Shades of Asia

The challenge this week on Dottie's wonderful world is 'around the world' - to give a foreign touch to our creations.

It was a good opportunity (or 'excuse'!) to get the 'Holly and Madison's world tour' download from Charmed cards and crafts - I used 'Holly in China'.

'Asia' is the topic this week on Wednesday Stamper (only just getting in on time), so I thought this is appropriate for that as well.

The colourss used are good for Color throwdown 67 soft sky, always artichoke, kraft, dusty durango

and for Diva coffee break designs 152: creamy caramel, ruby red, always artichoke and bravo burgundy

Papers are DCWV Far East - and as there are butterflies, it's good for Sophisticat 10: 'wings' and Flutter by Wednesday 82 - an open challenge to use a butterfly or fairy.

The challenge on this week's All that scraps was to use an older stamp set - one that perhaps has been neglected - well I bought a set of two sheets of HOTP stamps that included the Chinese writing I've used here - I haven't used this for a long time. I stamped with Brilliance pearlesscent crimson and embossed. The base card is from PDA. I lined the inside with another piece of the Far East paper so that it shows through the holes. The flower behind the Holly in China image was swiped with a stazon ink pad.

As I used my 'big bite' to punch the holes in between the scallops, I'm hoping this is OK for this week's the Digi Kitty Meow Monday: 'punch it!'

Shoes, handbags and gladrags

This card is for the sketch on a Spoon full of sugar challenge 76:



It also fits these challenges:

Tuesday taggers: 'handbags and gladrags'
Stampavie and more 68: 'stars' (the nesties used are actually designed to be used for poinsettias, but I think they double up nicely as stars)
Mixed Media Monday: 'fashion'
Ooh-la-la 40: 'shoes'
365 day 201: 'one two, buckle my shoe'
Allsorts 26: 'bring out your bling'(the glittery metal shoes, the handle of the handbag, th satin sheen mirror card surrounding the 'shopper')
Paper Garden Projects 4th Friday fun challenge October: 'bring on the bling' (same as above)
Creative card crew 35: 'ribbons and gems' (gems on handle of handbag and shoes)
Kraftin'Kimmie 5: 'stitch it up!' (on the ribbon)
My Grafico 24: 'stitching' (as above)

Papers are all English paper company.

The Crafty Pad Guest Designer challenge 45

As I was drawn as the winner for challenge 38 on the Crafty Pad (you can see my entry here), I was privileged to be given a guest designer slot for today's challenge 45, which is this sketch designed by Maxine:



(Sorry - if you looked earlier I had linked the wrong sketch - what a wally I am! - this is now the right one!)

For the challenge I was asked to choose from the Christmas Ted range and was given this lovely set of Baubles with Merry Christmas:





I used BG figgy pudding papers.



Please go and visit the Crafty Pad to see the lovely cards that the DT have done for this challenge - and perhaps make a card for it yourself.

Textured poppies

This is the sketch on Crafts4eternity recipe 5:



The recipe called for:
1. use the sketch
2. use a paperclip (s)
3. include 2 ribbons all of which I've done

The colours I've used are good for Easy Breezy Kewl 10:



Also for Apron strings color inspiration 14 (my first time there): to use a minimum of three:



Paper Maniac Inspirations: die cuts - use in an unexpected way (the nesties frame)

Moving along with the times 20: 'remembrance day' (the poppies)

The poppy is a textured rub-on, the red PP is BG marrakech and the black spiky circle band was cut with nesties.

Red, green and gold Christmas card

This is the sketch for Cutie Sunday 66:



It's also good for:

Something completely different: holly and ivy, red green and gold, on a Christmas card
Magical Crafts fortnight first challenge: Christmas card, red, green and gold
Stampin' B's design team 31: 'Christmas card' (new challenge blog to me)
The Crafty Pad 44: 'red, green, gold'
Susie's sassy first challenge: 'Christmas'.
Christmas Stampin' 32: 'traditional Christmas colours' - red, green and silver or gold (now that challenges have finished on Christmas Stampin' we are encouraged to go back and do some of the challenges we missed)
Paper Maniac Inspirations: die cuts (the holly leaves, which were originally silver, so I swiped them with a green stazon ink pad.
My time to craft 84: 'so many scallops'
Crafty Catz 7: 'going dotty' - plenty of dots on here

I've used offcuts of red and gold foiled card and green spotty paper for the scalloped edges at the top of the card, a piece of vellum across the middle. The stamped ivy was stamped on to scrapperdashery 'the holly and the ivy - without the ivy' paper, coloured with a copic (lime green G21). The background is gold mirror card (although it looks a bit silvery here because of the flash photo).

