Happy Bee day

'Butterflies and Bees' is the theme of the current challenge at Crafty Boots.  Up until now all of my DT samples for this challenge have included butterflies but this is one of my favourite bee images.

Happy Bee Day is from Tiddly Inks, I have used this digi stamp a couple of times before when I coloured it in traditional black and orange and, on the second occasion, in a pink theme for Breast Cancer Awareness.  So today I decided to get a little experimental and coloured it yellow and purple with my Copic Markers.  I then mounted it on Wisteria Wonder and gold mirri card.  The Bee backing paper is from Stampin' Up, the purple ribbon and bee charm are from my stash. 

Apologies for the poor quality of the photograph, I had to use artificial lighting and no matter what I tried you could still see my pink top reflected in the gold mirri.

Dionne

Butterfly Princess

It is time for the Crafty Boots mid challenge reminder for the current Butterflies and Bees Challenge.  We have two wonderful Guest Designers joining the DT this week, Maxine and Carol are wonderful designers and we are so excited to have them joining us.

My card today features 'Butterfly Princess' from Saturated Canary

I coloured the image with Copic Markers and mounted it on silver mirri and Whisteria Wonder card from Stampin' UP.  The backing paper is also from Stampin' Up, as is the sentiment stamp.

The fabulous butterfly die is by Memory Box, the flat backed gems are from my stash.

There is still plenty of time for you to enter you butterfly or bee projects into the challenge, just check out the page on the Crafty Boots blog.

Good luck.

Dionne

Coneflowers and Butterflies

We are enjoying a warm and sunny Bank Holiday in the UK - although looking out of the window at the moment, it is not clear how today will turn out.

Crafty Boots Challenges are celebrating the Butterflies and Bees with their current challenge.

This lovely digital stamp is from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. After colouring it with Copic markers, I mounted it on gold mirri card.  The backing papers are from Stampin' Up.  The wooden butterfly buttons are out of my stash and the sentiment is by Craftwork Cards.

There is still plenty of time to enter your projects into this challenge.

Good luck.

Dionne

Butterfly Swing

The current Crafty Boots Challenge is one of my favourite themes, 'Butterflies and Bees'.  I have so many suitable images as well as dozens of butterfly die cuts and bee charms.

Today's card was really quick and easy to make with my latest Presscut card die.

This card may have been simple to make with this die but it was very difficult to photograph, it reminds me of the optical illusion where everyone is walking around the stairs!

The die pack includes all of the panels as well as the actual card.  I chose red glitter card for the panels and, naturally, the central panel features a butterfly made from sculpted feathers.  The sentiment stamp is from Stampin' Up.

There is still plenty of time for you to enter your butterfly or bee project into this Crafty Boots Challenge.

Good luck.

Dionne 

Beautiful Butterflies

We have a brand new challenge starting at Crafty Boots today, for the next two weeks the challenge theme is 'Butterflies and/or Bees'.

I recently treated myself to a number of silicon moulds which I have been itching to try out and, as one of these is a butterfly I have found an excuse the get them out.  Unfortunately I do not have any clay yet, but I have heard that you can use hot glue instead.  So out with the glue gun and I lined up the moulds, some worked better than others but, luckily, the butterfly was the most successful (can you spot which one it is?)

My project today is an altered notebook cover.  I created a second cover out of heavy card and coated it with gesso.  I then stenciled Liquitex through two separate masks - a script one and a dot one.  Once it was dry I painted it blue use acrylic paint.  (Unfortunately you cannot really see the textured surface!)  I also ran some card through my Big Shot using a wood effect folder and a tree one, I highlighted the tree design with a couple of grey Copics.  

I have quite a long shopping list today - the flowers and leaves are from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The delicate lace and the smaller butterfly dies are from Stampin' Up.  The other butterfly die is a Marianne Creatable and the moulded butterfly is a Martha Stuart one.  The word dies are from Sizzix and the lace flower is also Wild Orchid Crafts.

The rest of the Design Team have been very busy, make sure you take a look at their work when you are on the Crafty Boots blog entering your Butterfly and Bee  projects.

Good luck.

