Exciting News! Mark your calendars

Just in case you haven't heard the news I thought I'd post about it here!!! I've pinched the following info from the Delicious Doodles Blog for your information. Be sure to save the date on your calendars!

 

 

Hiya folks!

Teri here from Delicious Doodles bringing you an exciting announcement!

(Well, exciting for me, tee-hee!)

Myself and the lovely ladies of the

Delicious Doodles Design Team

will be bringing you a

BRAND NEW CHALLENGE

each and every week

(maybe a break for Christmas though!)

right here on the

Delicious Doodles Challenge Blog.

And to kick off our very first Challenge on

FRIDAY 19TH NOVEMBER

we will be having a

Blog Hop

with loads of

Delicious Doodles Images

to be won!!

We really hope you can join us in this brand new venture!

Feel free to grab a banner and spread the word!

Big Hugs from

Teri and The Team

xxxx

Stampin' with the Dragon Challenge # 13 sponsored by Kenny K

Morning everyone. I can't believe it's challenge week again over at Stampin' with the Dragon! This week we are sponsored by the amazingly talented Kenny K who kindly gave the DT an image each to work with, please check out their blogs to see what they did. The challenge this week is to make a card using this sketch:

I followed the sketch exactly and came up with this "traditional " Christmas card (sorry there are so many pictures, but this winter gloom is making photography a nightmare - no glitz and glimmer shows unless I take pictures from differing angles).

 

 The image has been coloured with Promarkers, glitzed up with Sakura Gel Pens, Glossy Accents and Stickles. The white background has been embossed and then swiped with a silver inkpad. Everything has been matted and layered onto cardstock. The edges of the mats have been edged with Sakura pens. Finally I've added some black gems to the corners.

Tools
Purple Cows Guillotine
Big Shot
Sizzix texturz plate

Materials
Black, pink and white cardstock - The Papermill
DP's - mag freebie from Craftwork Cards
Stickles
Promarkers
Sakura Gel Pen
Silver Ink Pad
Glossy Accents

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Crafty Catz Weekly - Black, white and one other
Stamp Something - use a digi
Allsorts - Spots n Stripes
2 Sisters - Anything goes
The Artistic Stamper - Layer it on
The Crafty Pad - Christmas Theme
ABC Challenge - Glitter
The Creative Cottage - Embossing
Stampavie & More - Christmas

Jewelled Fairy Easel Card

This going to be a really quick post from me today as I'm supposed to be ironing :( and then taking the kids out for the afternoon :)

Teri over at Delicious Doodles released this gorgeous fairy the other week and I was desperate to get her coloured and made into something. The fairy has been coloured with Promarkers and I decided that as my distress inks have been feeling a little neglected lately I would bring them out to play to create the entire background on this card and to colour the flowers. A bit more sparkle and glimmer has been added to everything by the use of Glimmer Mist, Sakura Gel Pens, Smooch, Stickles, Glossy Accents and Gems.

If you get the chance please do pop over to the Delicious Doodles Blog to check out the rest of the DT's cards as there are some amazing creations being showcased on a daily basis. Plus it's my turn to post over there today and I don't wanna be talking to myself  - LOL ;)

Oh and one more thing don't forget to enter my £30 giveaway!

Tools
Big Shot
Nestabilities
Sizzix Tattered Florals Die
Little Claire's Fern Die
Tim Holtz Blender

Materials
Image - Delicious Doodles
Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Sakura Gel Pens
Stickles
Smooch Ink
Glimmer Mist
Glossy Accents
Gems

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Papertake Weekly - Sparkle & Bright
I Did It Creations - Surprise Me
Speedy The Cat's Challenge - Diecuts/Punches
Craft Your Passion - Glitter/Sparkles
Karber Monthly - Fantasy
2 Sisters - Anything goes
Totally Gorjuss - Sparkle
Stamp Something - Use a digi
The ABC Challenge - Glitter
Simon Says Challenge - Punches/Die cuts

Beary Happy Christmas

OK I know you don't hear from me all week and then you get two posts in one day!

Anyway, I've made this card for my friend's little boy who is ever so slightly obsessed with bears! It was one of those cards that you plan do one thing with and then it travels in a completely different direction (please assure me that it's not only me that does this).

The bear has been coloured with Promarkers and then decoupaged. His fluffy coat is some more of the el cheapo flock that has sat in my stash for ages and his oh so shiny nose and paws are of course glossy accents. The circle background upon which he's sat has been given the stickles treatment. I've used Sakura Stardust on the snowflakes. The edges of the card have been distressed, given a dusting of Distress Inks and then faux stitched.

