Divas By Design DT

Good Morning! Ooooh, it's getting closer, are you ready yet? At Divas By Design we've got the perfect challenge for helping you gey another Chrimbo card sorted. This week we simply want you to

USE SOME RED 

 I just love this Whiff of Joy image. She's so beautiful. I coloured her with Prismas & the papers are Papermania - Silent Night. The poinsetta was created with a Doo Hickey die & the holly is a Memory Box die. 

I hope you'll check out the fabulous inspiration of my fellow D-Teamies at the Divas By Design blog. Our lucky winner this week will receive a fab prize from Di's Digital Downloads.



I would also like to enter this at Cute Card Thursday where the theme is Red & Green.

So that's it from me for now. Thanks so much for looking.

Big Hugs,

Andie xx

Divas By Design DT

Whoops, slight mix upon the dates means this is a little late, sorry! Well, better late than never I guess. This week at Divas By Design our challenge is to use

ORANGE

I used Distress Inks to colour this gorgeous Whiff of Joy stamp. I don't know if any of you have seen Pumpkin Moon. It's the most lovely Halloween cartoon, & this just reminds me of it so much. The papers are Fancy Pants, Oct 31st & the bats were cut with a tiny CC Design die. 

This week we are sponsored by Stamp N Doodle where a fab prize awaits this weeks lucky winner.

Head on over to the Divas By Design blog to check out the fabulous insration of my fellow D Teamies.

I am also entering this at Crafting Life's Pieces where I used their fab sketch for my layout.

I am also entering this at Whiff of Joy & Creative Inspirations which both have Halloween challenges.

Hope you are having a good week. The weekend is nearly here! Thanks so much for looking.

Big Hugs,

Andie xx

Creative Card Crew - Snowy Day!

Given that I never make enough Xmas cards for everyone I want to make them for I thought I'd get a head start on my Xmas cards this year, LOL! I still have lots of stamps I did not have chance to ink up in time for this Xmas, I think that means I might have too many, but I think I'll ignore that thought for now!! Anyhoo on to the new challenge at Creative Card Crew where our theme this fortnight is 

ONE SNOWY DAY

I used one of my favourite Whiff of Joy stamps, Charlie Building Snowman. He's coloured with Distress Inks & the Papers are Echo Park. The sentiment is by Whimsy Stamps.

We are thrilled to be sponsored this fortnight by the lovely people at Simon Says Stamp. So I hope you'll play along for a chance to win.

I based my layout on this week's fab sketch at Sketch Saturday so I am entering my card there.

Back to work for me today :~(  Thanks so much for looking.

Big Hugs,

Andie xx

Passion For Promarkers - White on White

 It's Tuesday & time for another fab challenge at Passion For Promarkers. This week or theme is chosen by my wonderful D-Teamie, Debs. She wants to see cards that are 

WHITE ON WHITE

This is my favourite Whiff of Joy stamp. She's gorgeous & I love colouring skirts with lots of material, so I always have a field day with this! I can't remember doing a WOW card before & I really enjoyed this. The poinsetta was made with a Doo Hickey smothered in Diamond Dust. The foliage was cut from a Tim Holtz Alterations strip die & the snowflakes are from a Martha Stewart border punch.

It's been ages since I last entered the Whiff of Joy challenge, but the current theme there is, 'Let it Snow'.

At Stamptacular Sunday the challenge is 'Punch It'. I did use a punch, but fortunately dies are allowable too.

We are happy to be sponsored again this week by Some Odd Girl who are offering our lucky winner a choice of 3 of their fab digi images.

I hope you'll pop on over to the Passion For Promarkers blog to see the awesome inspiration of my wonderfiul D-teamies.

It's my lovely hubbie's birthday today & we've got the day off while the boy have to go to school, Yippee!! He wants to see the Rum Diaries & have lunch at the Trafford Centre. However, we're both feeling really ropey, so we'll have to see what we can manage.

Hope everyone else is feeling better than me. Thanks so much for looking.

