Let it snow

Hi,  I hope you are all having a good day,  today  I have been making more Christmas Cards but for today I  thought I would  go  back to  my  roots so to speak. When I very  first began with arts and crafts watercolour pencils were my first love and I used them for almost everything, since then I have branched out  into all sorts of  mediums and  more  recently Promarkers  and PanPastels had some what stolen the show as  it were. So  for this card I decided to go  back to my  beloved watercolour pencils, I have made this card to enter in to a few challenges;
Lili Of The  Valley - Week 122 - Anything  Goes
Stampin For The Weekend - Challenge 21 - Friends
Oldie But A Goodie - Christmas No Red Or Green
Mariannes Design Diva's - Sparkle And Shine

To  make this card  I  began  with a piece of A4  ice blue shimmer card which I scored  in  the center to make an A5 card base.  Next I stamped my spring bunnies  image from Lili  Of The  Valley and  a greeting that was a  magazine freebie on to white  card, then I stamped out my spring  bunnies image again on to scrap paper,  cut it out and used it  to mask the original image  and stamped the  trees in for my background (the  tree was also a magazine freebie). Then I coloured them in  with watercolour pencils and  used a paint brush and a  little water to blend the colours, making it in to a snow scene by the way I coloured it.

Next I cut out my  image and  my greeting  using Spellbinders nestabilities and  then used a quickie glue  pen to add  white glitter to  the ground, the trees, some spots in the sky for snow and a little around the edges  of my greeting.

I then used Marianne  Design dies  to cut out 3 fancy frames in purple card and at the same time cut out some snowflakes using Marianne Design dies  in both  purple card and ice blue shimmer card.

Next I took my  base card and tied some shimmery purple organza ribbon around the  front of  the  card tying  it in a  not at the front, I then stuck my fancy frames  (the ones  from  Marianne Designs) in  to place on  my  card (using  two to go underneath  the main image) and then  stuck  my image and my  greeting in to  place on top of  them.

I then  layered the snowflakes on top of one another and stuck them in to place adding an irridescant shimmer dot  to the center of each and finally I  stuck some paper rose's in  to the top right corner and the bottom left  corner.

Thank  you for reading this post as always I love to hear  any comments that you  have.

Lindsay xx

Snow Fun Card

Good evening lovely peeps, I hope you have all had a good day.

Just popped on to show you another card I have made using the Crafters Companion A Winters Tale cd-rom.

Thanks for stopping by don't forget to enter my candy draw and remember that the theme over at the PanPastel Challenge blog this week is animals and we would love to see your beautiful creations.

As always I love to hear any comments you have.

Lindsay xx

Red White and Green Christmas

Good afternoon, I hope you have all had more productive days than I have, I seem to have had one of those days where I just don't seem to have done very much and I don't really understand why or where all the time went lol.

Here is something I did manage to get done for a few challenges;
Passion for Promarkers challenge blog - Week 127 - Swirls and Sparkles
I love Promarkers challenge blog - Challenge 93 - Anything Goes
Willow Sketchie challenge blog - Challenge 24 - November- Sketch + 2 Ribbons and 1 Button
Polka Doodles challenge blog - Week 47 - Italian Christmas and Blog Candy
The Ribbon Girl challenge blog - Jingle All The Way To Christmas Challenge
Penny Black Saturday challenge blog - Week 179 - Christmas  & Red & Embossing
Fabs  Big Christmas Challenge - November

To make this card i began by taking an A3 piece of white card and trimming, scoring and folding it to make an 8" x 8" card base, I then rounded the corners with my EK Success corner punch and embossed a little swirl border (from a stencil I don't know the make of) along the top and bottom edges of the card.

