My first easel card

I've been meaning to try making an easel card - they seem to be popping up everywhere atm, so, when I saw that there were a couple of challenges specifically asking for one this week, I thought I'd have a go. I went wrong with one bit, but easily worked out what I'd done wrong and put it right. I will be making more of these, because, once you get the hang of it, they are easy to make.

So the card is for Crazy for challenges week 10 and Secret Crafter Saturday challenge.
Stamp, scrap and doodle week 14 is 'special folds', so this fits that challenge.

It's also good for:
365 cards day 258: 'put a lid on it!' - 'Incorporate a hat into your card - whether it be a stamp or patterned paper (or anything else you can think of), just make sure it has a hat on it.'
Sunday stamper 77: 'walking in the air' - snowman (I know it's late for this, but I'm sure Hels won't mind - been meaning to do something for this)
Cupcake 65: 'snow much fun!'
Crafty Creations 41: 'snow'
Susie sassy 1: 'Christmas'
Sparkle Creations 49: 'any Christmas card'
Christmas stampin' 35: 'non traditional colours' (now that challenges have stopped we can pick one we haven't done before)
Creative Craft 2: 'Christmas fun'
Creative Belli 78: 'use Christmas themed embellishments' (the DCWV ribbons and snowflake brad)
One stop craft 54: 'cards for kids'
Paper Maniac Inspiration: 'make something out of your comfort zone' (this easel card is, because it's the first time I've tried to do one)

The papers are a mixture of BG euphoria and eskimo kisses. The euphoria paper on the base is pale, so it looks just white here - can see it clearer if you click on the picture.

BF Karen's CJ

Tomorrow is the day for swapping CJs on BF - the day that everyone's CJs return home. So I needed to do my DLO in Karen's lovely CJ 'What else?' - an opportunity for us to share what other 'craftiness' we've been involved in.

I got this done this morning because some friends are kindly going to pick up prescriptions for us and the post office is near the chemist, so this will save me having to go out - my back is playing up big time atm.

Being the last entry in Karen's CJ meant that I've seen it complete - you are going to love it, Karen.

I used BG June bug papers, Prima pearls and K & Co embellishments.

The self-portrait that I've shown was done in January 1973 - don't I look glum?! it must have been because I was concentrating!

As usual, you'll get better views if you click on the pictures to enlarge.

Snowflake card

This is Friday Sketchers 77:



The card is also for these challenges:

Cricut cardz 1: 'anything goes' - Make a card using any Cricut cartridge(s), any colors and any theme you'd like.
Cupcake 65: 'snow much fun!'
Crafty creations 41: 'snow'
Creative Belli 78: 'Christmas with creative cuts and more' - use Christmas themed embellishments.
Susie's sassy 1: 'Christmas'
Stampin' B's design team 31: 'make a Christmas card'
Sparkle creations 49: any Christmas card
Christmas stampin' - challenges have now finished, so pick a past one: 24: 'the stampless challenge' - 'create a Christmas card without using any stamped images.'
Roses on paper 24: a Christmas card
Cute card Thursday 86: glitter me silly!
Colour create 31: 'blue, silver and white' - option: winter and glitter

I cut the white glitter card snowflake on my cricut (Christmas cheer cart).

Cupcakes galore

This card follows the sketch for Clean and Simple FTL67:



This was the prompt for day 257 'picture this' on 365 cards:



It's also good for these challenges:

Saturday spotlight with hidden potential 6: 'repeatedly useful' - to use an image more than once

Cute card Thursday 86: glitter me silly!

Crafty Ann 1: celebrate

Hand full of stamps 4: 'share it with the family - we were encouraged to include a recipe as well as food on our cards, so here is my cupcake recipe:

2 large eggs, cracked open
1 tsp vanilla essence
125g/4oz caster sugar
125g/4oz soft margarine
125g/4oz self-raising flour

1. Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat them together until the mixture is smooth and slightly lighter in colour.
2. Line a bun tin or cupcake tin with paper cake cases and half-fill each case with the cake mixture.
3. Cook the cakes for 18-20 minutes. You can tell they are done when they have risen up, are golden in colour, and spring back into shape when lightly pressed.
4. The cupcakes can be decorated using a basic icing, plus marshmallows, writing icing, food colouring and coloured sweets.

I've again used some of the DB cupcakes kit, this time stamping a large cupcake in the nestie scalloped circle and smaller cupcakes scattered. They have been coloured with copics and the icing topped with ice stickles.

Yummy and sweet

This card is for sketch on My Grafico sketch time:



It's also for
Cute card Thursday: 86 'glitter me silly' - the edges of the oval and the sentiment are glittered.

Everything used for this card is from a Dawn Bibby cupcake kit (I bought it because it included some cupcake stamps and the kit itself is suitable for making some quick cards).

Deep pink decoupage

I've made a card for Card Patterns sketch 40:



It's also for Basic Grey week 7: photo inspiration:



The deep pink/burgundy colour in this photo is one of my favourites and I had a hard job choosing which BG papers to use for this card. In the end I used some from eva and some from bittersweet. I chose the striped one because of the stripes in the photo.

The flower is decoupaged, which is right for this week's Alphabet challenge: 'D is for decoupage'.

Cook up a card: October recipe: prize

I won the prize for the October recipe on Cook up a card - yay! it arrived this morning and this is what I received:



There's a lovely recipe for their November challenge - perhaps hop on over to Cook up a card and take part.

Salt: Psalm 46: be still

It's Salt Faith Challenge day again today - how the weeks go by - Lythan chose the topic and you can read what she wrote here and see the other lovely creations of the team.

Most often I do a LO for Salt, but this time I made a card, using Papermania touch of teal papers, stickers etc. I even attempted a bit of doodling, so I'm going to link this card for two challenges that are asking for doodling this week: Creative card crew 36 and Creative Inspirations 20.

It's Party Time! Let's celebrate!

This card is for sketch 10 on Delightful Sketches:


I've used the colours given for this week's Copic Colour challenge 39:



I've mainly used primary colours, which is challenge 85 on Cute Card Thursday.

I've used a Mo's digital image, 'Bella and Bronte are ready to party', plus sparkly ribbon, gems and stickles glitter glue, which is the recipe for challenge 5 on Mo's Digital Pencil. It's also good for Crazy Amigo 'glitter and glamour'. And Bronte is right for 'rrrr-awrrrrrr' this week on Cute Daisy May (and he and Bella are cute).

On C.R.A.F.T. the challenge is 'fireworks', but with the option of 'celebration' - so I think 'party time' fits this. And 'celebrate' is the theme for Crafty Ann's first challenge.

Also Papertake weekly: 'digi sparkle'

Papers are BG lime rickey.

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).