* Colour Crazy Challenge: Coffee Love

Hello!

Today sees the start of a new colouring challenge at the Colour Crazy Challenge Blog. The challenge is always Anything Goes, but of course your card must feature some colouring: use any medium you wish. This week Little Blue Button Stamps is the sponsor.

I was lucky to receive a digi stamp to work with and I chose Coffee Love. Here is my card:



I coloured the digi with Copic markers and added some white Posca pen highlights. I fussy cut her leaving a thin white border so that she would stand out from the background. The background was made with Distress Oxides. I blended Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, Scattered Straw, Fossilised Amber and finally Spiced Pumpkin onto smooth card. Once I was happy with the blend I sprinkled some water droplets to beach out some of the colour. I then stencilled over parts of the background to give a little more texture.




I matted my background onto kraft card and then orange card, inking all edges with Vintage Photo. I added a strip of the background card as a banner along the bottom and adhered some hessian trim. The Coffee Girl is popped on foam pads for dimension and the sentiment, from Vera Lane Studio, was printed, die cut and attached to a tag along with the coffee cup from the Coffee Love digi set. Finally I added three large, flat backed, coffee coloured pearls.

Many thanks to Little Blue Button Stamps for sponsoring this challenge.

I hope you'll find time to share your projects at the Colour Crazy Challenge! 
We'd love to see what you make!

That's all from me for today!

xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

* Crafting from the Heart #239 AG JFF 31/03

* Crafty Sentiments #26 AG 01/04

* TTCRD  March 26th 02/04

* Penny's Challenges #423 AG 02/04 TOP 3

* Crafting by Designs Spring Blog Hop 02/04 WINNER

Simon Says Stamp #60 AG 03/04
* Polkadoodles  #13 AG 05/04
* Crafty Creations #387 AG 08/04
* As You Like It Favourite Colouring Medium & Why 10/04
Copic markers - quick and blend easily - huge range of colours.
* Cardz TV #86 AG 11/04

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* Vera Lane Studio: Bow Bee and Friends

Hello!

I decided to work in miniature this week for my DT post for Vera Lane Sudio. Probably not the best choice since my last pair of decent scissors have gone walkabout. I ended up using tiny embroidery scissors, so apologies for the 'rough' fussy cutting :)  Looking on the positive side - I can now go craft shopping with a purpose!

So, this week I have used the Bow Bee and Friends collage sheet. Although this comes as a coloured pdf sheet and is ready to print, it can still be resized and flipped horizontally for making back to back projects like the paper clips below:

I inserted the collage sheet into PowerPoint (Word would work just as well) and sized it down to what I wanted. When I was happy with the size, I copied and pasted the sheet and then flipped the copied sheet horizontally. Next came the fun part - fussy cutting with the embroidery scissors! Once the images were cut out, I went around the edges with a black Copic marker to disguise any cutting imperfections. I also coloured the edges of the back of the images in black, so that when they were glued together any overlapping would not be as noticeable.

I added red double sided tape to both images and secured the paperclip with more tape. I added some Cosmic Shimmer glue and stuck the two Bow Bees together. I gave her Glossy Accent eyes and stripes and Diamond Stickles on her wings and eye flower. The front and back of each paperclip is identical.  She is beautiful, I think!

Next I made a couple of key ring fobs. I found the wooden fobs, which are 31mm x 50mm, in the children's section of my local craft store:

The ring was removed from the fob so that the fob could be decorated. The background is a gelli print on ordinary photo copier paper. I cut it out slightly larger than my key fob rectangle and adhered it with matt medium.  When it was dry, I sanded around the edges with an emery board nail file and this removed the excess paper and chamfered the edges. More matt medium was applied. The elements from Bow Bee were fussy cut and edged with black Copic pen, then adhered to the background and coated with more matt medium. Glossy Accents and Stickles were added for some texture. The back of each keyring is just the plain gelli print.