Next I stuck on a layer of patterned paper from Papermania deck the hall paper pack and a piece ribbon bought from a local craft store. I then put the card aside and stamped out my hedgehog 3 times on to Elegance Satin super smooth card using a stamp from the Penny Black wonderful day set and coloured them in with my Promarkers (some of my favorite colours to use are  staring to run out now and I NEED to buy more, it would be a terrible shame if I HAD to buy them in set with a few other shades i don't already have .... tehe!). When I finished colouring I cut out each of the hedgehogs with scissors and then wrote my greeting in the balloons with a Letraset fine liner pen, I then cut out two circles in white card using my X-cut nesting dies and two scalloped circles in another sheet from the Papermania deck the halls with more X-cut nesting dies and stuck them all in to place on my card (sticking the hedgehogs on last so that they would not be covered by the overlapping papers).

I then embossed my swirly christmas tree on white card and coloured it using green PanPastel and glittered using a Zig glue pen and white glitter, at this point I also went back to my card and glittered the swirl embossed edges as well. When I was happy with the glitter I stuck the tree in to place on my card and added a few red self adhiesive rhinestones to it.

To finish off I then embellished with a button, some ribbon, pinecones (little tiny real ones) and plastic holly leaves and berries.

Before I go I would like to just say a couple of thank you's as aside from being slow going I have been quite lucky today, when I logged on this morning I had an email  to tell me that I had won my  first ever blog candy prize from Dawn's World which I was so pleased about and  then whilst looking at blogs I discovered that I had also won a second blog  candy prize from Magnolia By Irene  so big thank  you's to both as  this really perked up my day.

Thank you for reading this post, I hope  I haven't waffled on to much and as always I love to hear your comments.

Lindsay xx

PanPastel Challenge Blog - Challenge 10 - Animals

Hello everyone, it's time for a new challenge over at the PanPastel Challenge Blog the challenge is sponsored by Your Creativity Store and the prize is a fab taster pack of PanPastels and sofft tools (colours may vary).

Ok so the challenge this week is Animals and I must admit I got a little carried away with this one as animals are one of the things that I really enjoy drawing and I couldn't choose between the drawings I had done so I just made cards with all of them. Before I show you the cards I  just want to remind you that you can use any medium to enter the challenge so I hope you will come over to the challenge blog and join in as we love to see your creations.

To make this card I began with a sheet of orange leather effect A4 card I measured and scored a vertical line at 74mm in from the left hand side of the card and 148mm in from the left hand side of the card (with the card in a landscape position). I then measured and marked 74mm in from the right hand side at the top and the bottom of the card (do not score a line between these two points). Next I measured and marked halfway up the right hand edge of the card (105mm). When I had marked all my measurements on the right hand side of the card I scored lines from the mark halfway up the right hand edge to the measurements 74mm in from the right hand side at the top of the card and then again from the halfway up mark to  the mark at 74mm in at the bottom of the card. Next I scored lines diagonally from the top measurement at 74mm in from the right hand side to the bottom of the score line 74mm in from left hand side and from the bottom measurement 74mm in from right hand side to the top of the score line 74mm in from the left hand side. This sounds far more complicated than it actually is so below is a  picture of how the score lines should drawn in on rough paper so that they are easier to see.

I have then cut along the scorelines that go from the marks 74mm in from the right hand side to the mark halfway up the edge to form my diamond shape as shown in the picture above.

The next stage is to fold the card, to  do this first I  fold each score line back and forth individually to loosen them up, then I fold the score line 74mm in from the left so that the rectangular panel 74mm wide comes towards me (with  the front side of the card facing you). I then push the score line at 148mm in from the left backwards at both the top and the bottom of the card so that the smaller triangle panels sit behind the diamond shaped panel and the larger triangle panel is sitting on the rectangle panel.

Next I cut a piece of ribbon 210mm long and stuck it along the center of the rectangle panel I then put a decent amount of Collal glue gel on the larger triangle panel and stuck it  on to the rectangle panel overlapping the ribbon. I used wooden clothes pegs at the back to hold this in place whilst the glue dries (I would recommend leaving the pegs on over night to make sure the glue is completely dry before removing them and the card will not then spring apart).

Next I drew my leopard image, coloured it using PanPastels and cut it out using Spellbinders dies, I also cut out a slightly larger piece of gold card using the same set of Spellbinders to mount it on to. When I had mounted my image I then stuck it in to place on my card.

