Forest Fairy by Michelle Perkett

Hi there, its Tuesday so its time for a new challenge over at Michelle Perkett Studio and this week is the turn of Shelley and her lovely team of mermaid to host the challenge. They've chosen a theme of 'Make your Flowers Bloom'

I've made this card using Michelle's gorgeous Forest Fairy image, the sentiment is beautiful and its one of my favourite of all Michelle's images (lol, I always say that but I love all of Michelle's images). You can find her in Michelle's Etsy store here!

As usual i've coloured the image with promarkers and added a little sparkle with some glitter although its not showing up too well on the pic. The bp is from Raspberry Road Designs, distressed and matted on some pale pink card from my stash.

I've added some rafia lace, pink vintage seam binding ribbon, a little butterfly charm and a flower made from  white petals sprayed with Starfish glimmer mist, a silver bead cap and a pearl brad.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafts and Me: anything goes

Digi Doodle Shops Best: ribbons and bows

Fairy Tale challenge: Pink and green

Little Claire's: Pink and Green

One Stop Craft Challenge: Angels and Fairies

Polkadoodles: Spring has sprung

Simon Says Stamp: Mothers Day/Girlie

Sparkles Forum: springtime

Thanks for calling by today,

Claire xx

Spring Willow

Hi there, we've had some beautiful spring weather this week so I decided to make a bright sunny card using the lovely Willow fairy from Michelle Perkett Studio (you can find her here in Michelle's Etsy Store)

The lovely lace edged dotty bp is from Raspberry Road Designs, doiley, lemon velvet ribbon and cotton lace are all from my stash. I coloured Willow with promarkers and added a little yellow glitter to the flower centres and embossed the sun behind her with clear holographic ep for extra sparkle and shine. You can see the effect a little better in this pic

I made the leaves using stamps from Sheena Douglass, coloured with promarkers and cut out. The flowers are made from tissue paper circles, scrunched up and layered with faux pearl centres made with a viva pearl pen. I used a viva gloss pen in yellow for the yellow faux gems in the corners.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

2 Sisters: make your own embellishment

Creative Craft Challenge: lace

Creative Cottage: spring has sprung

Delightful challenges: pastels and ribbon

Delicious Doodles: Floral fantasy/lots of flowers

Do you stack up: Shine on

Fairy Fun Friday: Oh so Spring

Flutter by Wednesday: Open challenge with a butterfly, angel or fairy

House of Gilli: pastel colours with bling

I did it creations: welcome spring

I love promarkers: go dotty

Lexi's Creations: ribbon but no knots or bows

One Stop Craft Challenge: Angels and Fairies

Paper Pretties: Spring

Papertake Weekly: Its a mom thing/girly

Passion for promarkers: in the garden

Sew Many Cards: Spring Fling

A Spoon full of sugar: ribbon, pearls/rhinestones/flowers 

Thanks for calling by, you still have time to enter this weeks challenge at Michelle Perkett Studio, the theme this week is Blue and Brown and if you don't have any of Michelle's images pop over to Michelle's group on PCP, pick up one of the beautiful free images and join in the fun and chat :-)

Claire xx

Chocolate challenge at Fairy Knoll

Don't you just love chocolate? I love all kinds of chocolate so I've really enjoyed making my DT card for this weeks challenge at Fun at Fairy Knoll where the theme is.... yes, you've guessed it, CHOCOLATE! As its so cold here again lately, I decided to take inspiration from hot chocolate, the perfect drink on a cold winters evening. I've used Brandi's supercute digistamp 'Cup o' Bliss' from Fairy Knoll (the sentiment is also available at Fairy Knoll)

I've used a bp from Raspberry Road Designs, distressed with Tea Dye distress ink and i've highlighted the wording on the BP (which says 'Simple Pleasures') with a couple of heart shaped pearls. The image is coloured with promarkers and i've added stickles to the little fairy's wings. The flowers, lace and ribbons are all from my stash.

I'm entering this cup o' bliss in the following challenges:

Flourishes: Large cards (this one is 8x8)

Papertake weekly: ribbons and or pearls

Top Tip Tuesday: All sentimental

Karber Weekly Challenge: digi + ribbon

Corrosive challenge: Lace and pearls

Really Reasonable Ribbon: Hearts and ribbon (little heart shaped pearls)

Mark's Finest Papers: Hearts

Do you stack up: Think Pink

Thanks for popping by, if you need another chocolate fix check out my talented teamies blogs for some more inspirations ;-)

Claire xx

Lily in Pink

Its been so grey and dismal here for ages now, I thought i'd colour Michelle Perkett's gorgeous Lily, the Fairy of Enchantment to brighten up my day. Lily is one of my favourite images from Michelle but this is the first time i've coloured her in pink. You can find Lily here in Michelle's Etsy Store

I've coloured Lily with promarkers and embossed the moon with clear sparkle EP and then cut her out and attached her to the bp. The bps i've used are all downloads from Raspberry Road Designs. I used a MP border punch on two strips of bp and then added some dark green and rose pink velvet ribbon and some prima flower and pearls.