Dionne

Skully King and Queen

Friday at last but what has happened to the weather?  Just when you are looking forward to the weekend it turns cold and wet!

Something a little outside my comfort zone today.  I became a big fan of  Delicious Doodles and Terri Sherman a few months ago through her scenic images.  I was also aware of her Goth side and thought it was definitely not for me.  However, over time I found myself attracted to some of these images, like the Emo Girl and Fallen Angel, but I could not imagine any reason I would have to use any of the darker images, perhaps I was wrong...

When I was searching for images of crowns, I thought of these two from Delicious Doodles - Skully Queen Chess Piece and Skully King Chess Piece and I began to imagine a design I could work with.

I coloured the images with my F&C polychromos pencils and mounted them on silver mirri and navy card.

The background is also from Delicious Doodles, it is called Gorgeous Romantic Clock Face.

I hope you are not too shocked by my skully friends, in fact,  I think think they may even grow on you if you give them a chance.  Between you and me, I am thinking of sending this card to my sister for her wedding anniversary, she has always had a slightly darker side to her style and I think she will appreciate the card.

I hope you have a great weekend and the weather is a little warmer for you.  So, what do you think of my walk on the dark side?

Dionne

Princess Elsa and Her Sister Anna

I am still working my way through my collection of 'Queens, Princesses and Crowns' for the current Crafty Boots Challenge.

This image of Princess Elsa and her little sister Anna is a free colouring book page.

I coloured the image with F&C polychromos pencils, I then mounted it on some silver mirri and blue card.  The papers and gems are from my stash.

Don't forget to enter your royal designs in the Crafty Boots Challenge.

Dionne

The Princess and the Pea

Hopefully I will get this post written without interruption today.  Yesterday was exceptionally frustrating, first with the intrusion of Windows 10 installation and then, as I reached the end of the process, my thumb touched the touch sensitive pad and I managed to delete the lot.

My card today may not instantly appear to qualify for the current Crafty Boots challenge 'Queens, Princesses and Crowns' but this image illustrates the well known children's story of the Princess and the Pea.

As usual, I coloured this Saturated Canary image with Promarkers, the image is called 'Princess Penelope'.

The backing papers ad gems are from my stash and the sentiment is from Tiddly Inks.

Happy Wednesday.

Dionne 

Queen for a Day

Apologies for the lateness of this post.  I started to write it earlier when my laptop was hijacked by Windows 10.  I had just loaded the photographs when a pop-up appeared saying the laptop was re-starting to complete the installation of Windows 10.  I have been declining the free upgrade for months on the grounds that I have never had an upgrade which did not upset half my settings.  I have no idea how it managed to gain access to my system but now I have to deal with the fall out, it took hours to install and I have already found three things it has changed.

Back to the card I wanted to share with you today.  As most of you will know, the current Crafty Boots Challenge  is 'Queens, Princesses and Crowns'

This little cutie is 'Sweet Tooth - Let them Eat Cake' from Tiddly Inks.  I coloured the image with Promarkers, added some faux pearls to the hem of the dress, some glitter to the crown and candles and then mounted it on red card and some silver mirri.

The backing paper is from my stash and the sentiment was part of the Tiddly Inks set.

Have a good evening.

Dionne

A Girls Gotta Do What a Girls Gotta Do

We have reached the midway point in the Crafty Boots Queens. Princesses and Crowns Challenge and we have two fabulous Guest Designers this week.  Susan (aka Aunty Sue) and Maya won our 'Easter' challenge.

I have two cards to share with you today, both cards feature a Tiddly Inks image.

I have used my Presscut Center Stepper die to make the card blank, for both cards.  I then coloured them with a Promarker and decorated them with Stampin' Up washi tape.

This image is called 'Everyday Princess', I coloured the image with Promarkers and mounted it on silver mirri card.  The sentiment is also from Tiddly Inks.

The other image is simply called 'Wryn'.   I coloured the image with Promarkers and mounted it on silver mirri card.  The sentiment is also from Tiddly Inks.