To decorate I attached metal flower charms to either side of the image and a "hand made with love" charm above the image  and finally placed a metal sentiment tag that says "priceless" below the image.

Ok, so that's the first card finished.................

To make this card I began with a piece of white A4 card (in landscape position) and measured and scored vertical lines at 99mm in from the left hand side of the card and 198mm in from the left hand side of the card.

I then cut my window in the first panel of the card using Spellbinders dies and folded my card so that the right hand panel folded over the center panel and then the left hand panel (with the aperture / window ) folded over the top of both the others. I then decorated the panels with patterned papers that were free from a magazine and cut out mounts in blue mirror board and white card using the same Spellbinders dies that i used for my window. I then drew my seal image on one of the white mounts and coloured using PanPastels, mounted it on to the  blue mirror board and stuck it in to place (on the right hand panel so that it can be seen through the window when the card is closed). Next I took the other white mount,  stuck my peel offs in to place, mounted on to mirror board and stuck it in to place in the center panel.

Finally I decorated by adding a joy charm and a bow made from blue silk ribbon to the front panel and snowflake glitter peel offs to all of the panels.

So that's 2 down ............ does anybody else have a headache lol ..... no just me then ...... my brain hurts! hehe!

OMG! Sorry I will get to explaining this card in a moment, my head hurt before but it just very nearly exploded  and I came very close to full on panic, I clicked on the above picture to change the size and everything that I had just spent the last two hours writing disappeared! I frantically checked the post history and couldn't see it anywhere, being new to blogger I didn't know exactly where to look and it took me a few minutes to locate the drafts section. I was so relived to see it sitting there, as if it had been Wordpress I was on I would've lost everything as on Wordpress when it says its saving your drafts as you type it's usually lying, I love that blogger actually does save them, I am now officially sold, Blogger I love you!

Ok back to business, sorry about the little rant there my heart is slowing now and I  feel able to continue lol.

This card is quite a simple one, I began with a 5" x 5" card blank and layered on some silver card and patterned papers from My Minds Eye Lost and Found collection, I drew my elephants on A4 paper, scanned them in to my computer, shrunk them down to the size I wanted and printed them on to white card. Next I coloured them in using PanPastels, cut out the image and stuck it in to place, decorating with some Papermania irridescant shimmer dots.

Hurrah! Last card and its another simple one, again I started with a 5" x 5" card blank this  time  using gold card and more papers from My Minds Eye Lost and Found collection I then drew my bear  scanned him in to my computer, re-sized him and printed him out on to white card colouring him in with PanPastels. Next I cut him out stuck him to the card and then also stuck my peel offs in place. Finally I decorated with the chipboard  outdoors die cut (I don't remember where this came from sorry) and a little gold bow.

Thank you for reading this post and I apologize  for the little  rant in the middle, as always I love to hear any comments you have and I hope you will come over to the  challenge blog and join in.

Lindsay xx

House Mouse and friends challenge card - Fuzzy & Warm

Hiya, here is the card that I have made for the House Mouse & Friends Challenge Blog - Challenge 109 - Fuzzy & Warm.

I just fell in love with this decoupage and thought it was perfect for the current House Mouse & Friends challenge, the decoupage is from Joanna Sheen and the papers were free from Crafts Beautiful magazine, the green plant type bits  I used to frame the edge of the picture are actually potpourri which is far cheaper than a lot of the embellishments on the market and smells lovely!

Thanks for reading this post, as always I love to hear any comments that you have

Lindsay xx

Decoupaged Christmas Cards

Evening folks, Hope you are all having a lovely Friday, I have been doing decoupaged Christmas cards today (I know you are probably all getting sick of Christmas cards by now, sorry, I promise there will be a non Christmas post by the end of the weekend)

So here is what I have been up to today,

The bottom two cards are made using the free papers that came  with this months Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine (which are really fab papers), the first card was made using Crafters Companion Winters Tale cd-rom and the Popcorn decoupages were free with Papercraft Inspirations magazine.

