Crafts Galore Encore: Halloween Spirit

  Hello

Today sees that start of a new challenge at Crafts Galore Encore. 

The theme is always 'Anything Goes' and you can enter up to 3 different projects.  The challenge runs all month until mid day (GMT) 30th October.

This month's challenge is kindly sponsored by The Paper Shelter.

Here is what I made:

The Paper Shelter kindly allowed the DT to use one of their image sets. I used the pre-coloured Halloween Spirit and fussy cut her. I placed her on a die cut, circular background which had been coloured by blending distress oxides. A fancy edged circle was die cut from black card to frame the image.

The background was ink blended with oxides and corner stamping was added. I also added a small web and spider and inked around the edges in black to darken them.

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That's all for now.

Many thanks to the Paper Shelter.for their generous prize of 3 digi stamps for our random winner.

Please pop over to Crafts Galore Encore to see the DT's wonderful designs and to enter our challenge. 

We'd love to see your creations.

Remember the challenge is always 'Anything Goes' and so you can create any type of project - it doesn't have to be a card and you can enter up to 3 times.

Thanks for stopping by today!

xoxo

                                                                

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

A Perfect Time to Craft Oct AG 28/10

Scrapping4fun Challenges 240 AG 29/10

Unicorn Challenge #103 Autumn/ Halloween 31/10

Halloween Crafts All Year Round #19 31/10

Give a Crafter a Cookie #197 Boo, Eek 31/10

Moving Along with the Times #171 Autumnal Colours 31/10

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

* Path of Positivity: CAS Floral Greetings

  Hello

Welcome to the November Path of Positivity Challenge.

Our challenge is always Anything Goes with an optional theme.

This month's option is to design a project that focuses on celebrating THE SIMPLE THINGS IN LIFE.

Honours and Prizes include:

• $6 worth of images from Scribbles Designs, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all qualifying entrants.
• A badge for the following honours: Top Pick, Voter's Choice, Most Inspirational, Random Winner, DT Delight.

I decided to make a trio of CAS cards as technically they are quite simple to make. However, in real life, I find them rather tricky (probably because I am a messy crafter) and am prone to get inky spots where there shouldn't be any.

It is no secret that I love all things to do with nature, so I chose simple grasses and wild flower stamps from Inkylicious along with simple, yet beautiful and bold sentiments.

The stamping was completed first and I used a stamp platform to make sure the silhouette stamps and words were crisp and black. Next I used torn paper as a mask on two sides of the base so that I could make a strip of colour. I used blending brushes and Distress Inks. The cards were matted onto black card then popped onto a white card base. 

We would love to see your creations! 
Just make sure that your entry is positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some way!
The link up is here: Challenge #106 Path of Positivity.

 

That's all for today! 

Many thanks to Scribbles Designs for sponsoring the challenge.

I'll be back with a another Path of Positivity project in a couple of weeks time.

Thanks for stopping by today!

xoxo

                                                                                                                                            

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

* Krafty Chicks Challenge #636 Stamp Act 09/11

* Cupcake Inspirations #556 AG 12/11

* Pammies Inky Pinkies #2245 AG 13/11

* Creative Fingers Challenge #242 17/11

* Classic Design Challenge #11 AG 27/11

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

xoxo

* Cat Lovers Hop: Love of a Cat

Hello!

Have you heard? 

It's the Cat Lovers Hop hosted by Janis at Her Peaceful Garden.

This year is the fifth hop and it's a crazy week filled with crafting, commenting and celebrating cats of all sizes. There are fabulous sponsors and prizes to be won, but best of all, friendships to be forged with like minded cat lovers from around the world. Why don't you come and join us?

Here is my eighth and final card.
Thank you to those who have stuck with me to the end.
And a BIG thank you to everyone who left lovely comments along the way.
But most of all, THANK YOU to Janis, for organising the hop again this year. It has been such fun!
PS... I'm still making my way through all the lovely Cat Lover Hop entries. When I have finished commenting, I'll go back to Janis's blog and play along with the daily games. I haven't been as organised this year with my time :( 
***
For this card I chose another digital image from Vera Lane Studio. The cat is from the Love of a Cat digi set. The full set contains two different cat images and a sentiment.

My cat is coloured with Copic markers and fussy cut leaving a thin white border. He is popped on foam pads onto a sponged, Distress Inked (Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Crushed Olive and a little Vintage Photo) background. Some stamping with an Inkylicious flourish stamp was applied around the background's edges and some black and white paint spatters were randomly flicked onto the card. I decided to add some gold acrylic paint, using my fingers, as highlights and I edged the background with black archival ink.  The sentiment is also from the Love of a Cat set and it was cut into strips, inked along the edges and adhered directly onto the background.