Tools
Sizzix Bigshot
Tim Holtz Blender
Tim Holtz Distressing Tool
Nestabilities - Large Circles

Materials
Image - Dragons Lair Designs
DP's  - Smirk
Cardbase - Craftwork Cards
Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Promarkers
Flock - The Papermill
Card Candy - Craftwork Cards
Sentiment - Papermainia
Stickles
Glossy Accents
Sakura Gel Pen
White Gel Pen

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Marks Finest Papers - Stitching
The Crafty Pad - Distressed or Torn Edges
Paper Sundaes - For someone little
Pear Tree Designs - Free for all
Top Tip Tuesday - Anything goes
Tuesday Throwdown - Anything goes
Crafty Creations  - Red, brown & green
Moving Along With The Times (sponsored by Letraset) - Anything goes Promarkers
Charisma Cards - Vintage
Meljens Designs - Anything goes
Delightful Challenges - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Stamp Something - use a digi

Pssst - I've got a secret to share!!

Want to know what it is???Here's a clue

Got it yet??? No? Well, you can either read on or click here for the answer!!! ;)

Got it now? Yep that's right, I've been invited to join those hugely talented girls over on the Sweet Pea Stampers DT !!  :)

This my first challenge card for them, and just in case you haven't guessed, this week the challenge is easel cards. There's a fantastic prize of  3 Sweet Pea stamps to be won. I really hope that some of you can find the time to pop over there and give me some support. It would be fab to see some of my followers joining the challenges and hopefully winning the prizes on offer.

Anyway as this is a huuuuuggggely long post I'll keep the deets of how I made the card brief! The picture above doesn't really show the shimmer and glimmer, so I've popped a couple more  on to try and show it.

I've coloured the image with Promarkers, created the background with distress inks and then given it a generous spritz of glimmer mist. I've added lots of gloss and sparkle with glimmer mist, stickles, sakura gel pens, gems and glossy accents. The snowflakes are Marianne Creatables which have been coloured with distress inks, glimmer misted and decorated with iridescent snowflake buttons and gems. The blue gem swirls have been created using a Eline Template (yes I really did glue each gem on individually).

Oh and just one more thing before I go, please don't forget to enter my CSN giveaway where you can win a £30 gift voucher to spend on anything you like.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
The Crafty Purple Frog - Anything goes
Top Tip Tuesday - Anything goes
Pear Tree Designs - Free for all
Tuesday Throwdown - Anything goes
A Crafty Little Place - Easel card
In a Sweetpea Dream - All about Christmas
Moving Along With The Times (sponsored by Letraset)- Anything goes Promarkers
Meljens Designs - Anything goes
Delightful Challenges - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Sarah Hurley - Christmas card, but red and green must not be seen

MSE Challenge - Bling or Glitter

How To Heat Emboss A Digi Stamp

Following my post yesterday of the heat embossed Little Nut Tree pictured above, I received a few comments and a couple of emails asking how I'd embossed the digi image. So I'll try my best to explain in easy steps, it's really simple if you organise yourself!

1. Gather all your equipment (heat tool, embossing powder, a powder collection tray (you will need this as you need to work fast) and glossy cardstock (you can use photo paper, but be warned it will bubble easily).

2. Move everything next to the printer, and have your heat gun plugged in and ready to go.

3. Choose your image, do whatever you do with it and then adjust the printer settings to photo and glossy paper.

4. Hit the print button.

5. As soon as your image appears, remove it from the printer and immediately cover with powder (you need to be superfast at this point otherwise the ink will be too dry).

6. Gently discard excess powder and then use the heat gun.

7. You should by now have your beautifully embossed image.

I hope this helped some of you. If anyone else has any hints or tips for heat embossing digis, especially on non glossy papers, then please do share. x

Quick & Easy Christmas Card

It's my turn to post over at the Delicious Doodles Blog and as thing have been a bit hectic here this week I needed a fast make. When I saw this Little Nut Tree (due for release today) over at the Delicious Doodles Shop I just knew it would be perfect for something I've been wanting to try out for ages, which if everything went to plan would be a fast make. I wasn't sure it was going to work, but thought nothing ventured nothing gained! As you can see it did work and I'll definitely be using this technique again. The only thing I'd possibly change is the ribbon, but this was all I had in my stash. From start to finish the card took less than 30 minutes.

Going to have to apologise in advance for the number of piccies, but struggled to get a decent shot and wanted to show the embossing and true colour of the card.

The image was printed, heat embossed and then cut out. The card base has been cut using nesties labels 8 and then embossed with Sizzix Texturz . I've run a gold inkpad around the edges and over the embossing, added a bit of ribbon and a sentiment.