Thank you for reading this post, as always I love to hear any comments that  you have.

Lindsay xx

Thank you and a freebie

Hiya, just wanted to say a big thank you to the people who gave me their opinions on my artwork yesterday, it was really very helpful to me and it has given me a good idea of where to go next with my artwork. Thank you so much for your honesty  and your constructive comments.

Today I have been playing with some of my graphic design software and have made a paper for you to download free as a little thank you for the support and lovely comments of my followers.

I hope you are all having lovely crafty days

Lindsay xx

An Introduction and a Favour ....

Hi everyone firstly I would just  like to say a huge thank you to everyone for your lovely comments on my cards, its been a huge pick me up as I have been feeling a little low over the last few days so I just wanted to say how much I appreciate it.

Ok so I don't have a card to show you today but something else, I would like to introduce you all to one of my own character designs....... he is a little lizard man named Mozpoz and he likes to eat mushrooms. The reason I have decided to introduce you all to him is that I need to ask a favour of you all. The favour I would like to ask is for you to give me feedback (and if possible send your friends over to give me their feedback aswell), what I need from you all is brutal honesty as at the moment I am toying with the idea of making some of my designs in to stamps for the UK Craft market. I have never done anything like this before (I have never even been self employed) and I must admit the very idea of it is absolutely terrifying to me so I would really really appreciate your opinions. What I would like to know is if I were to bring out a stamp range of Mozpoz and his friends (his friends are not on here yet but will be making an appearance soon) would you consider buying them? If yes what sort of other settings might you like to see him in? If no what would you like to see in a range of stamps? Also regardless of whether you like or dislike Mozpoz, what sort of designs do you feel are missing from the stamp market that you would like to see? Once again please be brutally honest with me as I really would find your opinions very helpful.

 

Ok so what do you think? The top image is a new one that I have finished today. There is also a little bit more of my artwork on the My artwork and illustrations page but at the moment it is only a very small sample of my work at the moment as I am currently in the process of scanning and watermarking my images. If anyone has any hints, tips or advise about starting a business or being self employed I would also be very grateful to hear them.

Thank you for reading this post and for any comments or advise you can give me

Lindsay xx

Pink and White Christmas Card

Afternoon all, I hope you are all well and warm as it seems to be getting decidedly frosty here and I am not a fan of the cold, fuzzy socks and hot water bottles at the ready lol.

I have made the card below for a couple more challenges ( I apologize for being all christmas at the moment but as I am a little disorganized this year I am trying to combine blogging and challenges with making christmas cards)
Penny Black and more @allsorts - November Challenge - All Creatures Great and Small
The Ribbon Girl Blog - Colour Challenge no.13 - Pink and White

 

Thanks for reading this post as always I love to hear any comments you have

Lindsay xx

Quick post

Evening all, I hope you are all well and have had good, productive, crafty days here is a card I have made for a couple of challenges,
The Crafty Bloggers Network Challenge 4 - Sketch Challenge
Penny Black Saturday Challenge Week 178 - Green + Trees
The Crafty Pad - Red + Green + Gold or Silver

 

I wasn't too sure about this one, what do you think?

Thanks  for reading this post, sorry I am not too chatty tonight, had to go to the dentist  today and for some reason I felt  wiped out afterwards, so I am thinking  an early night for me! As always I love to read your comments.

Lindsay xx

PanPastel Challenge Blog - Challenge 9 - Frosty and Bright

Morning everyone, hopefully this post should be getting published at 8am on Sunday morning but as this is my first scheduled post using blogger we are in slight trial and error territory here lol.

Anyway ... its time for another new challenge over at the PanPastel Challenge Blog and this week is very exciting   we have a brand new prize from our sponsor Your Creativity Store plus we also have a celeb guest DT! 

The new prize is a Taster kit of PanPastels and sofft tools (colours of PanPastel may vary) and the celeb guest designer is Maria Simms from Clarity Stamps and Create and Craft tv.