 Love of a Cat

I was honoured to receive this badge (by The Gray Muse) and beautiful postcard from D.Anne for my participation in the Cat Lovers Hop. Thank you so much!



GIVE AWAY (NOW CLOSED)
If you like the Vera Lane Studio digital stamps I have used in the last 3 posts, you'll be pleased to know that I have three, single set, gift codes to give away (so you can choose the set of your choice - obviously it should be cat themed!) 
 Here is the link to the VLS cat digis and collages. (The ones I have used for this hop seem to be sold out at the moment, but will be back in the shop soon)
What do you have to do? Simply say 'Yes to VLS' in your comment and I'll draw out 3 winners on Monday morning. 
**I'll edit this post to announce the winners, so please come back to check.**
You may want to join our VLS Facebook group - it's a very welcoming, friendly and supportive group. We'd love to see you there!

Vera Lane Studio Facebook Group


* Karen Ladd *
* Jennifer Skull *
* Susan Renshaw *
Please email me for your coupon: caroleannjones2@msn.com

That's all for now!
Pop over to see what the others cat lovers have been up to
click here

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

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

* Crafty Catz #480 AG  31/10
* Allsorts #543Make Own Background 01/11 (#1)
* International Art & Soul #70 Celebrate Autumn 02/11( #1)
* Scrappers Delights # Oct AG 03/11
* SUYP #47 AG 04/11
* Polkadoodle #43 AG 04/11 (#3)
* A Gem of a Challenge #1 AG 05/11 (#3)
* As Yo Like It Favourite Papers & Why? 06/11
My own papers! 
Each one is unique and I can make any colour/design to match my focal point
* Cardz TV  #101 AG 07/11

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

Artsystamper: Nature of the Beach

Hello! 
Happy Monday!

I'm delighted to announce that I've joined The Artsystamper Addicts Design Team! 

Artsystamper.com is a new company owned by artist, crafter and blogger Beverly Cole. Bev designs her own stamps and sells them in her Etsy Shop, TheArtsystamperShop.

Please pop over to the shop to see the wonderful hand drawn images, many of them inspired by nature, which are available in sets for all your crafting needs. 

This is my first project for Artsystamper Digitals. I used the Nature of the Beach Digital Stamp Set and Marble Magic Digital Paper. Here is the 5 x 7 inch card I made:


I planned my card design in MS PowerPoint on my laptop, simply because this is what I am most used to. This is very easy to do as Bev provides all the images in .png format which means they have transparent backgrounds. I opted to use the pre-coloured images this time and I need to tell you that the colours and details are terrific! Once I was happy with my design I printed out the individual elements and the River Meadow Marble Magic background paper. I fussy cut the images right up to the black line and die cut some seaweed from the spare background paper. Then I gathered all the tools I would need for my project:



I started by lightly inking over the paper to make it darker, especially close to the base where there would be shadows. I inked the edges of the paper with Peacock Feathers and Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide. I also inked the edge of the seaweed to give it a bit more definition so that it would stand out better on the background.

I always run around the edges of my fussy cut digi images with a black Copic marker. This conceals any white edges which are left after cutting. For this project, I decided to shape the turtle, shells and starfish by using a large stylus on a foam mat. Simply turn the image upside down and roll the stylus around from the centre outwards - some creases may occur, but this is not a problem.

Now that the elements are ready, I place them roughly where they are to go and take a photo to remind me where to attach them.

I decided to add a little extra stamping and such to the background, not that it needed it, but I just like to add my mark on cards I make using pre-coloured images. I stamped some wild grasses in Hickory Smoke and Black Soot Distress Ink. I also added some watered down white acrylic paint splatters and some water spots which bleached out some of the colour. The turtle was the first image to be attached using foam pads in the centre and glue around the edges. The shells, seaweed and starfish were also arranged on foam pads to keep their shape and dimension.

Once everything was in place, I added some Stickles to the starfish and shadows to the conch shells and the turtle shell using grey Copic markers. I also added some white highlights to the images using a white Posca paint pen. Some dried flowers were tucked behind the shells to mingle with the seaweed.

Small iridescent sequins were added to the background along with some Nuvo Crystal drops to replicate bubbles. Wet glue was applied along the bottom of the background and Golden Prills sprinkled over to represent the sandy sea floor. 



Finally, the sentiment was matted onto blue card and attached on foam tape.

The background was then matted onto dark blue card and placed onto a 5 x 7 inch card base. 
Here a final look at the finished card:

Here's my sweet kitty, Casey, enjoying the sunshine and photobombing in the garden!