The are some amazing cards by our fabulous Design Team, please take a few minutes to visit the Crafty Boots blog to see them,

Dionne

The Queen and the Apple

It is almost the weekend, yea!  What are your plans for this week?  I am hoping to see my family, we have had a few birthdays recently and I have quite a pile of presents to deliver.

The current Crafty Boots Challenge is also celebrating a birthday, a lady far better known than my sister - Queen Elizabeth II.

This lovely lady is also a Queen, she is from Saturated Canary - I am sure you can guess which story she is from.  After colouring her with Promarkers, I mounted her on silver card and some blue card.  The backing paper is from my stash and the lovely leaves and hydrangeas were part of a recent order from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Have a great weekend.

Dionne

You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs

Thursday already, where has this week gone?

When I first heard about the current Crafty Boots Challenge my first thoughts 'where on earth am I going to find stamps with crowns'?  As it turned out, they are so easy to find, I never realised that little queens and princesses are such common themes.

These images illustrating the story of the Princess and the Frog are from Tiddly Inks.  The image of the princess is called 'Kiss Me' and the cute little frog and the sentiment are from a collection of sentiments called 'Froggie Thoughts'.

I coloured both images with Promarkers and mounted them on silver mirri, I also added a sprinkling of glitter.  The papers are from my stash and the pretty poppies are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Don't forget to enter you projects into the Crafty Boots 'Queens, Princesses and Crowns' Challenge.

Good Luck.

Guinevere of Camelot

I know one or two of you will be wondering where I have been because I have not been around for the last couple of days.  I must apologise, all I can say is migraine, sorry!

So, better late than never, here is my post for the new Crafty Boots Challenge, which started on Monday.  Most of you will know that Queen Elizabeth II was 90 this year.  At the moment there are all sorts of activities to celebrate this amazing event and Crafty Boots is has dedicated this Challenge to The Queen and has called the challenge 'Queens, Princess and Crowns'.

This stunning image of Queen Guinevere is from the pencil of the amazing Terri Sherman of Delicious Doodles.  I coloured 'Gorgeous Guinevere' with Promarkers and Wink of Stella pens.  I then mounted her on some silver mirri and punched red card.

The backing picture is also from Delicious Doodles, it is called 'Camelot', I coloured this image with my F&C polychromos pencils (this is such a pretty image, I really must use it as the main image some time so you can see all of it).  The sentiment is from Tiddly Inks.

The Crafty Boots Design Team has been very busy making stunning samples, do make sure you pop over to the blog and take a look for yourself.  

Don't forget to enter your regal projects.

Good luck.

Dionne

Party Time

There a still a few days of the current Crafty Boots Monochrome Challenge and I have another colourful monochrome design to share with you today.

This lovely dress image is a Fairydoodler stamp, from Teddy Bo and Co, called 'Short Prom Dress'.  I coloured the image with Promarkers and then mounted it on silver mirri card and navy blue card.  The backing papers are from Stampin' Up and so is the sentiment stamp. The High Heel Glam Stiletto Shoe die is by Tattered Lace .

Well, the weekend is almost here and it looks as if the sun is going to shine.  Have a lovely time.


Dionne

Butterfly Baby

It is a Bank Holiday today in the UK, so most of us are enjoying a long weekend.  The English, with our ironic sense of humour, joke about the weather always being disappointing for Bank Holiday weekends.  I wonder how today will turn out, the forecast is for rain, now there is a surprize!

We are at the midway point in the current Crafty Boots Monochrome Challenge and I am still enjoying myself experimenting with single colour cards.  Now, before you point out that I have not coloured the skin of this little  fairy with purple, the Crafty Boots rules do allow for flesh to be flesh tone (although I note this does not apply to hair!)

I coloured this cute little Butterfly Baby from Saturated Canary with Pomarkers.  I than mounted the image on some silver mirri card, the backing Paper is from Stampin' Up, as is the sentiment Stamp.  The Card Candy is from Craftwork Cards and the die is one from my stash, I am afraid I have no idea who made it but I got it from C&C many years ago.

There is still plenty of time for you to enter your monochrome projects into the Challenge, just pop over the Crafty Boots blog, and don't forget to check out the cards from our fabulous Guest Designer as well as some more cards from our lovely Design Team ladies.

Dionne