Finally, I had some printed Journal Cards in my VLS stash, so I glued two sets back to back and ran around the edges in black ink. I added some of the Bow Bee and Friends elements.




Bow Bee and Friends        Planner/Journal Cards
    

I hope you'll come along and play on Vera Lane. 

It's such a friendly, fun place to be!

  

Here's all the info you need:

Vera Lane Studio Blog

Vera Lane Studio Facebook Group

Vera Lane Studio You Tube Channel

Vera Lane Studio Etsy Shop

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

* Moving Along with the Times Bugs 27/03
* Digi Choosday #12 AG 26/03
* A Gem Of A Challenge #5 AG 28/03 (#2)
Crafting With Friends #1 AG 29/03 (#2)

* Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #102 AG 31/03 (#2)
* Crafting with an Attitude #49 AG 31/03 (#2)
* The Crafty Addicts #58 AG/Embellish It  02/04
* Creative Fingers #160 AG 04/03 (#2)
* Pile It On #152 Rainbow 06/04 (#2)



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* Gecko Galz: Little Birds

Hello!

It's my DT day at the Gecko Galz blog today. The theme for this month's customer challenge is Bless This Nest, so my projects all have a bird theme.

First up is my little 

Bird Gift Box:

The box was bought in a set of 3 from the craft store, so all I had to do was decorate the top. I started by laying some lacy trim down as the base. I placed some cheesecloth on top of this and then some natural fibres. The image, called Blue Birds of Happiness is one of the papers from the Garden Botanica paper pack, was printed to a size of  6.5 x 7.5 cms. The edges were distressed and edged with Vintage Photo ink - I curled the corners slightly and also inked the back side of the image. It was adhered in the centre on top of the fibres.
Next, I tucked moss, tiny pine cones and cream dried flowers, as well as ivory paper flowers, under the image. I added a tiny bow to the top corner and a natural tag with some hessian twine at the bottom.

Garden Botanica Paper Pack




Vintage Framed Birds

Next I made 2 cards using the Vintage Frames Kit and images from the new Lovely Little Birdies collage sheet.

The frames were printed and I used a craft knife to cut out the aperture. The lovely bird collage images were attached to card and the frame popped on top on foam tape for some dimension. The  images and frames are fancy enough and did not require any further embellishments, but I added mats in coordinating colours to finish off the cards.


Lovely Little Birdies          Vintage Frames

 

Vintage Little Birds Stamp

Finally, I made a card using one of the vintage stamps from the Little Birds Stamp set:

I printed the image twice. One image was cut using a stitched rectangle die. It was coloured with Copic markers and then the die was put back on so that the background could be inked and having the die in place left a crisp white border. From the second image I cut out the sentiment oval so that I could attach some pink ribbon to the coloured image and pop the sentiment on top. I used paper doilies and patterned paper from my stash to layer up the card, decorating it with lace daisies and paper roses.

Little Birds Stamps


My other projects for Gecko Galz this month can be seen here:

That's all from me for now!

I hope you'll join our Bless This Nest Challenge where the Winner will get 

$25 shopping spree 
at the Gecko Galz shop.

The only rule is that you must use at least one Gecko Galz product ...
(this can be one of the freebies or, of course, you can buy at the Etsy store!) 

Also if you sign up for the Gecko Galz newsletter, you'll be able to claim a free collage sheet each month and get first claim on the $1 Wednesday deals!

Please pop over to the Gecko Galz blog to see the fabulous designs by the very talented DT.

We also have a Private Facebook Group where there are 4 monthly challenges, each with a collage sheet prize. Come and join us!

I'll be back on the 1st April with more Gecko Galz projects.