 

***

I mentioned before that I prepare my design in PowerPoint. I decided to print out the slide and make a one-layer, flat card - perfect for popping in an envelope and mailing. These digitally designed cards are quick and easy to make. Bev has a great tutorial on how to do this on her You Tube channel here.
You'll notice that I added some of Bev's Field Flower Silhouettes to the Marble Magic background paper, digitally changing the colour from black to teal and green. I added Posca paint pen lines and dots in black and white to the images. I matted the image onto dark blue paper and attached it to a 5 x 7 inch card base. 

 Nature of the Beach            Marble Magic              Field Flower Silhouettes
      
That's all for today! 
I'll be back with another Artsystamper project in two weeks time.

Meanwhile, please check out:

 TheArtsystamperShop Etsy

Artsystamper Digitals Blog
BZCole Mixed Media (YouTube)
Artsystamper Digitals on Facebook 

Thank you for stopping by today!

I'd like to support the following challenges:

* Cardz TV #95 AG 15/08

* Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #111 AG 17/08
Creative Fingers #169 AG 23/08
* Daisy Chain Challenge #33 Summer 26/08
* Cassic Design Team Challenge #8 AG 28/08
* Craft Rocket #62 AG 31/08
* Crafting by Designs AG 31/08
* Corrosive Challenges #8 AG 31/08
* Dare 2 B Artzy Aug AG 31/08
* Get Creative #83 AG 01/09
* Path of Positivity #71 Relaxation Top Pick
  

***

* Vera Lane Studio: Lightning Bugs

Hello!

It's my DT day at Vera Lane Studio today and we have a new digi release. The digi set is called Lightning Bugs and there are 3 adorable digi images and a sentiment.

Here is my card:

I used the two lightning bug fairies and coloured them with Copic markers. They have some Crystal Stickles on their wings and in their flower centres. They are fussy cut and popped up on foam tape to give some dimension.

 

The background is made from blending inks - a mixture of Distress Inks (Mustard Seed and Peacock Feathers) and Memento inks (Pear  Tart and Teal Zeal). Water droplets were sprinkled over the inks to bleach out some of the colour and add some texture to the background. I added some text stamping in teal and some stars in Peacock Feathers. White paint spatters and drips of Glimmer Mist were also layered onto the background. The edges of the background are inked with Jet Black Ranger Archival ink. 

The wonderful sentiment was cut into sections, edged with black ink and glued directly onto the background.

Lightning Bugs

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 #282 AG 24/05
* Love 2 Create #5 AG 24/05

* 613 Avenue Create #221 AG 30/05
Corrosive Challenges #5 AG 30/05
* Dragonfly Dreams May AG 30/05 TOP 3

* Simply Create Too #149 AG 31/05
* Crafting with an Attitude #51 AG 31/005
* Lil Patch of Cafty Friends. #106 AG 01/06
* Creative Fingers #164 AG 01/06
* Crafters Castle 17 AG 01/06
Artistic Inspirations #215 AG 02/06
Path of Positivity #69 AG with Option of Admiration 03/06 DT Favourite
 

* World Wide Open DT Challenge #5 AG 12/06

***

* Vera Lane Studio: Rainbow Girl Bookmark

Hello!

At the Vera Lane Studio Facebook Group our monthly swap is a bookmark swap with the theme 'Let's Hear It For the Girls'. 
Here is the bookmark I made:

I coloured one of the Rainbow Girls with Copics and added some white Posca paint pen highlights. I fussy cut around her leaving a narrow white border. I cut some 300 gsm smooth white card to 6.5cm x 15 cm and blended Peacock Feathers, Mustard Seed and Crushed Olive Distress Ink over the surface. Once I was happy with the blending, I splattered a few water droplets to bleach out some colour and add a little texture. I then used the same inks, and a little black ink, to add stamping around the edges. I added some torn washi tape to ground my Rainbow girl and glued her directly to the background.
I printed the Dr Seuss quote using the Vera Lane Studio Baby Powder Font. I then cut the sentiment into strips, inked the edges in black and glued them directly onto the background. The edges of the bookmark were inked with Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink and the bookmark was matted onto black card stock to make it a little sturdier. A hole was punched at the top of my bookmark and some hand-dyed seam binding threaded through.

Rainbow                     Baby Powder Font
   

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:

* Creative Fingers #163 AG 17/05

* Di's Digi Designs Anything but a card 17/05

* Crafty Catz #461 AG 17/05

* Jo's Scrapshack #281 AG 17/05 TOP 3

* Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #105 18/05

* A Gem Of A Challenge #9 AG 22/05 DT Favourite

* 613 Avenue Create #221 AG 30/05
* Corrosive Challenges #5 AG 30/05
*Dragonfly Dreams May AG 30/05
* Simply Create Too #149 AG 31/05

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