Just a quick reminder - don't forget to enter my £30 CSN voucher giveaway (click on the link at the top RH side of the page).

Tools
Heat Tool
Big Shot
Nestabilities - labels eight
Sizzix Texturz Plates

Materials
Glossy Card - Asda
Heat It Up Embossing Powder
Gold Ink Pad - Versacolour
Ribbon - stash
Sentiment - Papermainia

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Tuesday Throwdown - Anything goes
Karen's Doodles -  Colour (gold)
Cowgirl's Sunday - Create your own background
Sweet Stampin - Ribbon
Mami Doodles - Vera's Card Drive

Stampin' With The Dragon Challenge #12

This fortnight the challenge over at Stampin' With The Dragon is use an inking technique.We're sponsered by Stitchy Bear Stamps who are offering the winner 5 digi stamps of their choice from Stitchy Bear and Trees Stamps. The DT have used a mixture of stamps from both designers (you can see their fantastic creations on both the challenge blog and their individual blogs which are listed in my sidebar).

I chose Little Joey from Trees for my card. Yet again this is an image I would've preferred to water colour, but wasn't able to due the inks in my printer! grrr

The image has been coloured with Promarkers and the background has been inked with Distress Inks and Versamark Brilliance. The base card has been embossed with my new Sizzix embossing folder and I've then sanded it to reveal the coloured core. The sentiment has been computer generated.

Tools
Sizzix Bigshot
Tim Holtz Sizzix Embossing Folder
Tim Holtz Blender
Basic Grey Sanding Tools

Materials
Coredinations Whitewash Cardstock
Distress Inks
Brilliance Ink
Promarkers

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Flourishes - ink and edge distressing
Cards for Men - Happy Birthday
OLLCB - Nothing floral
The Pink Elephant - Childhood
Charisma Cardz - More than one fold
Sarah Hurley - Colouring

Want £30 to spend at CSN???

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED.  Those lovely folks over at CSN have given me the go ahead to do another giveaway for my UK followers. Just in case you didn't know, CSN Stores has six amazing online stores where you can find everything from beautiful wardrobes to cookware to chic lighting pieces!

I had a little look around to see what caught my eye and found this:

Isn't it gorgeous? It might even inspire me to start cooking properly again!

If you'd like the chance to win a £30 gift certifcate to spend at CSN, simply follow these steps:

1. Become a follower of this blog
2. Post about this giveaway on your blog
3. Leave me a comment on this post telling me what your favourite item over at CSN is.

You have until 13/11/2010 23:59 (GMT) and I'll draw the lucky winner on 14/11/2010. Only one entry per person please. If the winner does not contact me within 7 days of winning I will select another winner.

Good luck x

Alcohol Inks And The Cloaked Lady

I think I have a new addiction!! Alcohol Inks......I just love the effect they give and the unpredictability of the final result. I decided to use them to create a background for this gorgeous image from Delicious Doodles.

Tools
Tim Holtz Blender
Sizzix Tattered Florals Die

Materials
Image - Delicious Doodles
White gloss card
DP's - Basic Grey Ambrosia
Promarkers
Alcohol Inks
Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Glimmer Mist
Leaves, button & twine from stash

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
One Stitch At A Time - Use your digis
Craftalicious - anything goes
Kaboodle Doodles - Celebrate all the colours of fall
The ABC Challenge - Flowers
Stampavie & More - Autumn
Sir Stampalot - Autumn Breezes, Buttons & Bows

Robin Redbreast Easel Card

It's been intro week over at Delicious Doodles Blog and now it's my turn! To pad out my spiel I decided to chuck in a few creations! This card is one of them :) Please do stop by and check out the other girls creations and blogs as there is some stunning work on show.

I'd spotted this image in the Delicious Doodles store and decided that I'd really like to have a play with it! I've not coloured an image like this before and will admit that I was a little intimated by it. However, I have to say that for a first attempt using Promarkers I'm not unhappy with it, but more practice is definitely needed! I will be using it again as I really enjoyed colouring it.

I created the cardbase using nesties. The image has been coloured with Promarkers. I've glossy accented the berries and added stickles to the background. Snowtex has been applied to the branches and then stickled. The holly leaves have been die cut, coloured with Promarkers and an embossing tool has been run round to add dimension, they've then been Glossy Accented. The Christmas Rose has been made using my Sizzix die. I've used Magic Soft to create the centre and then stickled the edges to give some sparkle.

