we'll see later I suppose depends how work goes lol!

Take care folks.  Stay safe and happy crafting.

Ann-Marie

xxx

Challenges:

Magnolia Forever #91  -  anything goes

Crafting Happiness #58  -  anything goes (option of Summer)

Crafty Calendar  -  add a ribbon

Simply Magnolia  -  anything goes (option summer fun)

Creative Inspirations  -  in the garden

The Sketchy Challenges  -  anything goes

  

It's a pearly girly Mermaizing post today

Hello lovely crafty peeps.  Jeez aren't the days just whizzing by lately and it's Friday already and time for a new Polkadoodles Crafting challenge.  I managed to get my card done by the skin of my teeth this week.  What with work, visitors now that most people are out and about and sods law determines they all decide to descend in the same week, hubby deciding to decorate our son's room as well as me trying to pack up my craft room, well I'm amazed I managed to sneak it in in time!

So the DT this time were challenged with creating an 'Under the Sea' themed project in colours of blue/green and one pop of colour.  Well I decided to go down the mermaid route and this is what I came up with.  I don't normally colour up mermaids as I always think they're going to be difficult to do I don't know why perhaps it's the tail that I find daunting, daft I know.  However, I really enjoyed colouring up this sweet little Polkadoodles Meribelle and I am very pleased with how she turned out.

I had this idea in my head that I wanted a shaped card so went with the obvious 'shell' design which I hand cut from pearlised cardstock and then decided to edge it with pretty pearls.  I didn't want to cover it all up with lots of papers so I just used one design and added the digi image to it and printed it off before then colouring her in and die-cutting an oval which again was edged with pearls.  

Image:  Polkadoodles 'Meribelle Mermaid Pretty'

Medium:  copics

Paper:  Polkadoodles 'Winnie Starfish/Sandcastles papers 4' 

pearls and embellishments from stash

I added a little bottle I found in my stash and just filled it with little beads and also added a few little shells I found hidden away in one of my drawers.

A little close up next of Meribelle.  I added some micro fine glitter to her tail but not sure you can pick it up in the photo and I got out my Sakura white gel pen and just added some little accents to her hair.  I had an idea to add some little dots down the side of her face and body as I just thought her being a mermaid and all why not.  Not so sure I like it now but hey it's done so it's too late now!

Copics used

Skin:  E41, E50, E53, E33

BG10, BG13, BG15, BG18

V000, V04, V05, V06, V09

Okay so that's all from me for today folks.  Don't forget pop across to the Polkadoodles Craft Challenge it's an 'Anything Goes' theme as always and fab prizes up for grabs.

Take care and happy crafting.

Ann-Marie

xxx

Challenges:-

Cardz 4 Galz  -  sea shells

Sweet Stampin Challenge  -  fairies/fantasy

The Fairy and the Unicorn challenge  -  anything fantasy goes

Colour Crazy challenge  -  anything goes

Creative Fingers  -  anything goes

Classic Design challenge  -  anything goes

Have a Rarrr-ing great time!

Hello lovely peeps and a very happy Friday to you.  

It's been a bit of a mad week here.  I managed to have a little accident and fell down the stairs.  Luckily it wasn't the full flight just the lower half but I did happen to go head first (never do things by halves me!) and all I can say is if it wasn't for the cupboard at the bottom breaking my fall I'm pretty sure I would be in a worse state.  I am sporting some lovely coloured bruises and very sore muscles but I am in one piece even if it did take them 6 odd hours, x-rays and a CT scan to decide this lol.  The funny thing is, and I do chuckle when I think about it now, was we had already been to A & E that day with our daughter.  She'd fallen off her penny board and hurt her wrist but luckily she hadn't broken anything either she's just sporting a nice wrist support.  I do believe someone must have been watching over us that day and I am very grateful for that.  

So moving on from all our woes.  It's Friday folks and that means there is a new challenge up on the Polkadoodles Challenge blog.  The DT this week were asked to use 'a cute wish' on their makes.  Well I have had this little dude for a little while and decided it was about time I used him.  I love this little set.  It comes with 3 papers, 3 sentiments and the image itself so everything you need to make a card.  I've coloured him up with my usual copics to compliment a couple of the papers.  I don't make boy cards that often as I usually struggle but I must say this came together real easy.