Pink and purple

This card is for Sketch Saturday 75 (it's late because I just didn't get time to finish and blog last night):

In the cottage studio (a new challenge to me) rumble 18 asks us 'to come up with something creative with Inchies.'

La la 11 is 'pink' (I hope there's enough on here).

365 cards day 245 is: 'a matter of inches' - making/using inchies

I'm showing this as a follow up to the inchie on One powerful hour: 'something small'

It's a pity that the scan doesn't show up the sheen on the purple satin foil card - it has a lovely rich lustre. The card has been finished off with the pink PM ribbon on top of the wider one.



I've used the stamped dress and inchie (I made two more) that I showed here.

Gracious lady

This card is for challenge 29 on this week's Unscripted sketches:



I've used the colours given for challenge 41 on the Color Dare:


The card is also for:

Saturday Spotlight challenge 5: 'in so many words'
Our Creative Corner: 'vintage style'
Created by hand: times gone by
One stop craft challenge 53: 'newspaper/text/script/writing
SPCC finally Friday: the challenge is to use a favourite stamp - this one is one of my all-time favourites, although I haven't had it for long, I tried to buy it for ages and couldn't get it. There was a further option to use a favourite colour combo - tbh this isn't one I use very often, but I think it should be on my list of favourites, because I love it!

Edited to add:
Lots to do 45: 'distressed' (today's new challenge just gone up!)

The stamped image is Hero Arts 'gracious lady' coloured with copics. The turquoise core'dination card was run through the cuttlebug script embossing folder and then sanded and torn.

Dress inchie

The topic for this fortnight on Small world of inchies and twinchies is 'dresses or dress forms'. It's a while since I made an inchie for a challenge. I started off with a stamped image of a dress that I coloured with copics. I then scanned it and scaled its size down and when it was an inchie size I printed it on to pink card which I then chalked with a slightly darker pink. You can see both the original stamped image and the inchie (with the little versamark ink pad to give an idea of size - although the angle of the photo makes the ink pad look bigger!

This is also for challenge 44: 'inchies' on Lots to do
Stamp, scrap and doodle 13: 'anything but a card'
Corrosive 36: 'no cards'
One powerful hour: something small

A note from a wise old owl

Etsy inspired is a new challenge to me - apparently each week they choose an Etsy shop for inspiration and this week they said: 'So head on out to Vivika's Etsy Shop and pick an inspiration piece.'

Well, I did just that and as a result found an 'owl' stamped image that I received some time back in a swap. The black/grey papers are BG granola and the orange paper is BG offbeat.

The colours are right for Kelly Jo's color chef challenge 27: black, grey, orange, white. And also for 365 day 216, which was an 'ad inspired' challenge.

Crafty Catz 7 is 'going dottie', so the ribbon qualifies for that.

Krafty craftin

There seem to be a few 'krafty' challenges around atm. Twisted Thursday challenge 32 provided this sketch, but with the twist to include turkeys, pilgrims or scarecrows and to use kraft paper or a paper bag:



I started with this kraft paper bag, cutting and using some of the inside to cover my card blank:



The card is also good for:

Daring Cardmakers: 'getting krafty'
If the shoe fits Fashionista Friday 10: 'orange, kreme and kraft colour challenge
Fun with shapes and more 28: recycling (the kraft bag)
Creative Belli 77: 'raffia or twine' - well, it's Tesco value string actually, but I think that counts!
365 day 238: 'fine twine'
Die cut dreams 21: food and/or drink (the turkey)
No time to stamp 112: 'let's be thrifty' - 'use either brown postal wrap OR the inside of a paper grocery sack in your project'
Flourishes 'favourite things' challenge - I chose the line 'Brown paper packages tied up with strings'

The papers are BG mellow and marrakech:

From our house to yours

This card is for challenge 111 on No time to stamp - the instruction was to make a 3 panel accordion card.

I had five Christmas tags with houses on them, so it seemed ideal to use them on this card. The background papers are BG figgy pudding and the wording is computer generated. The papers have been distressed a bit and inked with blush rose chalk ink.

This is also for Gingersnap Creations 29: chestnut theme: 'cozy home'.

And Kraftin' Kimmie challenge 4 'tag you're it' calls for a tag or tags to used on a card.





The inside can be displayed either like this:



or like this:

Girls just wanna have fun

This card is for sketch challenge 89 on Taylored Expressions (I turned it on its side):



It's also for Stampin' for the weekend challenge 22: 'back to the 80s with a twist' - 'orange, blue and purple' and Use one of the following Song Titles from the 80s for inspiration
Girls on Film - Duran Duran
Dirty Laundry - Don Henley
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper

You can see which I chose - I felt that this girl was certainly having fun.

