Inspirational Card Sketches and Passion for Promarkers

Apple time in the fens...................

Good morning one and all, what's the weather like your way ? Here in the Fens we have our normal serving up of rain and cloud, even the dogs are non too impressed today and their early morning apple hunt didn't last too long.......they love this time of year with all the windfalls........Buffy, George and Abbey are cute cookies and roll their finds to push off the wasps, poor Bernie on the other hand learnt the hard way !! Here's some pictures of the gang this morning, although not Abbey, she's feeling her age with arthritis bless her and made a quick return indoors - with her apple of course.

And not forgetting the horses who enjoy the odd apple of four, checking here to make sure ones got the same as the other...... Big Ben (on the left) is a bit of a bully when it comes to food so baby (well 15.3hh) Heskey has to bide his time and grab them when he can.

On to my card for this weeks Inspirational Card Sketches which is another of Dawn B's fantastic sketches and Passion for Promarkers which has a colour combo of Sandstone and Blue Pearl.

My image is Sarah Kay Time for Apple Pie.......how apt is that I thought......and the tree Magnolia Swirl Gran. Both stamped with Memento black and coloured with the two requisite Promarkers. The sentiment is a skinny stamp SK-LG-207 from Stamps by Judith, DP's from stash, punched edge using Martha Steward Embossed Scallop and run through the Bug using Swiss Dots folder, then lace and pearls added to embellish. Edges were shaded with Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy.

Creative Card Crew

A late posting today, busy in the office and crafting having to take a back seat, inconvenient or what. But at least the sun shone for a while this afternoon, even if I did only see it through the windows.

So this weeks Creative Card Crew challenge - this was made for me - "Have a Fairy Nice Day", everyone knows I love fairies and relish the opportunity to go fantasy.......well with so many living at the end of the garden.......now don't anyone dare tell me there are non at the end of theirs and it's all a figment of my imagination......cummon now, humour me.

Here I have combined Lavinia Flower Fairy stamp with the swirls from Inkadinkado 97513.......I am still so in love with this set.......it might just be a tincy winsy bit obvious from what I have created the last week or two.

I created the background by brayering Big and Juicy Waterfall ink but just using the lighter half as I did not want the dark blue, rolling off the excess before applying to my cardstock then rotating the card and repeating the same on the other side so I got the graduation equal. I then brayered the centre with Tim Holt worn lipstick, but rolling off most of the colour before adding it to the centre of my cardstock so I got a very very subtle pink hue.

All stamping was done with versafine black and embossed with detail clear and finally some little Lavinia toadstools and art impression leaves round the edges. I highlighted the fair wings and leaves with stickles and some gems.

I cut a double frame from a dark purple and lilac cardstock and repeat stamped the top layers with the leaf from the above Inkadinako set using Hero shadow ink pool, green and blossom. The frame does actually stand away from the stamped piece, but it does not really show up on my picture. I stamped further leaves with the same ink and embossed with detail clear and decoupaged across the bottom of the frame.

Penny Black Challenge

I am Scheduling ahead here, just in case you think I am posting at 6am having just made this card.......I might be an early bird, but until those Espressos kick in not to much creative activity takes place beyond some blog hopping.......sort of wakes me up slowly.

The theme at Penny Black this week is "Hearts Desire - you can interpret this weeks challenge as you please...heart ~ papers, embellishments, text..or just a card for the one you love...its entirely up to you. Unlike my Allsorts teamie Jules where the whole heart thing comes naturally (apart from the odd slip up ah Jules !) I had to think hard about this one, then inspiration arrived in the form of one of my very favourites, Penny Black 2695J, Dance, Sing, Love.......I am hoping that last work is adequate to fit the theme this week.

I cut the card from cricut Wild Card and stamped the sentiment with versafine sepia and embossed with detail clear. The swirls are from Inkadinkado 97513 stamped in exactly the same way, then I shaded the edges of the inner circle with Hero shadow ink soft pool, added flowers, leaves cut with L-Em punch, punched out butterflies, ribbon and pearls to embellish.

