It was my brother's birthday at the start of September and, as he spent one summer working with sheep many years ago, of course I had to break out MFT's cute ewes for him. I also added a motorbike to the scene as I don’t think I can remember a time when he didn't have… Continue reading Birthday: Sheep and motorbike
After winning Create A Smile’s “blue” challenge in with my very blue light-up ocean card, I was asked to be a Guest Designer for October’s challenge. The theme for this month is “embellish”. Now, embellishments are normally the last thing I think about when making a card, usually in a “what else does this card… Continue reading Embellish!
I did originally have a far more complicated interactive design in mind for this little parachute piggy. I got close to making it work, but then time was running short and my brain gave up on me, so I decided to keep it simple this month. How: I printed out a couple of piggies on… Continue reading Misc: Just dropping by…
Another thing checked off my “things to try” list: my first box card. The latest challenge from The East Wind is to create a project with some movement in it; including either something that actually moves or a representation of movement. I chose to go with the first one and, after running through various options,… Continue reading Misc: Snow queen box card
September’s challenge over at Seven Hills Crafts is a sketch. One of these days I’ll figure out how to interpret sketches in a novel and interesting way (and still have it recognisable), but today is not that day. Instead, I’ve used the sketch as is, but divided it into layers with the pots at the… Continue reading Thanks: Succulent sketch
Another month, another freebie with the newsletter from The East Wind, and another challenge. This time the theme is “shine on” with the requirement to include a sun, moon or something shiny. How: I printed out the digi stamp and cut out a mask for it so that I could created a gradient background using… Continue reading Misc: Shine On
I’ve followed Petra Maria on Instagram for a while now, but this is the first time I’ve actually coloured one of her digi stamps myself. This girl looks so happy, surrounded by all those flowers, that I couldn’t leave her on the side uncoloured for too long. How: I printed the happy girl on some… Continue reading Hugs: Happy flower girl
Inspired by Erica on Instagram, I decided it was time to have a dig through my collections of backgrounds, die-cut pieces and bits of colouring and see if I could match them up and turn them into cards. I’ve seen these piles of odds and ends referred to as UFOs — unfinished objects — but… Continue reading Misc: Magician Mae
This card was created on 11th July: day 7 of The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge. In response to the political mess in the UK following the EU referendum, my initial thought was to just add a single word expletive as a sentiment for this kitty, but I decided to fake some positivity instead…… Continue reading Misc: Hang in there kitty
Another catch-up post; this card was originally made on May 6th as part of the Clear and Sheer class. A magic slider card has been on my list of techniques to try ever since I first saw one. I’ve come across a few tutorials, but the one from Kelly Marie Alvarez in Online Card Classes’… Continue reading Blank: Magic slider card
After creating the stack of Polaroids with last month’s mermaid, I swore that I would just colour this month’s image and “put it on a card base”. Of course I couldn’t keep it quite that simple, but I did at least limit it to some printing, stamping, masking, die-cutting, colouring, heat embossing, and adding a… Continue reading Xmas: Fox and mistletoe
I love challenges that push me to do something that I don’t normally do and the latest challenge from The East Wind has done just that. I’m sure I’ve thought about using paper piecing before, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never actually done it. The scariest part of this was printing the digi — I… Continue reading Thinking of you: Girl on swing
Another month, another Create A Smile challenge. This time the codeword is “blue” and, rather than just make the focus of my card blue, I decided to limit my palette to just blues and blue-greens and make the whole card blue. There is a bit of grey in there, but even that is a cool… Continue reading Deep blue sea (with lights)
For August, Seven Hills Crafts challenged us to create a card with “geometry”. After discarding the idea of stamped lines or grids as too easy — I like to try to challenge myself and not run with the first idea I come up with when I see a challenge theme — I remembered the mini scenery… Continue reading Thank you: Geometry with lacy flower
Quite often I’ll be inspired by a card I’ve seen; I’ll get a flash of an idea triggered by a layout or a technique or just the way someone has used a particular stamp. But I always try to put my own interpretation on it, to use it as a springboard to something completely different.… Continue reading Thank you: Magician’s bunny
Crafty Rat 