Image:  Polkadoodles 'Dino Mite' little dudes

Medium:  copics

Sentiment:  from the same little set

Papers:  as above printed onto Ultimate Graphic Paper

gems and twine from stash

A little close up of the cool dude.  I actually thought it would take me ages to colour him but it didn't and I'm actually quite pleased with how he turned out.  I love the little dinos they're just too cute don't you think.

Copics used

Skin:  E41, E50, E53, E33

Hair/Boots:  E42, E43, E44, E47, E49

Clothes:  YR21, YR24, YR27/BG01, BG02, BG05, BG07, BG09

Dinos:  YG03, YG21, YG25, G99

Rocks:  C1, C3, C5, C7

The Polkadoodles challenge is live today so there is lots of time to get crafty and enter.  Come on over and join in with us we'd love to see what you've been making (me especially as I'm just plain nosey lol!). Don't forget our Polkadoodles Facebook page you could share your Polkadoodles makes on there too.  We're a right friendly bunch over there come and say hello and there really is so much inspiration from everyone.

Okay so that's my little contribution to the crafty world for today.  Stay safe folks and happy crafting.

Take care

Ann-Marie

xxx

Challenges I would like to enter:-

Craft Rocket  -  for the men/boys

Cute Card Thursday  -  anything goes

Crafters Cafe  -  anything goes

Creatalicious Challenge  -  anything goes

World Wide Open Design Team challenge  - anything goes

  

Polkadoodles 'My Hero'

Well happy Friday folks I hope you are all doing okay.  What have you been making since my last post?  I have been a little slow on the creative side this past week.  Operation 'craft room makeover' is still underway.  What with work and wanting to sit and actually colour the packing away of my stash is proving to be a slow process.  I have actually packed up in boxes all my Christmas craft bits as I figured I will have a month or two before I make a start on all the Crimbo madness, so that's something I suppose.

Anyway, I did manage to get finished my DT make for this weeks new Polkadoodles challenge.  The challenge for the DT this week was 'my hero' and the romantic in me thought immediately about the beautiful 'Rose Budd' collection with all those period style backgrounds and images.  I didn't want to just print and colour an image I wanted to make a little scene so I used one of the many background choices and added in a couple of the characters.  Then a light bulb moment happened and thought I wanted to bring it to life a little more.  Yes I could have just coloured them up and it would have been fine but I wanted to add some depth to my card.  So I thought I would do a little 3d decoupage.  I haven't used this technique in such a long time and I admit it can be a little time consuming but so worth it in the end when you see the effect it gives.  I've tried to take a few photos to show you the result.  Sadly I'm no photographer but I hope you get the gist.

Images:  'Miss Millicent' and 'Jeremiah' from the 'Rose Budd' download collection

Background printed onto Ultimate Graphic paper

Medium:  copics

Okay so I'm going to share a few closer shots so hopefully you can see the layers.  I must have printed off at least 7 layers of each image.  I think I may have a go with another image but take process photos and then you can see how I did it.  I'm kicking myself that I didn't think of it when doing this card but it's too late now so I'll have to do it again.

Copics used

Skin:  E41, E51, E53, E33

Greens:  BG90, BG93, BG96, BG99

Blue:  B91, B93, B95, B97, B99

Hair:  E53, E55, E57, E59 and E42, E43, E44, E47, E49

Okay so that's all from me today peeps.  Don't forget there is a new challenge over at Polkadoodles so still plenty of time to enter and it's always an 'Anything Goes' theme so real easy to enter and fab prizes to be had.

I've managed to grab a day off today so I'm off to sneak in a little crafty time, but first I have to try and fix my printer as it's playing up, so wish me luck.  It may be time for a new one lol.

Take care folks, happy crafting and stay safe.

Ann-Marie

xxx

Challenges I would like to enter:-

A bit more time to craft  -  anything goes

The Creative Crafters (Challenge 29)  -  anything goes

Crafters Castle  -  anything goes

Crafty Friends (Challenge 137)  -  anything goes

Colour Crazy challenge (Week 24)  -  anything goes