July Card Chain Challenge Reveal

It's reveal time again over at Deborah's Society Of Stampaholics. 

I sent this card to the lovely Dee in Kenya...

                                 

And received this little piece of fabulousness from the very talented Cat in Maryland. Isn't it a beauty? Cat admits she got a little muddled and used the August sketch and colour scheme for her card but I have to say I'm glad she did as I love everything about it.

No surprises that I've used another Stamping Bella image but I just can't resist them right now. Those two girls sitting side-by-side seemed perfect for sending a message of friendship to my recipient, Dee. One of the great things about this challenge is that you get to 'chat' to your senders and recipients in addition to receiving a beautiful handmade card. I've enjoyed a nice virtual natter with both Dee and Cat this month and only wish they both lived a little closer (or even on the same continent).

If you're tempted to sign-up for Deborah's next Card Chain Challenge you can find out all the details here. The August Challenge is still open AND there's also a $25 Paper Smooches Gift Certificate up for grabs just to tempt you a little more!

Fun in the Sun!

The Troublemakers are back with a super fun challenge for August over at Naughty Or Nice and just look at Danielle's brilliant graphic.... Hilarious! Someone should make a stamp of this image.

Here's my offering: don't you just love the expression on the Seagull's face? I had a totally different card planned until I spotted this fun image over at The Paper Shelter. Having nearly lost a bag of chips to a Seagull a few years ago, this image really hit the spot for me. I also rather like the little girl's Amy Winehouse hairdo!

The die-cut and the layering card were coloured using Picked Raspberry Distress Ink to match the pretty patterned paper from Echo Park's Here and Now Collection.

The Troublemakers have out-done themselves this month and you can follow this link to see what they've been up to and to join in all the fun.

House Of Cards August Challenge - Metalics

Hi everyone, guess who has been operating waaaaaaaaaaay out of her crafting comfort zone???!!!
Yes, that would be me. I know that I joined-up with the HOC girls to push and challenge myself creatively but METALICS? Seriously?

Actually, after a little panicking I decided to use metallic embossing powders and a homemade stencil to create my card. I opted to make another shaker card and have even created a mini photo tutorial which will be appearing on the HOC Blog later this month.

Its a pity the light is catching the card in this way. In real life it looks much better and much less gaudy. My super-talented teamies at HOC have created some total fabulousness for their metallic-inspired creations and you can take a look by following this link to see for yourself.

Have a great day!

Experimenting...

I decided to try a little experimental colouring yesterday and this is the result. I struggle with darker colours and would really welcome any tips, hints or recommendations for colouring tutorials you guys can offer. Improving my colouring technique is currently top of my card making 'to do' list. I'm considering changing to Copics from Promarkers to see if I can achieve better results... Or is this just a poor work-woman blaming her tools???

I love this image from Stamping Bella, called Hayley the Hero, which I bought from my favourite online shop. I just can't get me enough Bellas at the moment!

 Have a happy Saturday, people!

Anything goes!

I've been on the count down to the school holidays all week and according to my calculations there's only one more day to go! I have so much crafting planned over the summer that I'm nearly as excited about breaking-up as the children.

Isn't this just the sweetest image from Stamping Bella? She's one of the Tiny Townies collection and is called Blossom Loves Balloons. Just for a change I picked my patterned paper before colouring my image. Note to self: do this more often as it's very sensible and gives a more pleasing end result!

I'm linking-up with the Seize the Birthday girls again as they have another 'Anything Goes' birthday themed challenge on offer. Once again the DT cards are fabulous as they are one talented group of ladies.

Just before I go I'll share this link to the amazing musical Barnum which I saw yesterday. We took our school choir members to the matinee performance at Birmingham Hippodrome and had a fabulous time. Brian Conley and Linzi Hateley were brilliant and the acrobatics, singing, costumes and stage craft were simply breathtaking. The children were spellbound and I felt so proud to be with them as their behaviour was impeccable. If you get the chance to see the show as it tours the UK please do so as it's one of the best I've ever seen.

Seeing Stars...

Hi everyone, we're now half-way through our current challenge over at Naughty Or Nice which is 'Seeing Stars'. To play along all you need to do is include a star or a bunch of stars on your project.

As you know from my previous post I missed the start of this challenge due to life throwing a few curve balls in my direction. However, I decided to finish my card which you can now see over on the NON blog. The Troublemakers have once again created some fabulous, fun inspiration to get you started. You'll also see two stunning cards from previous NON challenge winner LesLee Stone Rasmus who joins us as guest DT member for July. By a strange quirk of card making fate LesLee was my Card Chain Challenge sender for July so I'm doubly glad to see her appear as our guest this month.

I thought this Kraftin' Kimmie stamp (Marilyn) was just perfect for the current theme and decided to ramp-things-up and make my first shaker card!

I enjoyed the additional challenge and will definitely make further shaker cards. As always happens when creating something for the first time, I've learnt a few things to do differently on future projects. However, one thing I won't change is to use fun foam for one of the internal layers as I'm very pleased with the tidy look this gives the finished card. I covered Marilyn's dress and shoes with more Wink of Stella than you can shake a Wink of Stella Pen at and it twinkles beautifully. The sentiment comes with the Marilyn image and is one I fully endorse as someone who works in education.

And check out the gorgeous sequins! No prizes for guessing they come from Lucy's Sequin Shaker Selections which you can buy over at Simon Says Stamp or from Lucy's Folksy shop. I mixed sequins from Glacier and Caribbean Dream for this card. You get plenty of sequins and sparkly stuff in each bag and the choice of colours is lovely.

There's still plenty of time to play along with our star spangled challenge and we already have some great 'nice' cards linked-up but if you wanted to be a little naughty we would love to see what you can come up with!

Happy crafting!