Tools
Sizzix Big Shot
Nestabilities - Large Circles
Sizzix Holly Leaf Die
Sizzix Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die
Tim Holtz Blender

Materials
Image - Delicious Doodles
White Card - The Papermill
Promarkers
Glossy Accents
Stickles
Snowtex
Magic Soft
Distress Inks

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges:
Fab 'n' Funky - Use a digi image
Penny's Paper Crafty - Circles
YNS - Grow your own
Anything Goes - Christmas
A Spoonful of Sugar - Sparkle & Shine
Creative Card Crew - Flowers
Crafty Cardmakers - Step away from the square
Glitterbabe's - Anything goes
Alphabet Challenge - X for Xmas
2 Sisters Challenge - Animal Fun
Allsorts - Inspired by a song Rockin' Robin
Secret Crafter - Distressed
Totally Gorjuss - Anything but square
Annabelle Stamps - No DP's
Ellephantastic - Anything goes
Stamp Something - Punches or Dies
Cute Card Thursday - Make your own
Delightful Challenges - Red, White & Green
Sarah Hurley - Flowers
One Stitch At A Time - Digi's
Crafty Hos - Red, Green & Brown

Can You Help?

The lovely Trisha aka Craftygranny is trying to raise awareness and funds for the Ear Trust. You can read all about the Ear Trust and the impact they've had on her gorgeous grandaughter's life here.

If you can spare five minutes to drop by Trisha's blog it would be very much appreciated. x

Sepia Toned Male Birthday Card

I've had one of those weeks that once an idea gets into my head it won't go away, so when I saw this image I knew immediately that I had to use it for a card for my Uncle and had a picture in my mind of how it was going to be. After much huffing and puffing and a lot of help from the lovely Janette aka The Stampin' Dragon, I finally got the image line colours changed to sepia. I really should've taken this as an omen and quit my "big idea" at this stage, but you know me, I like a challenge and so carried on!

I'd decided that I was going to water colour the image using distress inks, but hadn't factored in that in moment of tightness I'd bought Tesco own ink carts for my printer..... BIG MISTAKE, the ink isn't waterproof unlike my beloved Epson ink! I was determined that I'd succeed even with "bleeding" ink (infact bleeding is a total understatement - I think I could've painted the image just using water and the ever spreading printer ink) . Nine attempts later (with one almost perfect image which messed up on the final section) I admitted defeat and decided to switch to my trusty Promarkers. I still used watercolour paper and think it's given quite a neat finish.

Anyway this is it - I just really hope he likes it now!!

Tools
Tim Holtz Blender
Tim Holtz Distressing Tool

Materials
Image - Dragons Lair Designs
Sentiment - freebie from here
Watercolour Paper
Brown Card - The Papermill
DP's - from stash
Distress Inks - Tea Dye, Walnut Stain
Promarkers - Ivory, Sandstone, Caramel, Cinnamon, Fineliner Black
Card Candy and Cardbase - Craftwork Cards

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges:
Creative Inspirations - Birthdays
Fab 'n' Funky - Use a digi
Party Time Tuesdays - Birthdays
If The Shoe Fits - Distress

New Blog Award

My lovely forum and blog buddy Karen from Karen's Crafty Corner sent me this blog award (thank you Karen it was really kind of you to think of me). I have to say that like Karen I am often overwhelmed by the kindness and support that has been offered to me by people I've never met and to be honest it has gone a longway to restoring my faith in human nature.

I'm rubbish at picking people and tbh find it quite stressful for various reasons, not least of which is a fear of offending someone! I've tried to choose a few of you who as far as I know haven't already been selected to receive this award (I expect I'll manage to double up, so apologies if I do). If you'd like to accept the award, then please do and feel free to pass it on to more lovely ladies.
Carmen
Myz
Alee81
Dawn
Judie
Vicky
Clare

Taming the Dragon - Altered Container

I've been hoarding these empty Soap & Glory pots for a while despite the sarky comments from DH who seems to think that my keeping 100's of tiny scraps of paper, empty pots and jars, loo rolls etc. are the signs of me losing my marbles! So to keep him of my back I thought I should try and use some of the stuff.

This is something different for me, but I really got a buzz from the whole project and will definately be making more projects using recycled items! There are a couple of things I'd do differently, but on the whole I'm quite pleased with the outcome.

The dragon has been coloured with Promarkers. He's then been decoupaged and stickled. Glossy Accents have been applied to his eyes, teeth and claws. The pot and gems have been coloured with alcohol inks.

