Guest Designing at AAA Birthday (Aunt Renee's birthday card)

I'm delighted to be Guest Designer over at AAA Birthday, and this month's challenge is a nice easy one ...

You can play along at AAA Birthday, hope to see you there!

For my card I've used this lovely cupcake stamp from Lili of the Valley, doesn't it look good enough to eat!  (I thought my entire life that I didn't like cherries and then last year tasted one and it was delicious!!). A wee bit of shading to the background, a few metallic splatters and a leftover diecut flower was all it needed to finish it.

Snippets Challenge #479 - my snippet is my flower which was cut from a little scrap of yellow card

Word Art Wednesday #645/646 - anything goes 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - feminine 

Let it Snow

 I'm back with another card for my guest stint at Just Us Girls and this week's challenge is inspired by this photo..

Hope you'll play along too, pop over to see the cards made by their DT, they're such a talented bunch!

For my card I used these cute snowfolk from a Simon Says Stamp kit earlier in the year.  I added sparkle to the trees and their scarves but it doesn't really show in the pic.  I don't think I've ever used this colour combo on a Christmas card before, but I do like how it turned out! 

ABC Christmas - U is for unusual Christmas colours

As you like it - traditional or contemporary - most of my Christmas stamps are these cutie type so I guess that puts me in the contemporary camp!

Birthday Bear

Hi all, I'm back with another Guest Designer post for Just Us Girls, and this week it's a colour challenge.  Pop over to their blog for lots of inspiration and hopefully you get a chance to play along too!

For my card I've used this oldie from Penny Black - he's a bit bigger than my frame but I think I got him squished in ok 😉. Coloured with polychromos, sparkle added to the ribbon and glitter to his pom-pom.  The scrap leftover from cutting my frame was just big enough to cut my sentiment and stars which always pleases me LOL

 Seize the Birthday #249 - faces, human or animal 

Cardz for Guys 306 - teddy bear

Word Art Wednesday #565 - anything goes 

Penny Black Saturday October - anything goes 

Going CAS!

 Week 2 of my guest stint at Just Us Girls, and this week's challenge is...

Most of my cards are CAS so that was a nice easy challenge for me 😉. Pop over to the JUGS blog for lots of inspiration from their lovely DT, and hopefully you'll get a chance to play along too!

For my card I just stamped these lovely flowers from Pinkfresh Studio, slapped on a bit of watercolour paint, and added a sentiment.  I did add a layer over my flowers with my sparkle pen just to give it a wee bit of zing.

The Flower Challenge #73 - use a sentiment 

Word Art Wednesday #563 - anything goes 

Get your scraps out!

I'm delighted to be Guest Designer with Just Us Girls for October, and this week's challenge is to use your scraps - and if your table is as messy as mine that shouldn't be a problem LOL 😉  Pop over to their blog for some inspiration from their very talented team, and I hope you get a chance to play along too! 

I've had this lovely strip of hearts DP knocking round for a few weeks so I'm glad to get it used before it gets bent or crumpled! And the little purple edge was from a tiny scrap I rescued from my 'bin' pile, but was just the right colour and only just big enough to die cut - it's not the straightest but I tucked the wonky edge under my image and you'd never know!  Image, sentiment and bling from a recent Simon Says Stamp kit. 

It doesn't show on my card but there's lots of sparkle on this card ... gloss + glitter to the flames, the pink under my cake had several layers of my sparkle pen; it doesn't show in the photo but I also went over the '&' several times with my sparkle pen and I love how it turned out, I'll definitely be doing this again!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes 

Addicted to Stamps #439 - any occasion 

Word Art Wednesday #563/564 - anything goes 

Guest Designing at Christmas Kickstart

 Hi All!  I'm delighted to be guest designer over at Christmas Kickstart, run by my fabulous blogging buddy Jo!  This month's challenge is ...

Hahaha!  Or if you're not lucky enough to have a Greg 😉 you can ...

I know it's traditional for me to be sitting on Christmas Eve doing my usual panic-make for his nibs so it will be nice to look forward to a wee Bailey's and chilling out instead.  I hope you'll play along - Jo always has some nice goodies up for grabs too!  

So for Greg's card I have used this cutie from MFT along with an oldie die from Lil' Inker that I normally struggle to use.  (The black hearts to the side are actually silver)

Last Guest post for Simon Says Stamp

I've been guest designing this month for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge  :)

This week's challenge theme is 'Anything goes' and the team are showcasing Stampendous goodies.  Hope you'll play along too.  As usual, they have the best prize in blogland .. a big $50 to spend in store!! 