I'm entering Lily in the following challenges:

Pollycraft: sweet pastel colours

Quirky Crafts: In the spring garden plus pink and green

2 sisters: Flowers

Our daily bread: things with wings

Stamp, Scrap and Doodle: Anything goes

Daring Cardmakers: recipe challenge (I image, 2 ribbons, 3 papers)

Fairy Tale Challenge: Flowers

Yesterday I noticed some signs of spring on the way. There are quite a lot of green shoots peeping through in the garden and little buds showing on branches so I hope spring will be here soon. I  had a really lovely surprise last night when a delivery man arrived with what i thought was flowers but actually was a beautiful butler's tray with lots of pots of spring bulbs! It was from one of my friends at work, things have been pretty rough at work lately and she sent them to cheer me up!! Spring has definitely arrived early here lol. What a sweetie she is :-)

Thanks for popping by today, don't forget to check out this weeks challenge at Michelle Perkett Studios, Jan and her team have set a fab sketch challenge this week!!

Claire xx

This weeks challenge from Fairy Knoll

Don't you just love Fridays? Its nearly the weekend and its time for another fun challenge at Fairy Knoll!!This week our theme is 'Glitter' so we want to see some sparkle on your creations. You don't have to use a Fairy Knoll image but we'd love to see your creations if you do have any of Brandi's gorgeous images, why not have a look here and pick up a fab freebie or two.

I've used one of Brandi's fab new images 'Thoughtful' (available in the Fairy Knoll shop). I love this image, she's so elegant isn't she?

I've coloured the image with promarkers and added black sakura stardust to her sweater, bag and bangles for a little sparkle. The bp is from my raspberry road designs, stamped with a clarity corner stamp and embossed with tea dye distress EP. The swirly frame is made from 2 marianne die cut shapes joined with dst and then a little ribbon added to cover the join. I made the flowers from circles of  crumpled tissue paper and added seed beads and black glitter to the centres. I added a couple of die cut flourishes and to finish off a shrink plastic charm that reads' Friends' which I made using a HOTP stamp.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Sentimental Sundays: celebrate friendship

One Stitch at a time: Anything goes

Catch the bug: Anything goes

Karber Weekly Challenge: Flowers

Lexi's Creations: Pink Winter birthday

Thanks for visiting today, I'm an early bird with this post as I'm dashing off to work.

Have a good day

Claire xx

Hot mess at Fairy Knoll

This weeks challenge at Fairy Knoll is 'Hot Mess', we want to see lots glitter or stickles etc on your project! I've used the beautiful 'Bianca' (available here) to make this card. Its a change from all the autumn and winter colours around at the minute. For my 'hot mess' i've added stickles and used sakura starduts pens to highlight the bps and Bianca's tiara

The bps are from Raspberry Road Designs, I've punched one with a scallop border punch and used a Marianne die to cut the shape behind Bianca. I've used ribbons from my stash and the flowers and buds for the corners are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I'm entering Bianca in the following challenges:

Incy Wincy: Anything goes

Sweet Stampin Challenge: Sketch

Digital Tuesday: Frame it

A spoonful of Sugar: Relish to Embellish

Thanks for calling by today. Its Bonfire Night here in the UK so there'll be lots of bonfire parties and fireworks tonight. I'll be staying in with the dogs as they aren't keen on all the noise but have fun if you are celebrating tonight

Claire xx

Add a little texture, a dash of black and some swirls

Time for a new challenge at Cooking it up with Katie, this week Katie's recipe is

• Texture
• Black
• Swirls

and we have a fab sponsor, this week the winner will receive a prize from Meljen's Designs! I've used this supercute image from Meljen's to make a get well card

The image is coloured with promarkers and matted on some black card. BPs are from Raspberry Road Designs, again matted on black card. I added a border of coredinations whitewash card which I embossed with the cuttlebug swirls folder and sanded before adding some pleated ribbon. I added some black buttons and a little sentiment on a punched envelope to finish off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Crazy 4 Challenges: Sketch

Paper Romance: Pleated Ribbon

One Stop Craft Challenge: Anything goes

Gingerloft Challenge: Buttons

Lollipop Crafts: embossing

My time to craft: Quick and cute

Thanks for calling by today. I'm counting down to the weekend as I finish work on Friday for a whole week off!!

Claire xx

Halloween blog hop and Cowgirl Up!!

Hello, not only do we have a new challenge this week at Cowgirl's Sunday Stampen Challenge, we also have a really fun Halloween blog hop with prizes and candy too!!

