Get punchy!

Hi everyone! I hope you're enjoying your weekend. We've been busy having a clear out in our house in preparation for moving house (fingers crossed!) but I've managed to fit in some crafty time this week though. Thanks to everyone for their kind comments on me starting my new job. It went OK- lots to remember- which is always the scary bit but I think I'm going to enjoy it.

So here is a card I made for my Auntie who's 81 next month. This card took me absolutely ages to do and there were times when I thought it wasn't going to turn out how I wanted. You know how you get an idea in your head and you're not sure whether it's actually going to work- well that happened with this card but I am pleased with how it turned out in the end!!

So this card originated with the idea of seeing a couple of challenges who's theme was to use punches which I'll admit I don't use that often. I also wanted to use this gorgeous image from the Autumn Leaves' Fine and Dandy set so I set out with trying to come up with an idea which incorporated the 2!

The Autumn Leaves stamp I embossed with red embossing powder and then added a couple of mini punched flowers and some gems, pearls and hot fix crystals. I saw the idea of punching a window and then forming a lattice of punched shapes over the top in a craft book by Julie Hickey. It was pretty fiddly glueing all the flowers down but the effect is worth it I think.

So here is a close up. Hopefully you can see the window and punched flowers in a bit more detail.

These are the 3 punches I used! The square punch was used repeatedly to form the window.

I'd like to enter this card for the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp DT call- "Punch it"

Creative Card Crew- "Punch it"

CRAFT Challenge- "Red"

Spoon Full of Sugar- "Use layers"

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Autumn Leaves); Red embossing powder; Paper (Basic Grey); Assorted cardstock; Punches (Woodware & Personal Impressions); Pearl embellie (Ebay); Gems (Joanna Sheen); Hot fix crystals (London Bead Co.); Ribbon (recycled)

My next make is an ATC- again not something I make very often so I thought I'd give it a go for a change.

I made this Sizzix ATC using the Chloe Sizzlit die and Buttons Sizzlit die. ATCs are so great for using up scraps of paper and card. Her body and face I actually coloured with copics as I find it's hard to get good skin toned card. The sentiment is Elzybells which I cut out and backed with one of the larger Sizzlit Buttons.

I'd like to enter this for the Creatalicious Challenge- "Nothing Stamped"- sentiments allowed.

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Elzybells); Dies (Sizzix); Assorted cardstock; Assorted paper scraps; Copics; Ribbon (recycled); Gem (recycled); Fine black liner

And lastly, how lucky am I??? I won these two fantastic stamp sets in the Elzybells blog candy draw. These are Elizabeth's new releases and I'm chuffed I won some of them!!! Thanks, Elizabeth!

Hope you've enjoyed popping by today x

Penny Black Saturday Challenge- Week 19 ATC

Hi! I thought I'd give the Penny Black Saturday Challenge a go this week. I keep meaning to enter especially as I love Penny Black SO much but I haven't got round to it. This week's challenge is to make an ATC. Again, I've been wanting to get into making these as they look so much fun but this is only my second one. They seem a great way to use up odds and ends and I love the idea of making art for art's sake rather than it actually having a purpose like a card.

I made this using some odd ends of paper from my DCWV Retro stack. The stamp is from one of the Penny Black transparent sets which I painted with my watercolour pencils. Normally I just use the watercolour pencils as pencils rather than paints but I liked the effect so I might try painting a bit more often. I highlighted the ladybird with Crystal Stickles. Then I cut the image and another matching circle using my nesties and mounted them onto the ATC. I used my Wingo Zingo alphabet to cut "us" from brown card and added some pretty butterfly stickers flying around the card. Finally I remembered I had these cute ladybird pegs so I clipped one to the top.

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Penny Black); Watercolour pencils; Crystal Stickles; Paper- Retro stack (DCWV); Assorted cardstock; Wingo Zingo alphabet (Sizzix); Nesties; Butterfly stickers (Papermania); Ladybird peg (Joanna Sheen)

Cupcake Craft Challenge 3- my first ever ATC!

This week's challenge is to make an ATC. I was quite excited by this as I haven't made an ATC before but kept meaning to give it a go. There are no other confines to the challenge- no specific colour or technique- just an ATC. Entries to be in by Sunday 12pm.

I decided to make one using this lovely mermaid stamp. I have no idea who makes this stamp as it's unmounted and I bought it randomly off Ebay. I've wanted to use this stamp for ages and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Having this challenge has given me an excuse to get on and use it as I discovered the dimensions were just about perfect for an ATC!

I coloured the mermaid using watercolour pencils and used 7 different blues on her tail. I then covered the tail in Crystal Stickles to give it a scaly appearance. I also added highlights to her using a white gel pen. I then used my brush markers to paint the sandy background. I wanted the surf of the waves to really pop out so I used my snow writer on these areas which really makes it lovely and tactile. I've used shells I've picked on a couple of my other cards before and knew they'd look perfect on this. I think the holographic card mounts it really well as it gives a reflective appearance of the sea.

Crafty stash used: Stamp (?); Assorted cardstock; Watercolour pencils; Brush markers; Snow writer (Deco Art); Crystal Stickles (Ranger); Gems (Lakeland); Shells

FOREVER FRIENDS

Have you seen the new Forever Friends collection being advertised at Artymiss? There's a whole collection consisting of a variety of papers, stickers and wooden stamps! Cute or what?! I must admit I'm very tempted but I'm trying to resist buying anything for the next few months! The only thing is, I'm guessing the stamps must be pretty small because for wood based stamps, they don't seem that expensive. I think they'd be really good for selling cards at craft shows because people are familiar with the images but they also get that handcrafted touch! Be interesting to see your crafty designs on some of the forums to see the collections in action!