Big Hugs,

Andie xx

Whiff of Joy - Challenge 86, Jane's Sketch

The Whiff of Joy challenge blog is having a DT call, so I thought I'd give it a go, & dug out one of my favourite WOJ stamps, Charlie with Snowballs.

I had great fun making this card & maybe went a bit overboard. I haven't made an easel card for ages. Charlie is coloured with Aqua Markers & the papers are MME, The Merry days of Christmas. My last card was all pastels, this one is very bright & cheerful!

The snowflakes were created with a Spellbinders die set & the sentiments are both by Cats Life Press, both available from my PFP DT buddy, Emma's fab online store, Crafty Emma's

I did not go overboard with the glitter as it's a boys card, but had to give it a little Xmas sparkle!

Not much else to tell you really! I hope you like it.

Thanks for looking,
Big Hugs,
Andie xx

Passion For Promarkers - Winter Blue Christmas

Happy Tuesday Everyone! We've got another fabulous challenge over at Passion For Promarkers. My lovely D-Teamie, Anja has come up with this weeks offering & it's the perfect excuse to get started on your Xmas cards. We would like you to use a winter blue colour scheme on your Xmas themed cards.

Our fabulous prize this week is a £10 voucher to spend at The Secret Crafter. So what more incentive do you need?!

For this challenge I inked up a gorgeous Willow stamp from Whiff of Joy. I love this colour scheme & used my Aqua Markers to colour her. I'm still getting the hang of these, but I love the depth & range of colur you can get with a single pen.

My DP is from MME & I used a piece of Papermania patterned vellum. The gorgeous lace was either from Qixotic Paperie or Hobbycraft, I forget. The oversized snowflake was created with a Spellbinders die. I covered the lowest layer in Twinklets along with a couple of snowflakes I punched out. You can't have Winter Blue Xmas, without a bit of frosty sparkle, right?!

I used this week's fab sketch at Friday Sketchers for my layout. Nice & simple, just how I like it! So I am also entering my card there.


I hope you'll now scot on over, if you haven't already done so, to the PFP blog, where you'll find my DT colleagues also appeared to have a lot of fun with this challenge. Their cards are all stunning!


Thanks so much for looking. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Big Hugs,
Andie xx

Crafts 4 Eternity - #44 & Whiff of Joy/Sketch Saturday

Friday evening & time for another fab challenge at Crafts for Eternity. This week we would like to see you follow the recipe

1. Follow the Sketch

2. Include bird (s)

3. Use pearls

My first card follows the C4E sketch. I made it for my Dad's birthday. He doesn't do cute, so I used this peacock image from Elusive Images. I stamped it with Promarker Pens & coloured with chalk inks & a Brilliance gold inkpad with my finger!

The DPs are K & Co Blue Awning. I also used another Elusive Images feather stamp on Shrink plastic for the embellishment.

Unfortunately I couldn't capture the shimmery effect the gold ink gave in my photos. Please check out the fabulous creations of my fellow D-Teamies. Play along us this week & you could win 3 digital stamps from the C4E range.

I've also made another card for the Whiff of Joy challenge. I used felt ribbon to satisfy the 'fuzzy' element of the challenge. I used the fab sketch at Sketch Saturday for my layout.



This is coloured with Distress Inks & the DPsare Basic Grey - Kioshi



I added a few flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts & roughed everything up. I seem to be on a vintage vibe at the moment!

This has been rather a long post so thanks for bearing with me.
Have a great weekend!

Big Hugs!
Andie xx

2 in 1 - Just for Fun!

I love my DT work & basically I go to work to pay for my crafting fix! Lately, however, it seems like forever since I sat down & made a card just for the heck of it. As a result some of my favourite images are getting neglected. Case in point is this gorgeous City Girl image from Whiff of Joy. I've been dying to ink her up for ages!

The Whiff of Joy blog is having a DT call at present. So I thought, why not try out for one of my favourite stamp companies. The layout is based on Bev's fab sketch. This image reminds me of Charlotte in Sex & the City! She looks sweet but sexy at the same time! I coloured her with Distress Inks & used glossy accents on her glasses.

