Tweet, Tweet

Good morning everyone.

What fabulous weather we are having in the UK at the moment, it seems particularly odd as I have been making Christmas Cards.  However, there was a reason why I was sticking faux snow to my cards on the hottest weekend of the year ...... today's new Crafty Boots Challenge, chosen by Amy, is all about birds.

After a couple of disastrous false starts with this Challenge I decided to make a start on my Christmas Cards.

All of the paper elements I used to create this stepper card, including the snowflake backing paper, came from the Polka Doodle CD Magical Winter.

The individual scenes look a little muddled here so I have photographed the 'steps' individually.

After printing the images I coloured them with Promarkers and used Polar White Flower Soft to create the snow effect and the fur trim on the robin's hat  The holly berries and ivy came from Wild Orchid Crafts.

The rest of the Design Team have been working really hard for this Challenge so please pop across to Crafty Boots Challenges and leave them some 'sugar'.  Isn't that what they say on  the other challenge sites?  What I mean is please pop across to their blog and leave a nice comment.



Dionne

It's a Kind of Magic - Part II

Good Morning

Have you ever made a card and thought that it was finished but later you pick it up and start tinkering with it again?

That recently happened to me with this card. Something about it kept nagging at me but I couldn't think what was wrong until inspiration hit me ...... eventually.

So I took the card apart and started again.

The stamp is from Lili of the Valley and is called Abacadabra!  

I coloured the stamp with Promarkers and mounted it on some silver mirri card, striped paper and finally on some pale green glitter card from my stash.

I made a lot of stars from a pack of pearlescent card I had.  I added gold star shaped peal off's to outline the stars.  I also added some little star peel off's to the card.

The butterfly dies are from Memory Box and the flourish is a Marianne Creatable die called Garden Branch (I added a few flat backed gems to form the bodies of the butterflies).

I am much happier now.


Dionne

Aloha

Good morning

The current challenge at Crafty Boots Challenges is Postcards. Now, it is up to you to decide how you interpret this theme.  I have made my own sunny image to share with those I left at home.  This fun image is another one from Mo's Digital Pencil, it is called Pineapple Girl.

I coloured the image with Promakers., then I mounted my card on some silver mirri card and added my 'Wish you Were Here' sentiment.  Finally, I cut it to the standard postcard size of 4 ¼” x 6”.

Why not pop over to the Crafty Boots Challenges website and see the ingenious ways other members  of the Design Team have interpreted this theme and whilst you are there, don't forget to enter your own creations into the challenge.

Good Luck.


Dionne

Sun, Sea and Sand

Good morning and welcome to my blog .......... a very special welcome to you if this is your first visit.  Please feel free to leave a comment and say hello, I hope you will visit again soon.

There is a new challenge today at Crafty Boots Challenges.  It has been set by the truly talented Gabrielle and she has chosen as her theme Postcards.  In the UK sending postcards to family and friends when you were on holiday use to be a great tradition but, with the advent of texts and easy access to the internet, this tradition has almost died out.

Gabrielle has left it to you to decide how you interpret this theme, for instance it could be an actual postcard or anything that reminds you of postcard, I have chosen a seaside view.   This adorable image is from Mo's Digital Pencil and is called Kai in the Sand.

I mounted my card on some silver mirri card and cut it to the standard postcard size of 4 ¼” x 6” (at least that's the dimensions I was told when I asked Google how big a standard postcard is!). Then I coloured the image with Promakers, after which I added some Glossy Accents  to the beach ball to give it a high gloss plastic look and I created the effect of sand with Flower Soft.

Why not pop over to the Crafty Boots Challenges website and see the ingenious ways other members  of the Design Team have interpreted this theme and whilst you are there, don't forget to enter your own creations into the challenge.

Good Luck.


Dionne

Storage Solutions

I don't know about you but I never have enough storage for my craft stuff.

One of my solutions to this problem is to make my own storage boxes.  This way I have a box in the precise size I need.

I like to use bright materials to cover my boxes and find the nicest ones in the quilting section of my local fabric shop.  I use a plain contrasting colour for the lining.

My very dear friend Stephanie-Emma recently asked me to make her a couple of boxes.

Stephanie-Emma wanted one box to store her Copic pens and the other the protect her 12 x 12 papers.

The box for the papers is a little larger that a sheet of 12 x 12 so you can easily remove the sheets without damaging them.

For the Copic pens I added some movable dividers to help keep the pens in place.

And if Stephanie-Emma decides to use the pen box for something else in the future, the dividing walls can easily be removed.


Dionne

Giggles

Hi

I have another baby card to share with you this morning.

As you probably know, the current Crafty Boots Challenges theme is babies.

This is another image from Mo's Digital Pencil, it is called Christening.

(Apologies for the flare of the flash in this photo!)

I coloured the image with Promarkers and mounted it on gold mirri card and some glitter card to give it some extra sparkle.  The roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the paper is from my favourite DoveCraft stack.  The sentiment is from Kanban.

There is still time for you to enter this Crafty Boots Challenge, but don't take too long!

If you would like to see the other cards I have made for this challenge they are:

Welcome Little One (click here)

Baby Girl (click here)

Shhhhh! (click here)

Good luck.

Dionne

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

'Baby or Birthday' Challenge - Fashionista Challenge

Go Team GB

Good morning

Two gold medals for Team GB at the Olympics yesterday, the first to the rowers Heather Stanning and Helen Glover and the second to the amazing cyclist, Bradley Wiggins, in the men's time trial.

As a long time fan of 'Wiggo', my husband would never forgive me for not mentioning one of our greatest Olympians. It is hard to believe that someone has won more medals for Great Britain than Steve Redgrave (Sir Steve has won more gold medals) but, all together, Bradley Wiggins has now won an incredable 7 medals.  Yesterday's gold medal came just over a week after winning the Tour de France.  It isn’t hard to see why  he was chosen to ring the bell which heralded the start of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.

I should like to pay tribute all of our fantastic athletes in my own way .................

This is one of the Crafty Gashead range of digital images available from the Crafty Boots on-line store, called Sporty Boots.  

I coloured the image using Promarkers, the paper is by DoveCraft and the little Union flags I cut from some of the material I had left over after making my bunting for our Jubilee Street Party.

Dionne

Shhhhh!

I have another baby card to share with you this morning.

You will recall that the current Crafty Boots Challenges theme is babies. This is another image from Mo's Digital Pencil, it is called New Baby.

The image is coloured with Promarkers and mounted on silver mirri card.  I then placed it on some butter muslin.  The paper is by DoveCraft and the ticket is a Tim Holtz one, which I stained with a contrasting ink, and the 'Congratulations' sentiment is by Kanban.

There is still time for you to enter the challenge, so pop over to the Crafty Boots site and enter your favourite baby image.


Dionne


I am entering this card in the following challenges:

'Baby or Birthday' Challenge - Fashionista Challenge.