And, talking of the 80s, reminds me that day 249 on 365 is 'do the decade': the 80s - '
So how do the 80's inspire you? Or rather, how will they inspire your card?' Definitely 'girls just wanna have fun!'

The BG marrakech and june bug papers were ideal for the colour combo. The image is one I received in a swap - coloured with copics. 'FUN' is a DCWV chippie.



I think my scanner needs a clean again - sorry for the marks on the card (not irl).

Blue Christmas

This card is for the sketch on Clean & Simple challenge FTL66:



It's also for these challenges:

Cute Daisy May: 'blue Christmas'
Colour Create 31: 'blue, silver and white' (inspirational picture) optional: winter and glitter (both here)
Roses on paper 24: 'a Christmas card' - must use a qualifying stamp - I've used Magnolia 'party Tilda'
Creative Craft 2: 'Christmas fun' (I think Tilda is having fun! lol!)
Just Magnolia 29: 'monochrome' - blue
Stampavie and more 68: stars (plenty on here)
By the cute and girly 2: 'winter wonderland'
Penny's paper-crafty: 'winter' theme - 'but... your project MUST include either glitter or sparkles AND somewhere on there I want to see some ribbon!' - there's stickles glitter glue, sparkly gems and ribbon here
Copic Creations 15: 'red hair'
Creative card crew 35: ribbons and gems (the glittery stars are stick-on gems)

The snowflake paper is Frances Meyer and the foiled strip across the bottom is from a recent Christmas Kanban kit. The ribbon across the bottom is K & Co. I coloured Tilda with copics, glittered her wings with Stickles and highlighted the stars with Sakura silver pen. Silver star gems were added on the corners of the image and the sentiment.



The photo isn't as good as the scan in some respects, but does show the glitz and glitter better:

Art creations Friday 46 and 47

It's been a while since I particpated in Art creations Friday - I meant to do something for challenge 46, a lovely background:



but somehow time went by and I didn't do anything. This is the pictur for 47:



So I decided to digitally merge and play around with the two pictures and this is what I ended up with:

Joyeux Noel

Last night I tried out a technique using alcohol blending solution to wipe away excess alcohol ink on metallic sheet that had been run through the holly Cuttlebug embossing folder - you can see it here.

The theme for Tanda Teaser 122 is 'metallize!', so I thought I'd dig out the silver metal sheet that I've had stashed away for quite a while and see what I could come up with. The embossed metal sheet also qualifies the card for Try it out Tuesday 41: 'metal musings'.

I've used the sketch on Moving along with the times challenge 19:



The paper is scrapperdashery 'the holly and the ivy - without the ivy', which, being double sided, seemed perfect for making the fold back frame - I cut a cross in the paper, folded back and tore the edges. 'Borders and frames' is the topic of challenge 27 on Fun with shapes and more and The digi kitty Meow Monday challenge this week is 'framed', although I'm not sure whether this card qualifies because I haven't used a digi image. Theme Thursday today is 'borders'.

Challenge 40 on Paperplay is 'parlez vous' - 'French or Spanish, Greek or Japanese, Irish or Catalan, use any language other than English.' - I used an Anna Griffin sentiment stamp for the 'Joyeux Noel'.

As the main colour of the card is green, this is good as another link for the ABC challenge 'G is for Green'.

Alcohol blending solution technique

A couple of days ago I happened to tune in to Create and Craft TV just as someone was giving a demo on using blending solution to get rid of areas of alcohol inks.

I thought I'd give it a go, so I used the holly cuttlebug embossing folder with silver metal and dabbed with meadow AI. I then went around the areas I didn't want inked with some blending solution, using a piece of lint for the bigger areas and cotton buds for the more fiddly bits.

I then stuck on lots of red gems of various sizes. I was intending on using this on a card for the Moving along with the times challenge 19 - I'll probably try and do this in the morning.

I haven't made a good job of this - please remember that it's my first attempt at doing this (I've used AIs quite a bit before, but haven't tried to get rid of some of it around an embossed image like this) - I think I should have tried an easier embossed image first - anyway this is the result:

WOYWW - a bit late in the day!

If I'd remembered this morning that it's WOYWW day on Stamping Ground today, I could have shown you just have crowded and messy my space was. This evening it's not too bad, although there's still evidence of having made a couple of cards earlier.

Someone expressed concern last time that they couldn't see a chair in the photo - I had moved it to get a better shot.

Today I sat on the chair and took a picture to the left of me.