For my card I've used this fun Stampendous Old Goat stamp set. Coloured with polychromo pencils and the goat popped up on foam pads.  The washing line in the set didn't go the width of the card, so I added it in my hand (pity I couldn't draw a straight line haha) and then drew a couple of pegs too.
Clear gloss added to his horns and hooves, and to the pegs.

• Time Out #138 - funny
• Word Art Wednesday #392/393 - anything goes
• Crafty Calendar June - masculine
• Stamping Sensations June - lots of colour

Guest Designing for Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge

I'm Guest Designer over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge this month :)

This week's challenge theme is 'Vacation' and the team are showcasing Lawn Fawn goodies.  Hope you'll play along too.  As usual, they have the best prize in blogland .. a big $50 to spend in store!! 

For my card I've used Lawn Fawn's Aloha stamps.  (there's a set with matching dies if you don't fancy fussy cutting them)   

I never drink cocktails at home, but on holiday it's definitely compulsory!  This cool pineapple dude just makes me happy - he doesn't know he's the one for the chop for my Pina Colada haha   

I used a honeycomb stencil for my background, added in a few miscellaneous leafy dies and some little flower embellishments and gems.
Image coloured with polychromo pencils and Clear gloss added to his sunnies and gloss/glitter to his 'leafy bit'.  Oh and a few splatters of green paint for good measure!

• Dream Valley #204 - summer colours
• Creatalicious #165 - anything goes
• Sparkles #117 - no patterned paper
• Sweet Stampers #33 - anything goes

Guest Designing for Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge

I'm Guest Designer over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge this month :)

This week's challenge is to make a Wedding or Anniversary card and the team are showcasing Simon Says Stamp goodies.  Hope you'll play along too.  As usual, they have the best prize in blogland .. a big $50 to spend in store!! 

For my card I've used this beautiful Hibiscus frame die, isn't it gorgeous!  This die would work well for any occasion really.

I cut my frame first and then drew a faint pencil line on the card beneath so I knew where to colour with my polychromos.  Then I went over my finished flower with my glitter pen and the sentiment is cut from a little leftover bit of glitter card.  I also added a few clear gems for good measure, so there's LOTS of sparkle on this card!

Anyway, hope you'll play along in the challenge - it's a lucky dip for the winner, so if you're not in you can't win!

• Pixie's Snippets Playground #354
• Crafting by Designs June - anything goes
• Love to Craft #35 -anything goes

Guest Designing for Simon Says Stamp!

Wahooo I'm so excited to be this month's Guest Designer over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge :)  I've been a long time player in their weekly challenges and a long time 'envy-ier' (this may not actually be a real word haha) of the talents of their DT, so I'm thrilled to have my efforts showcased alongside theirs!

So the first challenge up is to make a masculine card and the team are showcasing Tim Holtz goodies.  Hope you'll play along too.  As usual, they have the best prize in blogland .. a big $50 to spend in store!!

I've used this cute puppy from Tim Holtz Crazy Dogs stamps - it would look like our Ruby except this one's white!  She does get the floppy ears though when she's really tired and it's sooo cute!

My stamped pup didn't need much colouring and just some clear gloss on his eyes and nose.  By the way, one of the most useful things I've ever bought from the Simon Says Stamp store was one of these little mini bottles that I decant my big bottle of clear gloss in to.  The gloss never gets jammed up and the nib is perfect for detailed work.  I've had mine for a couple of years now, the wee lid has long since broken off but a blob of blutack does the same job!

Guest Designing at Christmas Kickstart

I'm delighted to be Guest Designer over at the Christmas Kickstart challenge this fortnight.  Thanks for the invitation Jo!

The theme for the new challenge is to use a bear on your card, so I've gone for little James Bear from Lili of the Valley.  Coloured with watercolor pencils and popped up on foam pads.  I've used a little star stencil just to give some interest to the background and added a few green stars to finish.
Hope you'll play along - upload your creations over at Christmas Kickstart ... there's a wee prize to be won too :)

• ABC Christmas - D is for Decorations
• The Male Room #105 - no DP
• Penny's challenge #418 - anything goes

Visiting Librarian at the Library Challenge.

I'm delighted to be the 'Visiting Librarian' for the new challenge over at The Library Challenge - one of my favourite challenges ... books and stamping, what's not to like!