Here's all the info you need:

Gecko Galz blog

Current Gecko Galz Challenge : "Bless This Nest"

Gecko Galz Etsy Shop

Gecko Galz Closed Facebook group

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Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in the following challenges: 

Little Bird Gift Box

* Crafty Creations #386 AG 26/03

* Creative Friday #226 Spring 28/03

Crafting With Friends #1 AG 29/03

* The Happy Craft Challenge AG 31/03 Top 10

* The Crafty Addicts #58 AG/Embellish It 31/03

* Ellibelle's Corner Spring/Green 31/03 Top Pick

Cameo Cards

* Penny's Challenges #422 AG 26/03

* Cute Card Thursday #574 Spring Fever 27/03

Vintage Stamp Card

* Crafty Catz #454 AG/Square 28/03
* Cardz TV #85 AG 28/03
* Crafting with an Attitude #49 AG 31/03
* Creative Fingers #160 AG 04/03

xxx

* VeraLane Studio: Unicorn Girls

Hello!

It's Monday again already! And so it's my Vera Lane Studio DT day, and today I'm delighted to introduce a new digi set called Unicorn Girls. After all, we all need a little magic in our lives! I love that Janet has named the girls - Cortesia and Dulcea. 

I decided to try something different this week and so I made this quick and easy wall hanging:

My wall hanging is made from jumbo, wooden, craft lolly sticks that I found at my local craft store. I held eight of them in place with double sided tape applied to the back. I needed to keep the surface as flat and even as possible since I was stamping the background with my Inkylicious Splatter Circle. First I needed to apply a thin coat of white gesso to make the wooden sticks a bit paler in colour. When this was dry, I inked the splatter stamp with Distress Oxides and silver Brilliance ink, spritzed it with water and stamped it onto the sticks. It took a while to dry thoroughly and, when it was dry, it was time to add the cute images and sentiment.

I coloured the girls with Copics and gave them some white highlights. I added a little glitter to their horns and to the flower eye. They were fussy cut leaving a thin white border. I glued some gold trim to the bottom of the inked circle and glued the girls directly onto the wooden surface. The sentiment was cut into strips and inked along the edges then attached to the surface. I added some Crystal Stickles to the outer splatter edges of the circle and attached a few sequins.

Two of the sticks were glued to the back of the surface securing all the sticks in place and also securing the blue ribbon.

Unicorn Girls

I hope you'll come along and play on Vera Lane. 

It's such a friendly, fun place to be!

  

Here's all the info you need:

Vera Lane Studio Blog

Vera Lane Studio Facebook Group

Vera Lane Studio You Tube Channel

Vera Lane Studio Etsy Shop

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

* Crafty Friends #105 Ladies/Girls 22/03
* Jo's Scrapshack #273 AG 22/03
* Love 2 Create #3 AG 24/03
* A Gem Of A Challenge #5 AG 28/03
* Cardz TV #84 AG 28/03

* Corrosive Challenges #3 AG 31/03 (#3)
* A Bit More Time To Craft #88 AG 31/03 (#3)
* Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #102 AG 31/03 
* Crafter's Castle #15 AG with Glitter 31/03
* Pile It On #152 Rainbow 06/04

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* Vera Lane Studio: Be Sparkly ATCoin

Hello!

This month at Vera Lane Studio Facebook group our monthly swap is an Artist Trading Coin swap with a decorated envelope. The theme is monochromatic or Anything Goes. I went with the monochromatic theme. 

Here is my Coin:



I used one of the pretty Fleur Fairies for my coin. I coloured her with Copics and gave her some white highlights. I used Glossy Accents on her eyes and Crystal Stickles on her dress and hair. The background is from a gelli print and I added some stars from the creepy cute Tinker Sisters set. The sentiment is from the gorgeous Sprinkle and Sparkle set.  I must have 3 or 4 circle die sets and not one of them is the correct size for ATCoins, so I die cut the gelli print and matted it onto a black card circle cut out with a circle/compass cutter. I went a bit wonky when adding the border with a black fine liner pen :)



Above is the envelope for sending my ATCoin and card to my swap partner. I went with a gelli print which has washi tape along the base and collaged Vera Lane Studio images from 3 sets: BowBee Collage Sheet, Circles and Stems Collage Sheet and Planner and Journal Cards Set. The top right corner needs to be left blank in case this goes overseas as the postal stamp is quite large. If it goes to someone with in the Uk more collaged images can be added.