I also thought I'd show the area behind me (where things tend to get dumped until they are put away).

Anyone for cocktails?

This card is for this sketch for challenge 39 on Lili of the valley:



It's also for
2 red bananas colour challenge: red, yellow, orange and brown
Pink elephant 39: brown, yellow, neutral (white) and colour of your choice (red)
Cute Card Thursday 84: 'midnight margaritas!' - drinks/cocktail theme
Treehouse 21: fall color challenge
Kaboodle 17: 'fall splendour' fall colours
365 day 247: 'ad inspired' - autumnal colours
Mixed Media Monday: 'opposites attract' - well, the ladies are sitting opposite one another!
Another one for Gingham Girls WOW 10: chinwag

The papers are BG Indian summer and lime rickey.



I'm not sure what the stamped image is - I received it a while ago in a swap - would be grateful if someone could tell me the source of it (would quite like to get it).

Yummy chocolcate

The Wednesday stamper challenge last week was 'chocolate' (I prepared this card last night, but didn't scan and blog it). I was going to make a card with yummy chocolate on it - and then decided to go with the colours of papers and also to colour a stamped labrador chocolate - I absolutely love chocolate labradors, although, of course, I loved Josey, John's ex-guide dog (she is a yellow lab).

I'm not sure where the background paper came from - it was a download - if anyone recognises it please let me know so I can give credit to whoever produced it. The other bits were from my box of offcuts.

The card is also for Sketch and Stash 22:



Inspire me Thursday this week is 'dark', so I think it's good for that - dark chocolate is my favourite!

This is also good for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday 40: 'Our challenge is to combine a colored image, texture or textures, and any shades of neutrals we want. You can pack on the layers and textures just make sure you include an image to color and use only neutral cardstock. Just so you know you can us any combination of whites, creams, blacks, browns, and grays!' Well, some of the card is a bit textured - and the dog's coat certainly would be!

Lastly, the Saturday challenge on My creative clutter says: '
Todays challenge is a color challenge. BUT....there is a twist! I want you to think of your favorite Halloween Candy. Then think of the package that it comes in! I want you to use the colors off the package as your color for inspiration!' Well, I don't do halloween, but my favourite 'candy' is dark chocolate, so this card is appropriate for that.

A truly scrumptious card?? d'oh!!

This card is for the sketch on Truly Scrumptious challenge 19:



I've just realised that I did the card for the sketch, but forgot that there was a recipe that went with it - d'oh! Oh well, I still give credit for the lovely sketch and will try to do another card that incorporates the recipe as well.

I've used the colours purple, cerise and gold, which are those given for challenge 23 on My Grafico.

Funky Fairys challenge 40 is 'touchy feely' - to use texture on a card, so I embossed with d'vine swirls cuttlebug folder and one of the birthday sentiments - and also the flowers are 'feely'. I used one of the freebie Funky Fairy downloads 'birds', changing the colour and turning one of the birds to face the other, which I thought would be OK for Gingham Girl's 'word of the week' 10: 'chinwag' - I thought that these two birds must be having a tweeting chat.

Today's challenge on 365 cards (day 248) is :Imagine this: 'feathers' - well, birds have feathers, so I think this is OK for that.

I used 'nesties' for the scalloped circles and embossed sentiment, so I'm linking for Die Cuts R us 14: 'nest something'. And digital Tuesday 31 calls for the use of flowers as well as a digi element, which are both here. Bee Crafty 16 also calls for the use of a digi image and also 'distressing' - plenty of sanding of embossing here. And the scallops are right for My time to craft 84: 'so many scallops!'

No backing patterned papers have been used on this card, just textured cardstock that's been sanded, so this is another one for Charisma Cardz 43: ''no backing papers'.

Also: Mixed Media Monday: 'opposites attract' - well, the birds are standing opposite one another!

Sweet friend

The digi images I used are from the Pink Frosting download I bought from Nutcrafters. The challenge this fortnight on Nutty nutshells (a new challenge blog to me) is to find a sketch challenge from another blog and use an image stocked by Nutcrafter's - hence the girl and cupcake digis from Pink Frosting. I coloured them with copics and mounted the girl on the cupcake (after a bit of fiddly cutting out). The sentiment is also from the Pink Frosting digi sheet.

For my card I chose the sketch from My Grafico challenge 22:



It also uses the colours on this week's Color throwdown 66:



The papers are BG wisteria, a couple of sticky ribbons and the mat surrounding the image is from DCWV far east collection. The use of ribbon makes it suitable for La La land 10. And the cupcake is suitable for Die Cut Dreams 21: 'food and/or drink'.