Tools
Sizzix Bigshot
Nestabilities - large circles
Ink Blender

Materials
Image - Delicious Doodles
Promarkers
Alcohol Inks
Empty Pot
Adhesive Gemstones

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges:
Moving Along With The Times - Anything but a card
The Artistic Stamper - Layers
The Creative Cottage - Bling
Fab 'n' Funky - Use a digi
Penny's Paper Crafty - Circles
A Spoonful of Sugar - Sparkle & Shine
Digital Tuesday - Ribbon, Button or Bling
Passion for Promarkers - Recycled
The Stampman - Altered

Christmas Stocking Cuties

These little cuties are new in at Delicious Doodles. I couldn't decide which one to use on my card, so decided to make six quick cards and use each of the images. DD has nabbed these for sending to her close friends (typically I'd bought some in the sale for the kids to send out, but she wants to send her friends "proper" cards), so I'm still no further forward with my Christmas cards! Oh and please accept my apologies for the weird layout of this post, but blogger just wouldn't play ball this afternoon (perhaps it's got the hump cos of the number of pictures??).

I've paper pieced the stockings and coloured the cuties with Promarkers. 

Materials
Image - Delicious Doodles
DP's - from stash
Promarkers
Glossy Accents
White Gel Pen
Woodware Snowflake Punch

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Cowgirl's Sunday - Anything goes
Paper Sundaes - Something from your stash
Catch the Bug - Anything goes
Charisma Cards - Christmas
Creative Inspirations - Christmas in September
Tuesday Throwdown - Punches
2 Sisters - Animal fun
Bee Crafty - Furry/Fluffy
Sweet Stampin Challenge - Punches

Too Cute to Spook Halloween Tent Card

Halloween has arrived over at Stitchy Bear Stamps and they're having a huge sale to celebrate. There's loads of new image releases from their designers and a few of their associate blogs are running challenges. Over on the Stampin' with the Dragon Challenge Blog there is an extra challenge - "Extra - Spooky - Happenings" Why not pop over and have a look at what the rest of the DT have been upto and join in with the challenge?

I was thrilled to be able to make a Halloween card using this image, as I love Halloween! I think it's possibly my favourite time of year. It's an occasion that you choose to either celebrate or ignore. However, here in the UK we don't tend to send out many Halloween cards, so the few that I do make and send, I like to be a little bit different.

I made this tent card for my friend who is also into Halloween, I hope she likes it!

Tools
Sizzix Bigshot
Sizzix Texturz Halloween Plate
Nestabilities - Large Ovals & Labels 8
Basic Grey Filing Set
Tim Holtz Blender

Materials
Image - Stitchy Bear Stamps
Black card
Black Magic Core-dinations
Ribbon - coloured with Promarkers
Card Candy - coloured with Promarkers
Promarkers
Jump rings
Stickles - Stardust
Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Black Soot

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Totally Stampalicious - Halloween
Stampavie & More - More than one fold
Digi Doodles Shops Best - 3D it
Sew Many Challenges - Anything Goes
Aud Sentiments - Halloween sentiment
The Crafty Pad - Spooky

Stampin With The Dragon Challenge #11

This fortnight the challenge over at Stampin With The Dragon is Water. We're sponsored this time by Robyn's Fetish who kindly gave us some of her designs to work with and is offering the lucky winner 3 digis of their choice. Please feel free to pop over and see what the rest of the DT have created for your inspiration.

Also today we're launching the store message board, which is a great place to chat, pick up tips, share your creations and there's even an opportunity to become our Spotlight Designer. So what are you waiting for? Hop on over and join (it's free to sign up).

Anyway, on with the card! I chose the image Bath Time and have to say I had loads of fun creating my card as I got to play with lots of new products and tools. It's not my usual style, so I hope you like it!

The tiles were created using my scoreboard and have been defined with distress inks. The image has been coloured with Promarkers, the bubbles stickled and the girls bows glossy accented. The over flowing foam has been made with Snow-tex which I've then lightly coated with glitter.

Tools
Martha Stewart Scoreboard
Purple Cows Guilotine
Tim Holtz Blender
Cropadile

Materials
Card - The Papermill
Grey marbled paper - Trace Industries - Pad of Matters
Image - Robyn's Fetish
Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Promarkers - cool grey 1, fushia pink, satin, blush
Stickles - Stardust
Snow-tex
Fabric - stash
Eyelets stash

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Digi Doodles Shops Best - 3D
The ABC Challenge - E easel card
Stampavie and More - More than one fold
Little Red Wagon - Make your own embellishment
Incy Wincy - Anything goes
Paper Playtime - Water
The Crazy Challenge - No buttons or ribbons
One Stitch At A Time - Anything goes
The Paper Players - Photo Inspiration
Stamp n Doodle - Anything goes