I am also entering this at Colour Create where the colour combo this week is warm pink, chocolate & white. A bit out of my comfort zone there, but these Basic Grey - Bittersweet papers are perfect. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts & the pin is from my lovely PFP D-Teamie, Emma's new shop. Shameless plug for Crafty Emma's Store!

So there you go. Thanks so much for looking.

Big Hugs,

Andie xx

Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge #10

Crafts 4 Eternity time again. Here's this weeks fab sketch created by Michele.

And here's this weeks prize, a pair of cute little digis - Santa's Helpers, again from the pen of the talented Michele!

The recipe this week is to follow the sketch, of course, but the additional ingredients are to use green & red, & use a stamp that is at least one year old. My image is from last year's Whiff of Joy winter collection. I just love the expression on his face! He's coloured with Promarkers.

My DPs are rather old too, from Flair Design. I used my nesties & a punch to create the snowflakes. I recently bought a glue pen & since then I've not been able to stop glittering everything as it makes it so much easier & less messy.



So there you go. Please have a look at the gorgeous creations of my fellow DT colleagues at the C4E blog & why not have a go yourself. Thanks for looking & enjoy what's left of the weekend!

Big Hugs,
Andie xx

Whiff of Joy Challenge #55

Just a quickie as this is rather late. It has been a while since I last entered the Whiff of Joy challenge & could not let this fab colour scheme go by without having a go. It's not the most Xmassy set of colours, brown, orange & ivory, so I decided to make a card that could cover Xmas or just winter in general. Sadly, I'm too late to enter it, but I thought I would post it anyway!

Apologies for the quality of the photos. I coloured Charlie with Promarkers & used plain & MME Bloom papers. The snowflake was cut with a Nestie & I added Dew Drops & ribbon from Crafty Feeling

There's not much else to tell you about this, but Thanks for looking. Hope you are having a good week.

Big Hugs,

Andie xx

Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge #7

I'm a bit late with this today. Had I known how little time I would have had, I would have scheduled this post. This week at C4E we have another fab sketch for you. Additionally, we would like to see you use a snowman & use some cotton wool.

There's not much to say about this. I coloured the Whiff of Joy image with my Promarkers. The DPs are Imaginisce, Snowy Jo. I think I overdid the snowflakes a bit, but I had to cover up yet another mistake, duh!! The two halves of my circle looked rather uneven. I've forgotten what the red circles are called. but they are those fake bradlike thingies!

Now it's time to hop on over to see the fabulous cards of cards of my wonderful DT teamies at Crafts 4 Eternity. Lovely Michele is offering a goody bag from her own C4E store as a prize, but you must use the full recipe. Good luck. This sketch is fun, have a go!

I'm off to bed now. It's been a long day. It did not quite go to plan when Ben woke up at 5am this morning with the Squits, (sorry, hope you are not eating!). Three changes of pants later, (Ben's, not mine!) we decided to get up at 7. It was my hubbies birthday today. We had planned to go out for lunch. I went to Sansburys instead! Then friends came round, as we could not go out to meet them. After tea we put the boys to bed & cleared up. It's been good though. Ben's bottom may have been poorly, but fortunately, the rest of him wasn't, so I think Paul has had a good day, all in all. Family days are always the best!

Hope you are all well, & have had a good weekend.

Big Hugs for you all,

Andie xx

Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge #5

Time for Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Chalenge once, more. Michele has excelled herself once again with another fab sketch to get busy with. This week the other ingredients of the recipe are to use a paperclip(s) & two ribbons.

The paperclip idea is great & I must try & remember to use them more often. When I first met my hubbie 14 years ago, he had a bag of elastic bands & coloured paperclips. The bands have practically all perished, but the paperclips are still there. So this one is virtually an antique! Shows how often I use paperclips at home. I like the effect with a scrap of ribbon tied round it.

There is not much else to say about the card. I used Anita's glaze to make the icing on the biscuit more realistic. Using adhesive pearls on the biscuit also got me wondering if anyone had ever tried putting real cake decorations on a card, or would the glue just melt the sugar? The band across the middle was created with a Martha Stewart Doily punch with another ribbon over the top. Anyway, another Xmas card crossed off my list, yippee!

