Tuesday 28 March 2017

Easter Bently Bunny

Morning Folks!
This week it was my turn to choose the challenge theme  at Passion for Promarkers - I have a large collection of buttons in my stash but I rarely think to use them so I have chosen
USE A BUTTON OR TWO
We are generously sponsored by the fabulous  DigiStamp Boutique and I got to colour up the super cute Easter Bently which is available here.  


As well as the butterfly button on the sentiment, I also used a flat button as the centre on a couple of flowers from my collection so that's two more buttons and two flowers used from my stash. Still don't think that I'll need to restock before 2020 though!

The papers were from my scraps folders, the Easter egg one is from a First Edition pad and the green strips are from Dovecraft- Back to Basics Bright Spark.

Don't forget to pop over to
 to see what the rest of the design team have made!
Get creating with your Letraset / Winsor & Newton markers and join us!! Remember you can enter any type of creation, it doesn't have to be a card.

Thanks for visiting today xx

I'd also like to enter the challenges at:
Squirrel's not so random challenge - Spring Fever
Crafty Sentiments - Easter
Fairy Tale Challenges - Animals
Cute Card Thursday - Spring Fever
Creative Inspirations - A/G
Word Art Wednesdays - A/G
Creative knockouts - Spring is on the way
Crafty Catz - A/G with optional twist - Buttons
Allsorts - Cakes,cupcakes and sweet treats = Easter Eggs
Addicted to StampsEaster
Crafty Girls creations - A/G
As you like it - Favourite colouring medium = promarkers. These were the first medium I used where I actually liked the finished results, there is a good range of colours and they are easy to blend. I keep returning to them because I know which shades work together which means more relaxed colouring!!

EDITED TO ADD - I made the Top 3 at

Wednesday 15 March 2017

Kermit the Frog

Morning Folks!

This month at Sparkles Monthly Challenges we are 
GOING GREEN
We would like to see you include the colour green on your projects.

I have a bright and cheerful card to inspire you!! The green theme made me scratch my head for a bit and then inspiration struck - of course, Kermit the frog!!
Image result for kermit

 The papers are a mixture of scraps of odds and ends - considering I don't often use green I seem to have a lot of green scraps! I teamed the green up with some deep pinks to reflect the pattern on the flowery paper and possibly Kermit's mouth ?? I really like this combination and I'm actually quite chuffed with how this card came out.


Here's a closer look, a few more prima flowers used up from the huge collection!!


Card Details:

Stamp - Penny Black - Jump for Joy
Coloured with promarkers and chalk inks
Prima flowers and pearls from stash
Green Mesh - Bunny Zoe's Crafts
Sentiment - Craftwork cards

Please visit the main blog
to see the inspiration from the rest of the design team! I hope you'll come and join us this month, especially as Vickie is offering this lovely stamp set as a prize for our winner:



Thank you so much for visiting today and for any comments you're kind enough to leave xx

I'd also like to enter the challenges at:
Shopping our Stash - Luck o' the Irish - Use green
Deep Ocean Challenges - Dots +/or Stripes
CHNPP - A/Goes with patterned paper
The Ribbon Girls - March card Challenge
Digidesignschallenge - Lots of green 
Penny Black Saturday Challenge - bright and cheerful colours
Crafty Catz - A/Goes with Twist - lots of green
As you like it - Favourite Stamp Brand = Penny Black, these are the stamps I always come back to, I love the variety of the animal stamps and also the fact that they always stamp perfectly every time!


Tuesday 14 March 2017

Thomas with Flowers

Morning Folks!
Just a quick post to let you know that the new challenge at Passion for Promarkers is  just starting, this week we'd like to see you 

ADD LACE, RIBBON OR TWINE

Here's my card, I've blown the dust off a very old LOTV stamp and raided my paper scraps:


I used Memento London Fog rather than my normal choice of Black Tuxedo to give the image a slightly softer look:

Card Details
LOTV Stamp - Thomas with Flowers - coloured with promarkers and stickles
Sentiment tag - LOTV
Papers - Forever Friends - Pink parfait collection and LOTV Bonnets and Bowties

Don't forget to pop over to
 to see what the rest of the design team have made!
Get creating with your Letraset / Winsor & Newton markers and join us!! Remember you can enter any type of creation, it doesn't have to be a card.

This week we are generously sponsored by:
who are offering $12 voucher to our lucky winner!

Thanks for visiting today xx

I'd also like to enter the challenges at:
LOTV Facebook Challenge - March = Flowers
Creative Inspirations - Lili of the Valley
Crafty Girls Creations - A/G
Addicted to stamps - Pastel colours
The Ribbon Girls - March Card Challenge
CHNPP - A/G with patterned paper
Word Art Wednesdays - A/G
A Gem of a Challenge - 3B's = Blue, Bow and bouquet

Thursday 9 March 2017

Daffodil time?