If you've arrived from Chris' fabby blog, then you're on the right track, if not you need to hop on over to the challenge blog where the fun is starting!!

The winner will receive a fantastic prize from our sponsor Crafty Ribbons!! Not only will  the lucky winner receive these gorgeous ribbons, they'll also win 2 images from CJ at Cowgirl Designs Digital Stampen Ranch too !!

The  Top 3 will each receive one image from CJ and winners badge.

Winners must hop along the Posse Name list and comment to win. We will be checking :-)
To win the candy, you must leave a comment on the challenge blog stating which Posse card or project they liked best and why. 

There is also an extra prize!! Challengers that use any one of CJs images will be entered in a special drawing for a grab bag of goodies and images. We would like challengers to use Halloween Images for the hop, however not everyone has Halloween where they live or celebrates it so as long as you use one of CJs images you will be put inthe special draw :-)

Here's my card for the Halloween blog hop!! I haven't used a special Halloween image, I thought Cj's gorgeous image 'Jackie' would make a fun halloween card (you can find Jackie here in CJ's shop). Jackie is coloured with promarkers and attached to the background with 3d foam pads.  The circular background is coloured with promarkers and distressed with black and purple ink.

The bps are all from Raspberry Road Designs and I stamped spiders webs over the purple bp. The flowers are made from recycled packaging (I knew it would come in handy lol), the purple tissue was cut in circles, glimmer misted, scrunched up and then layerd overy some black shredded corrugated card (more recycled packaging lol). I added some irridescent seed beads to the flower centres.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Sketch and Stash: Sketch

Drunken Stampers: Halloween

Allsorts: Spots and Stripes

The Crazy Challenge: Halloween

Ooh La La: Scary Stuff

Paper Playtime: Pumpkins/Spiders webs

Craft your Passion: Orange Purple and Black

C.R.A.F.T: Spooky

Paper Cutz: Halloween + stars, circles, diamonds or crescents (I chose circles on my bp)

Thanks for hopping by today, your next stop on the Cowgirl Up Halloween blog hop is Elke's blog so hop on over and see her fabulous Halloween creation!!

Claire xx

Witches Brew

Hi there do you fancy a Witches Brew?  Our challenge this week at Michelle Perkett Studio is a spooky challenge - we want to see your halloweeny creations with your yummy halloween backing papers too. I've used Candy, The Sweet Halloween Witch' (available from Michelle's Etsy Store) for this spooky card (although Candy is too cute to be spooky lol)

Sorry the pic is a bit dark, its hard to see the gorgeous bps (Booville from Raspberry Road Designs) . I've followed the sketch from Truly Scrumptious, punched a border on the Halloween text paper with an EK success punch and distressed all the papers with lots of  black ink. On the folded back corner I stamped a spooky spider in his web with an Elusive Images stamp. Candy is coloured with promarkers.

I haven't got any halloweeny embellishments so I decided to make my own lol. The broomstick is made with a cocktail stick inked with black ink and some purple and orange embroidery thread tied on with a bow. I crushed a bottletop in my cuttlebug, added black glitter to the outside and cut a circle from the text paper and stuck it onto some black braid. I'm entering this card with my home made embellies in the Top Tip Tuesday Challenge which is 'Anything Goes'

I'm entering Candy in the following challenges:

Crafts and Me: Halloween

Truly Scrumptious: Sketch

Glitterbabe's Challenge: Halloween (and of course glitter/sparkle)

Moving Along with the Times: Halloween

Polkadoodles: Something spooky

Stamp something: Halloween somethings

Creative Inspirations: Halloween/Fall

Pollycraft: Purple, Green +1 (I chose orange)

Magical Monday: Halloween

A Spoonfull of Sugar: Boo

I hope you're going to share a Witches Brew with us this week :-)

Don't forget we have the fab Full Moon Fever Blog hop coming up at the weekend too, you can find out more here!!

Thanks for calling by, hope you're having a good week so far :-)

Claire xx

Cooking it up with Katie

Wednesday has come around again, so its time for a new challenge from Cooking it Up with Katie!! This week Katie has another great recipe for your cards and crafty creations:

• leaf
• embossing
• sticker

Here's my card made with a supercute stamp from Jazzlins Designs - dont' you just love that little mouse tucking in to that Christmas pudding??