I hope you will pop over to Crafts 4 Eternity this week & join us. Michelle is very geneously, giving away more digi images as a prize. See the fabulous creations my wonderful DT colleagues have conjured up this week here.

Hope everyone had fun over Halloween! We went to see Coraline this morning. That's why this post is a little late, sorry! If you haven't already seen it, it's amazing & so inspirational from a visual point of view. Though my 3 year old, Ben, was rather scared my it, Jack, who is 6 was totally entralled by it. I was too!

Have a great week!

Big Hugs to You All,

Andie xx

Recipe:

Stamps: Xmas Henry Mouse from Whiff of Joy, Sentiment from an old Anna Griffin set I got on QVC.

Papers: MME - The Merry Days of Xmas.

Tools: Fiskars Circle Cutter, Snowflake Punch, Martha Stewart Doily Punch, Anita's Glaze.

Embellishments:Paper Clip, Anita's Ribbon, Papermania Adhesive Pearls & Jewels.

Sketch & Stash

This is my entry for this current challenge at Sketch & Stash. They have a wonderful, simple sketch to follow. I've used old & new stash on this. The new being my cute stamp from Whiff of Joy & the old being the Basic Grey Fruitcake papers. I chose the DPs to echo the bauble that little Henry Mouse is holding, but they are a bit busy! My holly & pine embellishment does not stand out as much as I had hoped.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I stayed up too late last night & after having taken the boys swimming this morning, I feel shattered. But, not to tired to craft! That's the main thing, LOL! Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Big Hugs,

Andie xx

Recipe:

Stamp: Whiff of Joy

Papers:Basic Grey Fruitcake

Tools:Distress Inks, McGill Pine & Holly Punches, Art Institute Glitter.

Crafts 4 Eternity #51

Ooops! I overslept this morning, The opportunity to do so, (with my boys!) comes along so infrequently, it took me by surprise & I did not have this post scheduled. Anyway, it was nice while it lasted! Check me out, my first Xmas card completed! I'm going to alternate now for a while, otherwise I will get bored of Xmas cards far too quickly. Looking at this card now it looks a bit bare. I wanted to keep it simple. Now I'm thinking a couple of snowflakes might not go amiss. Well I can always add them later.
The layout is based on Michele's fab sketch at Crafts 4 Eternity this week. For more inspiration, pop over & check out the wonderful cards created by my fellow DT members & play along too.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Enjoy whats left!

Big Hugs,

Andie xx

Recipe:

Stamps:Image & sentiment from Whiff of Joy

Papers:Basic Grey Wassail

Tools:Distress Inks & Sakura Glitter pen

Embellishments:Papermania Adhesive Stones, Anita's ribbon

Whiff of Joy Challenge 35 & Sketch Saturday

Just a quickie as I am so late with this card. Could not pass up the opportunity of submitting an entry for the DT prize over at Whiff of Joy this week. However, I messed up my first card & had to start again, hence the late finish! Furthermore, I missed all the natural light & could not take any decent photos of my card! Hope you can make out the 3D on the basket & the frill on her blouse. I paper pieced her whole outfit & coloured the rest with distress inks. The layout is based on the fab sketch at Sketch Saturday & rotated 90 degrees. The DPs are K & Co & everything else is from my stash.

Regards,

Andie xx

WOJ - Challenge #29

It has been a few weeks since I last completed a Whiff of Joy challenge, which is a shame as I really love these stamps & they just have not been seeing enough ink of late! So to remedy this I followed Katharina's great sketch this week. This is Willow with a plate full of freshly baked cookies. Good job I have just eaten or I would be making myself hungry!
FYI, the DP is by Crate Paper & the setiment is also WOJ.

I also have a favour to ask anyone visiting my blog this week, & I will be adding this this to each post I do, so I apologise if it gets a bit monotonous! This coming Sunday I will be running the Manchester 10K Fun Run (there's a contradiction in terms!). Obviously I can not ask you all for sponsorship, but I would like to ask those of you that want to, to donate £1 (or any amount of your choosing) to The British Heart Foundation, or any other charity of your choice. Knowing that some of you might do this will help spur me on around the course. I will let you know after the event, how I get on. I did it in 75minutes last year, (not exactly a whippet!), so I am trying to improve on that. Wish me Luck!!