This weeks theme is Frosty and Bright and don't forget you can use any medium to enter so everyone can join in, lastly the DT call over at the PanPastel Challenge Blog is still open and running until 12pm Saturday the 17th of December so please stop by and check that out.

Ok, so for this weeks theme I decided to try something a little different.

To make this mobile I began with a piece of curved acrylic plastic, I found this in a box I keep with bits and pieces from things around the house that I have salvaged bits from after they broke, I couldn't tell you what it was originally a part of as I don't remember but alternatively you could use curved plastic packaging from food products. I do love to recycle and I believe you can find any number of useful objects about the home that's why I won't throw anything away until I have taken it apart and salvaged any usable items.

I began by colouring the acrylic using perfect medium and blue PanPastel and then melting 7 holes in the the plastic using my pyrography heat tool and threaded a length of embroidery  thread through each hole tying a not at the end of each.

Next I drew my penguins and coloured them in with PanPastel (if you are not happy drawing you own you can use a stamped image but remember you need to have 8 images of a symmetrical design as they need to go back to back)

I then cut out my 18 snowflakes using Marriane Designs dies, I took three jingle bells from Anita's and tied them on to the three central strings glued my snowflakes and penguins in to place.

Thank you for reading this post, as always I love to hear any comments that you have and please do come and join in with us at the PanPastel Challenge Blog as we love to see your beautiful creations.

Lindsay xx

Another Christmas card made for challenges

Hello, I hope you are all having a good  Saturday afternoon.

Here is another card I have made  for four challenges;
Diva's by Design challenge blog - Challenge 15 - Monochromatic
Lili Of The Valley challenge blog -Challenge 121 - A Christmas Card For Someone Special
Polka Doodles challenge blog - Week 46 - Shaped Christmas
Sarah Hurley challenge blog - Challenge 54 - Buttons

 

To make this card I began with a sheet of A3 white card which I scored and folded to make an A4 card base and then cut it in to the shape using my Spellbinders Grand  Calibur and Spellbinders Grand Nestabilities. I then scored a line horizontally across the front of the card at the halfway point and folded it as shown in the picture below.

 

Next I cut out two of the same size and shape as the card base in brown shimmer card and stuck one of them to the folded section of the card base as shown in the picture below (make sure to only put adhesive on half of the front page of the card, for your easel mechanism to  function you must not glue past the score line).

 

I then took the second sheet of brown shimmer card that I cut out earlier and cut it in have sticking it to the front of the bottom part of the card base on the inside of the card (the piece that lies flat on your work surface).

Next I cut out two more  of the shapes in white using smaller  dies from the same set and one more in white (the white ones were the dies 2 and 4 in from the center of the pack and the gold was 3 in from the center of the pack). When this was done I cut a sliver off the longer side of the larger white piece about an inch deep (its the sliver an inch deep that we want to keep for this card), then I took the sliver of white card and the whole white shape and dry embossed them both with snowflakes using an embossing board.

 

When I was happy with the embossing  I took both pieces and added colour to them using a vintage photo distress ink from Tim Holtz and my Tim Holtz blending tool and when this was done I stuck the long slim piece to the inside of the card at the front (on top of the brown shimmer card) using silicone glue.

I then cut the other piece of card that I had embossed and inked in to thirds and layered them on to the gold piece of card, before sticking these down I stuck a piece of textured material to the back of the gold card and then stuck them all in place on the front of the card and trimming the pieces of textured material to the shape f the card base where it  overlapped the edges.

Once this was done I stamped out my bear image using a Lili Of The Valley stamp, pigment ink and Elegance Satin Super Smooth card and then coloured him in with Promarkers using shades of brown and yellow's for blending and highlighting.

I then cut out my image and shaped him by curving the card around my finger tips and stuck him in to place using silicone glue, then added my peel off sentiment beside him.

To decorate I added three buttons with string tied through the holes on the right  side of the card and three brown leaves with one golden flower to the  left side of  the card.

Thank you for reading this post, as always I love to hear any comments that you have.

Lindsay xx