The bps are from Raspberry Road designs. I cut an aperture in the green distressed paper using a die from Marianne Designs (ok, it was an accident, I cut the shape out to use on another card and noticed it fitted this image perfectly lol). I've lightly distressed around the edges of the papers and the aperture with a craft knife and then embossed with  ranger queen's gold EP.  I used some vintage photo DI around the inside of the frame. I've used an EK success border punch for the border and some paper flowers and leaves (also from Jazzlins). I added some clear gems coloured with alcohol inks for the centres. The sentiment is one of my favourites from Elusive Images, again embossed with gold EP. The ribbon and brads are from my stash. I don't use many stickers but added a cute little mouse sized Christmas stocking to finish the card off.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Tuesday Taggers: More than 2 legs (although you can only see Mr Mouses nose and ears lol)

Ellephantastic: Anything goes

Craftalicious: Anything goes

Bah Humbug: Christmas Cuties

Thanks for calling by, I hope you'll cook up something with Katie's recipe this week

Claire xx

A new challenge at Michelle Perkett Studios!!

Hi there, hope you  are having a good week. Its really grey and miserable here at the minute so hopefully this card with brighten things up a little. There is a new challenge today at Michelle Perkett Studios and the theme this week is 'Girly with Bling!'

 I've used the beautiful 'Bella the Baker' from Michelle Perkett Etsy Store and bps from Raspberry road designs for this card.

Bella is coloured with promarkers and some sparkly sakura stardust highlights on the flowers and cake for a little bling. Its matted on matching card from my stash. I've made the border with a MS punch, added some velvet ribbon, paper flowers and some swirly corners cut on my cricut to finish off.

I'm entering Bella in the following challenges:

Incy Wincy: Anything goes

One Stitch at a time: anything goes

Alphabet: V is for Vintage

Charisma Cardz: Anything goes

Tuesday throwdown: all about punches

Fab'n'Funky: Quote me happy ( I love the quote on this image from Michelle, the only thing is whenever I colour it, I end up singing the song all day - no wonder its raining lol)

Thanks for looking. Don't forget to pop over to my teamies blogs to see their fab cards using Michelle's images and remember if you don't have any of Michelle's images yet you can pick up some fantastic freebies over at CDAC, PCP and SNR (links on my sidebar)

Claire xx

Happy Birthday wishes from Polly, Dolly and William

Its time for another challenge over at Michelle Perkett Studios and this week our challenge is 'Stitching', we want to see some kind of stitching on your cards this time around - real or faux its up to you. I've used this beautiful new image from Michelle's Etsy Store  for this birthday card

I love this image, they are so cute in their vintage costumes!! I coloured the image with promarkers and matted it on a little pink glitter card. The stripey  bps are from Raspberry Road designs and I though they'd be fab with this vintage inspired image. I punched borders with a Martha Stewart punch and added some pastel blue velvet ribbon. The stitching was done with my sewing machine, i struggled with the tension but I thought this would be fine for a shabby chic style card (well thats my excuse lol) I used a leafy stitch around the bps and a kind of zigzag around the image. I coloured some strips torn from a roll of canvas with brilliance ink and glimmer mists and made some roses to embellish the card. (You can find a tutorial for these fab roses on Lynne's blog here but be warned they are addictive lol)

I'm entering Polly, Dolly and William in the following challenges:

Fab'n'Funky : Material (mmm I think my canvas counts as material)

Moving Along with the Times:  In Stitches

Alphabet challenge: S is for Scallops

Paperplay Challenge: In Stitches

Cute card Thursday: Material girl

Ooh La La : Stripes

Meljen's : Stripes

I hope your're going to join us for our Stitching challenge at Michelle Perkett Studios this week, why not check out my teamies blogs for some fabulous inspiration

Thanks for calling by,

Claire xx

Cooking it up with Katie, a fruity recipe this week....

We've got another fun recipe for you over at Cooking it up with Katie, and some exciting news .... we're going to be having a new challenge every week instead of every fortnight!! Katie has some exciting recipes and some fabulous sponsors lined up!! This week we are sponsored by Robyn's Fetish and we were lucky enough to use one of Robyn's fab images, I chose Daisy Days. Our recipe this week is:

• 
  
  Get fruity
• 
  
  Circles, and
• 
  
  Paper Piecing

Here's my card:

Daisy is coloured with promarkers and her dungarees are paper pieced with red gingham paper. I've used some gorgeous papers, frame and sentiment from Raspberry Road designs. The papers are distressed with my craft knife and vintage photo DI. I cut circles out of the left over bps and scrunched them up before layering them up to make some flowers. I also added some paper roses from Wild Orchid Crafts, a little green organza ribbon and a plastic strawberry. I found this little strawberry, it had fallen off an artificial strawberry plant so I chopped it in half with my craft knife and attached it with some silicone glue

I'm also entering Daisy in the following challenges:

Daring Cardmakers: Its a girl thing

One stop craft challenge: Patterns (I chose gingham)

Allsorts: Dressing up

The Crafty Pad: Ribbons and flowers

Die cut dreams: Gingham

Just scraps: Paper Patchwork

Incy Wincy: Summer fun

Thanks for popping in, I'm looking forward to seeing what you can cook up with our recipe this week!!

Claire xx