Stamping for the Weekend

Sunday morning and it looks and feels distinctly like Autumn, so guess no Indian summer for us this year........despite Nasser bigging it up on behalf of the BBC weather men when he was talking about the ODI's over the next couple of weeks - sorry folks, I am talking cricket here. And to think we lost out by just four runs Friday, that old saying should try harder comes to mind.......but lets not forget we won the Ashes, so figure we need to let the Aussies have a little something to ease their wounds.

On to crafty things and my card for this weeks Stamping for the Weekend, with Mr Mojo on go slow the last few days I confess I found this one tough and this is in fact my third attempt, no idea what my problem was as it's a gorgeous colour combo - "Orange, Teal and Pink".

Eventually I settled on this one using a piece of My Minds Eye DP which carries all three colours as the base onto an orange card. The next layer is a piece of my favourite linen cardstock stamped all over with Hero Arts CL2365 French Writing using Tim Holtz scattered straw, which I also used to distress the edges after I had given them a good 'duffing up' (that's one our Fen sayings). The leaves are stamped in versafine sepia and embossed with detail clear are from Hero CL338, as is the sentiment in the corner.

The three flowers and acetate overlays were cut on Cricut Home Decor from Bazzil cardstock, shaded round the edges and then I stamped the three acetate flowers with Hero H3317 Delicate Weave using Stayzon timber brown. To finish I added buttons and raffia and some 'curly bits' with the offcuts from the main card.

Rosie Dees challenge

Time for the reveal of my card for Rosie Dees challenge and a sneak peek of my project for the new challenge which goes live this evening - don't forget too check it out and do have a go, the Design Team really enjoy popping over to your blogs to have a look and leave you a few words.

For my card, which I confess is a rather quick one this week, following the colour theme of pink, brown and yellow I have used Stampendous N152 stamped onto brown cardstock with versamark and embossed with pink embossing powder. The striped DP is one of the new ones in the Magenta Tilda range which had some really pretty pastel designs as well as some lovely blues and browns. The borders are cut with Martha Steward doily lace punch and flowers, ribbon and gems added to embellish.

Friday Sketchers

I'm so thrilled as I won the candy at Friday Sketchers, $30 of stamps - my choose - from Verve stamps, so a big thank you to all. And this week Heidi has given us another super sketch to follow.

The finished article is a bit busy compared with my norm, but I think it has a sort of Victoriana feel to it and it's growing on me. I used a stamp I have had for ages but rarely used, it is Great Impression H133 which I stamped with versafine back and embossed with detail clear, then coloured the butterflies with Promarkers. The DP is from Kaiser and the butterflies made using my Xcut punch using some scraps of checked vellum which seem to be made for this DP as the colours match so well. I added some lace, made wire antenna for the butterflies, layered them and added Distress Stickles for the thorax. The greeting is from a clear Hero set, but afraid I don't have the code.

Allsorts challenge

Wow don't the weeks fly by, it's week 17 already at Allsorts and the theme this week has been set my my teamie Debs who is looking for "Something for the Boys". Now all us crafters always complain that cards for men are difficult, so we are really looking forward to seeing what your creative juices produce.

My DT card uses this cute little owl from Hero Arts A4942 stamped three times and the branch H4946 all stamped with versafine sepia and embossed with detail clear over a moon created by sponging through a circle cut into in a piece of copier paper. The leaves and swirls in the corner are from Inkadinkado 98396 and the leaf is from the same set, stamped onto shrink plastic with Brilliance inks. Border and corner are Martha Stewart embossed zigzag and DP's My Minds Eye.......just for a change - I know it's becoming repetitive, but they do have such yummy designs and the quality is superb ! Sentiment is Art Impression G3130 and I added tiny gems for the owls eyes.