ABC Challenge - R is for...

We have a nice easy colour challenge for this fortnight's ABC Challenge...

'R is for Red'

Our sponsor for this challenge is Stretch N' Bubbles, who are very generously donating 4 digi images of the winner's choice for the prize...you can see a couple of the images on offer in their store on some of the DT cards...including mine...

I've used a cute toadstool image...perfect for the 'Red' theme!...and combined it with this gorgeous paper (from the 'Cupcakes' pad by BasicGrey)...it's so lovely, I didn't want to cover it up...so I just added a simple layered flower, and a few pieces of card candy. I used my distressing tool around all of the edges, and added some faux stitching with my Cutter Bee Bug and a white gel pen.

Don't forget to check out the cards by the rest of the DT's cards...and see who's made it into the 'Top 5' for the last challenge over on the ABC Challenge.

Flutter Bees

Where has our lovely Spring weather gone??? It feels like Autumn today! lol
This card is for a few more of those 'Easter/Spring' themed challenges: Charisma Cardz; Fussy & Fancy Friday; PaperPlay; and Simon Says Stamp...let's hope they'll help bring back the sunshine!
I followed the sketch from Sunday Sketch & Stamp, and cobbled together an image for the 'Butterflies & Bees' Penny Black Saturday Challenge. I had lots of PB stamps with either butterflies or bees...but none with both, so decided to make my own: the bunny is from the 'Bunny Friends' stamp (I masked off his friends! lol), the bees are from the 'Every Which Way' set (they were holding an envelope...but I masked that off before inking the stamp), and the butterflies are from the 'Party Critters' set. The sparkly papers are from the 'Pocket Full of Posies' stack (by DCWV), the flowers are from the matching die cuts pack, and the sentiment stamp is by Hero Arts.

Birthday Dog

After my guest designer stint at Papertake Weekly...how could I not join in with their challenge...especially when it's another of Dawny's fab sketches! It's a lovely simple sketch...which I've used for the 'Make it Manly' challenge from My Time to Craft. The image is 'Birthday Dog' by Penny Black, and the papers are by Prima Marketing. I used my Cuttlebug 'Spots & Dots' folder on the light blue panel, and the sentiment stamp is by Hero Arts (from the 'Anytime Messages' set).

An Apple a Day...

I've had this adorable Happy Hopper image ('An Apple a Day') in my image box for absolutely ages...in fact I have quite a few...but I've always been a bit scared of colouring them...so I thought I be brave, and have a go at the House Mouse & Friends Challenge, which is a sketch. I've combined him with some My Mind's Eye papers, from the 'Bloom & Grow' pad, and some Craftwork Cards 'Card Candy'.


I'm also going to enter this card for the Cupcake Craft's 'Food & Drink', the One Stop Craft's 'Feeling Fruity', and Pile it On's 'Animal-riffic' challenges.

The girls over at the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge are having a 'Build-a-card' blog hop today to celebrate their first birthday...there's lots of fabby candy on offer...so why not pop over and join in the fun.

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Pink, Green & Flowers

It's Jane's turn to choose the theme for the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge, and she has chosen:

'Pink, Green & Flowers'

Now, I'm not a very 'girly' girl...and not a huge fan of pink...but I have noticed it's been creeping on to quite a few of my cards recently...and I think it looks great teamed with green. I've used digi stamp by Hambo Stamps, called 'Floating Pig' and papers by My Mind's Eye (from the 'Penny Lane' and '29th Street Market' collections). The sentiment stamp is by Cuddly Buddly, and the flowers and ribbon are from Poppicrafts.

Don't forget to visit the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge to check out the fab cards by the rest of the design team.

Bird Pants

Woo-hoo...no school for me today!!! They've broken up for Easter...so I was allowed to have a lie-in...yay...except, I've woken up with a raging sore throat...and streaming nose...lovely! :0(

This is the last of the cards I made last weekend...and it uses the sketch from Sketch Saturday, the 'Going Dotty' theme of the Creative Card Crew, and the 'If you had wings...' theme of the Cuttlebug Spot. The image is a digi stamp by Hambo, called 'Bird Pants', which I coloured using watercolour pencils. The spotty paper is by My Mind's Eye ('29th Street Market'), and for more dots, I embossed the yellow and blue card using my 'Spots & Dots' and 'Swiss Dots' Cuttlebug folders.