Anyway I was the lucky one who got to choose this week's book and I've gone for The Woman in the Window.  Have you read it?  It would be great if you played along in the challenge - you can be inspired by the cover or the story or the title, whatever takes your fancy!

As you can see I took my inspiration from the lit window and the bricks on the cover.  I've stenciled up a brick background and then used my cute kitties from Eat Cake Graphics.  I used sparkly card for my sentiment and then finished with some gold star sequins.

• Fab'n Funky #409 - all creatures great and small
• Crafty Creations #375 - anything goes
• Word Art Wednesday #354/355 - anything goes

Guest Designing for Stick It Down

I'm delighted to be Guest Designer this month for the card sketch over at Stick it Down.   Here's this month's sketch:

 And here's my card ....

I thought this sketch would be harder to put together than it actually was!  I cut out a panel slightly larger than my card base, and used the cut off remnants of each section as a guide to cutting the next one, so there was no faffing about trying to work out angles and whatnot.  Hope that makes sense!! I wasn't too worried about matching up my edges as I then die-cut my panel once I'd all the bits stuck down. 

For my sentiment I used a really old set of dies, I can't even remember the manufacturer.  I cut 3 sets of each letter (the top layer is a lovely white glittery card) and then stuck them all together for some dimension.

Guest Designing for the Muse challenge

I love to be inspired by a card so I'm thrilled to be this week's guest designer over at the Muse Challenge - just pick whatever elements in my card you fancy and create away!

This is another of my 80th birthday cards - this one's for my Aunt.  I've used this oldie Penny Black stamp, coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the roses and his nose.  Little pink stars from stash.

• Addicted to Stamps #289 - CAS
• Cute Card Thursday #527 - pretty in pink
• Seize the Birthday - any Birthday
• Cas-ual Fridays #198 - April showers bring May flowers
• Allsorts #465 - all about pets

Guest Designer for Penny Black and More

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I'm Guest Designer over at Penny Black and More this month :)
I've always had such a soft spot for their critter stamps - I hadn't actually realised how many I had until I went to look for some for this card.  Of course I ended up using one of my newest ones!

I've had quite a bit of use already from this little mouse from the U R the Gift set and I think he looks fab with my MFT alpha set!  That quill looks perfect for beautiful handwriting. (I'm v jealous, my writing is awful!)

• Word Art Wednesday #272/273 - anything goes
• Classic Design Team Open #12
• 613 Avenue Create #195 - anything goes
• Crafty Creations #336 - anything goes

Day 5 of the Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

Guest Designer at Retro Rubber Challenge

I'm Guest Designer over at Retro Rubber Challenge this week :)
It's always good to get some ink on those oldies, so if you'd like to play along there's a colour theme to play with ↑ and all you need is a stamp that's older than a year old.

For my card I used this oldie from Whipper Snapper that I got a couple of years ago.  I watercoloured the sky/grass just a hint and then added some Ranger enamel accents in matching colours.

• CAS on Sunday #102 - critters
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Moving Along with the Times - for a man
• AAA Cards #84 - watercolour
• Tuesday Throwdown #332 - things with wings

Huffy cat

I'm Guest Designer over at the Retro Rubber Challenge today :)
It's quite a new challenge blog to me, but a great idea to get you rooting through those older stamps! (at least a year old)
Here's this week's sketch ....

For mine, I've used a couple of older Eat Cake Graphics stamps.  I think this huffy cat was the 2nd ECG stamp I bought many many moons ago, I'm delighted that I now have a stack of their stamps :)
2013-E Marmie decides to leave
8172-One of those days

• 2 Creative Chicks #11 - anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's patterned paper challenge - June
• Stamping Sensations June - feature a creature

Guest Designer for The Challenge

I'm Guest Designer over at The Challenge this week :)

The challenge was to use the graphic below for inspiration ... I focused on the text print BG and then the pop of red for colour, and of course the embrace!

My image is this super cute image from Eat Cake Graphics -  Hadley and Kitty give Buddy a big hug.  Coloured with watercolour pencils.
Bling from stash.  Simon Says Stamp 'happy' die.

• Dream Valley #104 - lets get krafty
• 613 Avenue Create #120 - anything goes
• Crafty Catz #275 - it's a girl thing
• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #224
• Penny's challenge #223 - one for the girls
• Whimsy challenge #82 - colour an image
• ABC Challenge - H is for Happy Birthday