Fleur Fairies


Tinker Sisters                              Sprinkle and Sparkle
              

BowBee Collage           Circle & Stems            Planner & Journal Set

I hope you'll come along and play on Vera Lane. 

It's such a friendly, fun place to be!

  

Here's all the info you need:

Vera Lane Studio Blog

Vera Lane Studio Facebook Group

Vera Lane Studio You Tube Channel

Vera Lane Studio Etsy Shop

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

* Jo's Scrapshack #273 AG 22/03
* Creatalicious Challenges #159 Monochrome 31/03
* A Bit More Time To Craft #88 AG 31/03 (#2)

***

* Wildflowers

Hello!

On Tuesday night Storm Gareth took down a section of our fence, so whilst the workmen were here building a new fence, I had some time to craft. I was also able to keep an eye on what they were doing, as my craft room overlooks the back garden.

I decided to make two note cards:

Once again I'm using Inkylicious stamps on Brusho backgrounds. The backgrounds were made on watercolour card. Water was spritzed over the card, then the Lemon, Yellow and Leaf Green powders were sprinkled. More water was added until the colours blended and filled the card. Once dry, the card was cut into 10cm squares and stamped in Black Versamark ink. The image was matted onto black card and then onto white card which had the Wonderful Day sentiment stamped in the bottom right corner. The white card was then popped on foam tape onto the card blanks.

This stamp set is called Daisy Fields and has two small clusters of butterflies as well as the wild flowers.

This stamp set is Windswept. I love the swaying grasses and the two sets of birds. It reminds me a lot of the sand dunes close to where we live.

That's all for today!

Thanks for stopping by.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

* Penny's Challenges #421 AG 19/03
* Crafty Creations #386 AG 28/03
* Alphabet Challenge Z is for Zesty Colours 28/03 TOP 3

* Cardz TV #84 AG 28/03
* Creative Friday #226 Spring 28/03
* Corrosive Challenges #3 AG 31/03
* A Bit More Time To Craft #88 AG 31/03

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* Cats on a Branch

Hello!

I've been getting messy with Inkylicious stamps and ink again!

Here is my latest creation:

I do love the background. I used this technique last week and was pleased with the result, so I thought I would try it with different colours - I have a passion for greens! Brushos pigment powders in Turquoise, Leaf Green and Yellow were placed into separate wells on a palette and water was added to make paint. For each colour I used a paintbrush to splatter the individual colours, drying each colour inbetween applications. When the card was coloured to my liking and dry, I inked around the edges with Black Soot Distress Ink. I added a moon using a circular stencil and blending black ink around the outside. It doesn't show up too well as the background is too busy for this subtle shading. 

Next I heat embossed the main branch, then added the cats from the Cats on a Branch stamp set. This made me laugh because one of the cats is levitating ever so slightly and the other is sitting on just one cheek! You can tell this was the first time I've used this stamp set! Next, I added the heat embossed sentiment called Some Moments (isn't this a wonderful sentiment!) and stamped some Olive Branches all around the edges. 

I matted the card onto black, gold, green and black card and attached it to a 6 x 6 inch card base.

That's all for today!

Thanks for stopping by.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

* Dream Valley #197 Four Legged Friends 16/03
*Always Fun #101 Shades of Green 17/03 TOP 3

* Double Trouble #23 Green 18/03 TOP 3

* Penny's Challenges #421 AG 19/03
*Crafty Cardmaker #229 Make It Green 24/03 WINNER

* Crafty Creations #386 AG 28/03
* Ellibelle's Corner Spring/Green 31/03 

* Corrosive Challenges #3 AG 31/03
* Pile It On #152 Favourite Colour 31/03 TOP PICK

* Creative Inspirations Spring Greens 31/03 TOP 3

* Heart2Heart Green 31/03 TOP 3


* SUYP #40 Green 01/04

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