Ducklings on Parade

Unsurprisingly there are quite a few 'Easter' themed challenges around this week...now I don't send many Easter cards and I've already made a couple...so I've combined them on this card: Everybody Art; Our Creative Corner; Stampin' for the Weekend; and Stamp with Fun. I followed the sketch from Create4Fun, as it was just perfect for the shape of my 'Hedgie & Ducklings' image (by Penny Black)...and because of the little ducklings, I'm also entering this card into the Daring Cardmakers' 'Tweetie Pie' challenge. The papers are all BasicGrey, from the 'Porcelain' and 'Sugared' pads, and the sentiment stamp is by Hero Arts.

ABC Christmas Challenge - G is for...

Our challenge for you this fortnight on the ABC Christmas Challenge has been set by the lovely Lacey, and is:

'G is for Glitz'
(with the added extra of silver)

We are sponsored for this challenge by Toucan Scraps, who provided the DT with a sample paper pack for us to use on our cards. I only have a B&W printer, so I wasn't sure how the paper would come out, but combined with the silver, it's made a really dramatic colour scheme.

I've made a 'tent' card, covering the front of the card with the paper from Toucan Scraps, before cutting an oval aperture using my Nesties. On the inside of the card, I've used my Cuttlebug 'Snowflakes' folder on some silver paper. From the top of the aperture, I've hung a 'bauble' made using a Penny Black stamp embossed in silver on black card (I've stamped it on both sides, so the sentiment can still be seen when it spins around). It doesn't show up very well in the photo, but I added some adhesive gems to the centres on the snowflakes for some 'glitz'.

As always, make sure you visit the ABC Christmas Challenge to check out the fab cards by the rest of the design team, and also Angela from Toucan Scraps, who is guest designing for this challenge.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:

Winter Wonderland: 'Aperture Card'
Susie & Vikki's Christmas Club: 'Christmas Baubles'

Spring is in the Air!

It would seem that 'Spring is in the air' in blogland...with lots more 'Spring' themed challenges this week...so I've made this card using fresh 'Spring' colours for the following challenges: Allsorts; Crazy4Challenges; and Cuttlebug Challenges. I followed the sketch from the Penny Black Saturday Challenge...flipping it to suit the way my image (from the 'Wonderful' set) is facing. The papers are by BasicGrey, from the 'Romani' (floral) and 'Two Scoops' (plain green) collections. I embossed the green paper using my Cuttlebug 'Moroccan Screen' folder, sanding to reveal the white core, before distressing all of the edges of the papers, and adding some faux stitching. The flowers & ribbon are from Poppicrafts, and the pink pearls were a gift from my Secret Santa last Christmas.

Wee and Stocking

Katharina is having a Guest Design Team Call for Whiff of Joy stamps...so I thought I'd have a go, and make a card using the recipe of '1 cardstock, 2 design papers, 1 button, 1 ribbon'. I thought I'd combine it with the current Whiff of Joy Challenge...which is to make an easel card. I used the sketch from Totally Papercrafts for the layout. I've used 'Wee with Stocking' to make a Christmas card with papers by Sandylion. The snowflakes were cut using Cuttlebug dies, and they've been coated with Glamour Dust....although it doesn't show up very well in the photo. The sentiment stamp is by Paper Makeup, and the ribbon and button are from Poppicrafts.


I'll be back on Wednesday with another Christmas card...as it will be time for the next ABC Christmas Challenge. There's still time for you to get your entries in for the current challenge...'F is for Frosty'...if you haven't already done so, to be in with a chance of winning the $15 shopping spree at Simon Says Stamp!

Monster Sax!

Having got all my DT stuff done for next week...I've had time to play along with some other challenges this morning. I've used the sketch from Sketch & Stash...although I used a circle rather than an oval, as it suited my image ('Monster Sax' by Hambo stamps) better...which although I've had it for a couple of months...this is the first time I've used it. The papers are by My Mind's Eye ('29th Street Market'), and I used my Cuttlebug 'Moroccan Screen' folder to emboss the green strip, before distressing the edges with inks and my distressing tool. The sentiment stamp is by Inkadinkado, and the ribbon is from Poppicrafts.


The other challenges I'm entering this card for are:

Cards for Men: 'Happy Birthday'
Cupcake Craft: 'Going Green'
Fussy & Fancy Friday: 'Green'
Saturday Spotlight with Hidden Potential: 'Birthday Card in your Birthstone Colour' (Mine's peridot)
Simon Says: 'A Splash of Green'
Stamp Something: 'Distressed Somethings'

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Spring has Sprung!