Hi Folks! 
It's been lovely here in Hampshire over the last few days, I'm hoping that Spring is definitely on it's way! Last night, I finished a Spring inspired card, it's been a while since I made a non DT card!!


Here's a closer look:


Card Details
Stamp - Penny Black - Seeing Your Face and PB sentiment,
coloured with promarkers and stickles
Papers - Doodlebug Kraft in Colour and scraps
Stitched Ribbon - Docrafts
Flowers and pearls from stash

I'd like to enter the following challenges:
I followed this great sketch at Sketch Saturday - #453

Allsorts - Spring Inspiration picture
Penny Black and More - Anything goes
PBSC - Bright and Cheerful colours
Stamping Sensations - Closer to Nature
Crafty Gals - Polka dots +/or stripes 
CHNPP - Anything goes with patterned paper
The Ribbon Girl Blog - March card Challenge
Deep Ocean Challenge - Dots +/or Stripes
Double D challenge - Think Spring + mood board

The Crafty Addicts - A/G option - CAS
As you Like It - Favourite stamp brand and why - such a tough choice, I have a lot of LOTV stamps but my all time favourite has to be Penny Black, the second stamp I ever bought was by Penny Black and I think that is where my love of wooden rubber stamps comes from. I love cute animal images and PB has an enormous range to choose from, if only I could collect them all - sigh!!

Friday 3 March 2017

Chamomile Tea Anyone?

Morning Folks! 
It's the first Friday of March - yes really! -  and time to announce the new challenge over at Making Memories Crafting which is 

LOTS OF LAYERS

When I first saw this challenge theme, I immediately thought of using decoupage so I've been delving around in my stash again! I've blown the dust off a packet of House Mouse Decoupage sheets and got out the tiny scissors! I do love these HM designs but always seem to forget how time consuming and fiddly they are to do, the mice nearly lost their tails this time!  These images are quite big so this is a 19cm square card, which will be on it's way soon to my Mum for Mother's Day. As the card is a bit bigger than I usually go for, I went a bit mad with the embellishments - no sign of less is more here! Not entirely sure how many layers I managed, it really depends how you define a layer, but I'm well into double figures on the mounted decoupage alone!

So that's a few more flowers used up from my stash and I also found this very cute and appropriate charm. Yes that is a hand stitched bow complete with pearl seed beads - and  yes I did get very carried away! 


Personally, I'm not a fan of chamomile tea, a mug of strong builders brew is more my thing!

Thanks for visiting today, don't forget to pop over to the main challenge blog to see the inspiration from the rest of the design team!
I hope you'll be able to join us this month.
 We are generously sponsored by


 and


I'd also like to enter the following challenges:
CHNPP - Anything goes with patterned paper
A bit more time to craft - Amything goes
Dream Valley Challenge - Add some metal
Crafting by Designs -  Anything goes
Word Art WednesdaysAnything goes
Crafty Girls CreationsAnything goes
Cute Card ThursdayAnything goes

Wednesday 1 March 2017

A touch of gold!

Morning Folks!
I can't believe we are already into March, where does the time go lately?
We have a new challenge starting over at SPARKLES CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE today and the theme is:

USE SILVER OR GOLD

I have been trying out a couple of ideas for batch making Christmas cards that are quick and also flat to post - I don't want to be sending them at the large letter rate!! I think my DT card today might fit the bill:


This is a 12cm square card and in real life the tree die cut is quite glittery and sparkly against the slightly textured black background. This is the best picture I could manage, last night my camera was seeing the gold as a muddy green colour - not sure whether it was the lack of light or the camera having a strop!! As you can see, I've had another retro moment and added a peel off sentiment and corners. My original thought was to heat emboss a sentiment but when it came to it, the stamp I planned to use was a touch large. Then I thought about previous disasters embossing on black - I always seem to get a few stray dots of cooked embossing powder on the background, no matter how much I use anti static dusters etc. Suddenly peel offs seemed to be the way to go and goodness knows I could do with using up a few! 

Please click the piccy to visit the main Sparkles Christmas blog and see the inspiration from the rest of the design team! You have a whole month to join us, we'd love to see what you make! 



Thank you so much for visiting today and for any comments you're kind enough to leave xx

I'd also like to enter the following challenges:
Crafting Creations - Anything goes
Crafting by DesignsAnything goes
Hiding in my Craft RoomAny holiday = Christmas
Through the Craftroom DoorAnything goes 
The Crafty Addicts BlogspotAnything goes / CAS
Word Art WednesdaysAnything goes
CHNCC Anything goes as long as it's Christmas
CHNC ExtraAnything goes as long as it's Christmas
Winter Wonderland - Anything Christmas goes