And it was all Yellow

Happy Monday Morning to everyone!  This Monday is extra special because it is the start of another fun challenge over at Crafty Boots Challenges.  This fortnight's theme is yellow, and here is my card:

I used this adorable Sassy Cheryl image.  I love her images and couldn't resist coloring this beauty up in a pretty yellow dress.  The coloring was done with Flex and Pro Markers.  I used a Spellbinders Nestability die to cut the image layer and then an Edgeability die for the pink backing layer.

The flowers and the sentiment are from different Create and Craft kits that I purchased sometime last year and have been using sparingly.  I made a promise to try to use up at least some of my stash this year, so this was a perfect opportunity to do just that.

I do hope you will go over to Crafty Boots Challenges to check out the yellow inspired creations by the rest of the design team and to link up your own.  I really love looking at the wonderful projects you come up with.

I thought I would enter this card in the following challenges:

Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturdays - Birthday
Fairy Fun Fridays - Anything with Flowers
Southern Girls Challenge - Get Your Girly On
Ladybug Crafts Ink - Birthday
Passion for Promakers - Cut it Out

Also, don't forget that Just Inspirational Challenges holds a new photo inspired challenge each week starting on Thursdays.  This is the photo inspiration for the current challenge (which is sponsored by Stamping Dragon Designs.

Thank you so much for stopping by, and I hope you come back soon.  Please feel free to leave a comment.  I really do love reading them.

Take care and I hope this is a start to a lovely week for you!!

xx Denise

Birthday Girl Spring Flowers

Hey there!  Just a quick post to share a card I made specifically with a challenge in mind.  The Digi Bells are holding a blog hop challenge and I thought I would throw my hat in (and of course do a bit of hopping).

I decided to use this adorable image, which is called Little Rapunzel from Elisabeth Bell Designs.  The theme is spring flowers, so I thought she would be perfect with her beautiful flower and flowery shirt.

Here is the card I came up with...

I did the coloring with mostly flex makers, but also used promarkers for the green in the outfit and the flower stem itself.  The backing paper for the image is from Nigel May's new A-May-Zing CD and it was in the note paper section.  The bottom layer of the card is a paper by Nancy Watt which was in a back issue of Making Cards.   Nancy's papers tend to be ones that I hoard, but as I have vowed to use up at least some of my stash before buying new stuff, I thought I would use this lovely paper for this project.  The Happy Birthday sentiment is from a Kanban set of sentiments and images and the ribbon is an adhesive backed ribbon that has been in my stash almost as long as I have had a stash!

I would also like to enter this card at:
Paper Playtime - Say it with Sentiments Theme - Birthday Card 
I Love Promarkers - Floral Image (use and image with flowers)
Wishcraft Waste Not Wednesdays - Used paper and adhesive ribbon from old stash
Celebrate the Occasion - Happy Birthday (must use ribbon)


Anyway, as this is already longer than I intended, I will quick rattling on and post this.  I hope you all like it.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, and please feel free to leave a comment if you are so inclined.  I love reading them!

Take care and I hope you visit again soon.

xx Denise

An Early Thanksgiving

Well, being in the UK at the moment, the weather seems a bit more like fall than spring, so I was inspired to buy and color this lovely digi image from Simply Betty Stamps .  As an American, one of the things I miss being in the UK is celebrating Thanksgiving.  Luckily my family still live in the U.S., so I will find someone to send this card to when the time comes.

Ok, here is the card:

I absolutely love this image, and had fun coloring it.  I do have to start printing digis smaller though, as I barely fit this on half an A4 card.  The coloring was done with Flex and Pro Markers and the distressing was done with Dried Marigold Distress Ink and Butterscotch Adirondack Ink.  I cut the top layers with Grand Nestabilities dies, and the backing paper is from a Woodland Folk paper set I have had in my stash for yonks.

I wanted to pick up the blue from the image throughout the card, so I added the blue square gems on the corners.

Anyway, I thought I would share this with you all out there is crafty blog land.  I hope you like it.

Take care and happy crafting!

xx Denise

Simple Clarity

I have been trying to get back in the swing of my crafting.  Those of you who know me or are regular readers will know I have problems with my back that have made everything, including crafting, a bit more challenging for me.  Anyway, ever since I first saw Barbara Gray on Create and Craft TV I have been addicted to Clarity Stamps.  After doing a couple of cards for homework for one of her 'Classroom' shows, I came across a sunflower stamp that I purchased ages ago and decided to do what I would class as a quick and simple card.

Here is the card....

I used Versamark ink to stamp onto white card and heat embossed using WOW pepper embossing powder.  Then I brayered the card with Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade.

I matted the image layer using dark brown paper.  Then I heat embossed the sentiment, which is also a Clarity Stamp, directly on the cream card.  If I'm honest, the card originally was going to be a tri-fold, but I messed up the stamping of the sentiment on my first try (I pressed a bit too hard getting a double image on a few of the letters).  I just cut off the panel and made it a DL card.

The sunflower stamp is just so pretty I didn't think the card needed much else really.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:


Bearly-Mine Challenges - Embossing
Paper Pretties Monday Challenge - Embossing

Just a reminder, there are challenges running at Just Inspirational Challenges and at Crafty Boots Challenges, so if you are feeling creative and want to join in, check them out and link up.

All the best for a wonderful day!
xx Denise

JI Challenges - A Stroll in the Meadow

Well, it is that time again!  We have another challenge over at Just Inspirational which is being sponsored by DTsArt and My Creative Classroom.

 Here is a lovely picture chosen for you to use as inspiration for your project.

I was inspired by the colors and the emotion of this photo.  I can imagine walking through a field and coming upon a lonely tree and seeing such a beautiful sky and just feeling a bit of peace.  I found all that difficult to translate onto a card, but this is what I came up with.

The coloring of the image is done with pro markers.  It took me ages to decide how to put her onto a card.  At first I was going to go with primarily green, but I found this lovely backing paper in a Papermania pack that I have had for yonks, and thought it would be quite pretty to pull out the blue to match the blue flowers on the girl's dress and in the basket.

The layers behind the image are cut from Nestabilities dies.  The blue layer is embossed with an Impressability and distressed with stormy sky to accentuate the embossing a little.

I picked a matching vintage ribbon and the blue gems.... but I thought it needed a little something more.  I broke out yet another Spellbinder - a flower die.  I had never used it before (and actually got a plastic packaging cut on my hand getting it out..lol).  Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with the resulting flower.  I was a bit impatient and took the picture before the glue in the flower was completely dry - so please forgive me.

Well, like it or not, this is my contribution...but of course I hope you like it. :)

Pop over to the Just Inspirational Challenge blog to look at the other design team creations and to link up your own.  Just Inspirational Challenges have also recently launched a facebook group, so if you like entering our challenges, or just looking at the creations from the DT and other entrants, do join the group.  You can enter our challenges there as well if you prefer that sort of thing or don't have a blog to link up.

Take care and come back soon!

xx Denise