This week's Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge theme, has been set by me...and it's:

'Spring has Sprung'

When I chose the theme, a couple of months ago...it was still very much Winter here in the UK...which seems to have gone on forever this year...but I was hopeful that by the time this challenge came around the gorgeous spring flowers would be in bloom...well...they nearly are...and at least the temperature has made it into double figures this week! lol

The image I've used is a digi stamp by Hambo Stamps called 'Spring Bunnies'...just perfect for this challenge! lol
The papers are by My Mind's Eye ('Penny Lane'), and I distressed the edges, and added some faux stitching. The flowers are a mixture of Prima (from the Secret Crafter), and Poppicrafts.

For more inspiration, check out the fabulous cards by the rest of the Secret Crafter design team...where you can also find out if you're one of the lucky winners from last week's special challenge!

Superstar Pringle

This the first card I've uploaded this week using patterned paper...I know...that's not like me at all! lol
I've used the sketch from the Sugarbowl Challenge...and included lots of the requested 'Stars'. There are stars on the papers ('Papa' by Fancy Pants Designs), and some stars cut using Nesties too. The image is 'Pringle', and the sentiment stamp is by Inkadinkado. It's a boy's card, so no extra embellishments...just a bit of inking around the edges.

Teddy Bear

I'm still managing to get a Christmas card a week done...this one uses the sketch from Card Patterns, and the themes of a couple of other challenges too: Just Cute Bears 'All White'; and Susie & Vikki's Christmas Club 'Presents & Gifts'. The image is 'Teddy Bear' (by Rachelle Anne Miller for Stampavie), which I coloured using watercolour pencils. For the all white background I used several Cuttlebug folders on plain white card: 'Swiss Dots'; 'Snow Dots'; 'D'Vine Swirls'; and 'Snowflakes'...distressing all of the edges, to add definition between the layers.

ABC Challenge - Q is for...

Our challenge for you this fortnight at the ABC Challenge, is:

'Q is for Quotation'

We'd like to see you use a quotation in a prominent place on your projects.

Our sponsor for this challenge is Cute Daisy May Digi Stamps, who are offering 5 sheets of digi stamps from their store for the lucky winner.

I took one the 'Kid's Quotes' stamps by Inkadinkado for the inspiration for my card...and watercoloured 'Splashing Maggie' (by Sugar Nellie) in an assortment of rainbow colours to go with it...I thought her happy expression was the perfect match. I decided to make a side-step card in order to be able to display the quote alongside the image, and added a rainbow that I doodled on the 'step' behind the quote. For the background, I embossed some plain blue card using my 'Tiny Bubbles' Cuttlebug folder, to look like droplets of rain. I matted the image and quote with card in rainbow colours, and added a bow in rainbow ribbon (which I think came form Hobbycraft) along the bottom.

I've made a tutorial (my first ever!) of how I made this card which can be seen on the ABC Challenge Tutorial blog...and for more inspiration for this challenge, don't forget to check out the fab cards by the rest of the ABC Challenge DT, including our lovely new member Sandie! :0)

Side-step Card Tutorial

For my card for this fortnight's ABC Challenge, I decided to make a 'Side-step' card...here's a quick tutorial of how I made it.

1. Using an A4 piece of card for the base of my card, I marked out the following measurements (click on the photo for a larger view):

2. I then cut along the red line (using a craft knife & a steel ruler), mountain folded along the blue lines, and valley folded along the green lines (creasing the folds with my bone folder to get a crisp fold). My base card then looked like this:


Here's a view from the front, so that you can see the 'steps':


3. My next step was to cut the card to decorate the front of the card, and each of the 'steps'. I also added a strip of ribbon at the bottom at this stage, so that I'd be able to tie a bow around it once I'd assembled the card.


4. I then attached the panels to the card using DST. There's no need to decorate the parts I've left white, as these will not be seen when the card is assembled.


Here's a view with the card standing up, so you can see how it's beginning to take shape:


5. I then coloured the images I was going to use, stamped my sentiment, and matted all of them, ready to put on the card.


6. Finally, I added the images and sentiment to my base card using foam pads, and tied a bow around the ribbon strip I added earlier.


For information on the products used on this card, please see the post above.

I had lots of fun making this card....it really was very simple...just a bit of careful measuring and cutting at the start...and a great way to display multiple images, or create a scene. The instructions can easily be adapted to fit different images, and of course you can 'flip' it to have the 'steps' on the other side.

This tutorial will also be posted on the ABC Challenge Tutorial blog, where there is a challenge using this technique running alongside the current ABC Challenge.

I really hope that some of you will have a go at this...please let me know if you do...I'd love to come and take a peek! :0)