Hope you have all had a nice weekend.
Regards,
Andrea xx

SOS Challenge 45 - Lim's Sketch

Here's my entry for Lim's fabulous sketch over at A Spoon Full of Sugar this week. Just left the sentiment off, as Henry Mouse, from Whiff of Joy, kind of speaks for himself! Also the card just looked too busy with anything else on. Just a quickie for now as I have to take Jack over to my Mum & Dad's for his Easter hols. Sure am going to miss him, but it is only till Thursday, & he has already asked if I can go as soon as we get there. Does not look like he will me missing me quite so much!
FYI the DPs are from KI Memories & the flowers from Dies to Die for & Hobbycraft. The ribbon is from stash.
Hope everyone has had a good start to their week. Remember it is a short one this week, Hurrah!!

Regards,
Andrea

Whiff of Joy Challenge 21- Here comes Oakley!

I love Oakley because he is exactly how I picture my boys to be in an ideal world! Perhaps if I coloured him with food smeared all over his face & pen all over his hands he might be a little more realistic to how my boys really are, LOL! I found the WOJ challenge a little tricky this week as there were so many elements to fit in & I did not want to card to look cramped or busy. I wish I had embossed the blue paper, but otherwise I am happy with the way this little fella turned out.
FYI, I coloured Oakley with watercolour pencils & used Basic Grey Skate Shoppe DPs. The stars are Making Memories Ready to Glitter stickers, which I had to go over with Stickles anyway, because you couldn't see them very well at first. The sentiment is a rub on, it might be Wholy Cow.
Hope this week has got off to a flyer for everyone. Don't worry if it hasn't, it will soon be the weekend!
Regards,

Andrea xx

Whiff of Joy #18 - A Recipe

Here's my entry for this week's Whiff of Joy challenge. This character sure reminds me of... Me!! Except I do not drink much in front of my children. Though Lord knows I often feel like it. Take today for instance, the first day of the half term holidays, & I already feel I'd like/need a glass of white wine. When are they going to find any health benefits to drinking white wine, like there are for drinking red?! Oh well, it's good for my sanity at least! Anyone want to do any clinical trials, I'll volounteer, LOL! Back to the card, the papers are from Paper Salon - Enamored, the flowers were created with punches & the button is from my stash, glitzed up with Stickles.
Hope you are having a good day!
Thanks for Looking,
Andrea

Craft Show Stash & Whiff of Joy Challenge

I had great fun trying to follow the Whiff of Joy Challenge this week & that is exactly what it was, a challenge! This one sure took me out of my comfort zone and I am not entirely happy with the result. The card just feels too busy. I generally keep my backgounds plain & add patterns in small areas. This one is much bigger & bolder. Having said that, I think I learnt a lot making this card & would certainly use the sketch again, with a smaller stamp! The papers are Basic Grey - Hang 10 & I made the star with a Dimension Fourth Stamp which I then stuck on double sided sticky paper, (which was a nightmare to cut out! - has anyone got any tips?) & glittered round the edge. I embossed the brown paper with my cuttlebug & swept a gold ink pad over to highlight the design.

Another reason my card is a bit busy, was I went to the Stitch & Creative Craft show yesterday in Manchester. I felt obliged to use as much of my new stash on the card as I could cram on! I've taken a picture of my purchases below. Needless to say I intended to stick to my budget, but unfortunately some of the stalls took credit cards! :) So my good intentions went right out the window. Much to my excitement, Imagination Crafts were there with Sugar Nellies & Magnolias. (Now I can do Magnolia challenges as well!). Lucky I went on the last day though, as I suspect they had sold out of a lot, otherwise I think I would be remortgaging!! I also got some sweet elephants stamps from Little Claire Designs & more from Dimension Fourth. Unfortunately my photo does not do justice to my haul!!

Anyway it is getting late & my bed awaits. Thanks for looking.

Andrea