My Hero!

I'm quickly catching up with some of the challenges from the last week now that we are back from holiday! I do like the sketches on Sweet Sketch Wednesday and the current one is this:

I've used a digital image by Lee Jacobs which I bought from here, coloured with Promarkers plus black and grey felt tips (I've yet to buy these colours in Promarkers!) plus china-graph white pencil for highlighting.
The plain green backing is actually a card blank that I cut down with the printed from Polkadoodles Sugar Birdies cd and I thought it went perfectly with the image when I was sorting through all my scraps.

The sentiment is computer generated and I've added two buttons with jute bows to comply with the sketch.

• Printed backing papers: Sugar Birdies from Polkadoodles
• Image: Digital image by Lee Jacobs coloured with Promarkers and bought from here
• Sentiment: Computer generated
• Everything else: My stash
  

Good Luck!

A wonderful challenge over on Passion For Promarkers as they are celebrating their First Anniversary with some fantastic prizes up for grabs!

The challenge is:

Anything Goes

I've made this sweet good luck card as a work colleague is moving to pastures new in the next few weeks. The image is a freebie I got as part of the 50/50 Stamping Group and is from Soft Pencil. I've coloured it with Promarkers with a little glitter glue over the flowers for a bit of sparkle.

The backing papers are from Funky Hand - the pale pink is from The Funky One and the spotty paper from Funky Daze. I've handwritten the sentiment and used ribbon from my stash. I've also doodled around the edges of the image, sentiment and spotty papers.

• Backing papers: The Funky One and Funky Daze
  
• Image: Soft Pencil, coloured with Promarkers and glitter glue
  
• Sentiment: Handwritten
  
• Ribbon: My stash
  

T-shirt Transfer Tutorial

Here is the t-shirt transfer tutorial I promised! I did try and get it all ready before we went on holiday last weekend but despite spending over an hour trying to sort out the photos, Mr Blogger was just not playing and either kept loosing the photos or putting weird code in their place! Hopefully, this one will work!

The t-shirt transfer paper was generously sent to me by Photo Paper Direct who asked me to test the product and blog about it! And because I enjoyed making the first t-shirt I decided to turn the second t-shirt into a tutorial!

To begin, take a sheet of the t-shirt transfer paper. It comes in a pack of A4 and you can buy 20 sheets for around £8 (the budget pack is cheaper!) I used a kids plain white t-shirt that I pre-washed (bought 2 from Primark for less than £2). You will also need felt-tips or another colouring medium - do not use Promarkers as these take the surface off the paper. Copics are probably the same. Also, a sheet of greaseproof paper, a domestic iron, a surface that will withstand your iron on the hottest setting (do not use the ironing board!) and of course a digital image!

I used the sweet dino image from Simple Doodles (I'd previously asked permission to use it), decided on the best size and within Word I flipped the image so that when it was ironed onto the t-shirt it would be the correct way round - very important if using wording!

When I came to print the image onto the transfer paper, I selected the correct setting, however I didn't use this for my first t-shirt - I simply printed it as normal and it worked fine!

Here is the dino waiting to be coloured!

These are the felt-tips I used to colour my image - bought from Tesco for around £2.50.

And here, I've started to colour the base colour of the dino. I selected a pale colour to begin with and then built up the depth afterwards. Take care not to 'scrub' at the image as the surface will disintegrate.
I didn't leave enough time for the different colours to dry, so I experienced some 'bleeding' with the red. But I quite like the effect!

Once the image has been coloured cut it out leaving a fine border around the image - if you leave a wide border it will be more noticable once the image has been ironed onto the t-shirt.


Place the image coloured side down onto the t-shirt where you want it to be. You may want to use a small peice of sellotape to keep it in place if its easier. Apologies for the photo being the wrong way!
Now set your iron to its hottest setting and once upto temperture iron the image onto the t-shirt by using small round motions ensuring the whole of the image is covered. Do this for around 2 minutes and the backing paper will turn brown.

Leave the image to cool completely - you have enough time for a cup of tea and a hob nob! Once completely cool, carefully peel the backing paper from the image. Take care to peel it away in one full peice otherwise you may damage the image underneath.

If you prefer your transfer to be shiny then you can finish at this point and simply leave the t-shirt for 24 hours before washing it inside out.

However, if you want the image to appear matt, then place the sheet of greaseproof paper over the image and iron it, again on the hottest setting for around 30 seconds. Whilst the paper is still hot, peel it away.

The image underneath is now matt finish.

Leave it all to cool and wash the t-shirt inside out 24 hours later. It can either be tumble dried or left to dry naturally.

And here you have the finished t-shirt modelled by Jacob! He was looking most pleased as I had just bribed him with ice cream and chocolate sauce - after the photo shoot of course!!


If you want to use a pre coloured digital image then the same steps will be followed just without the colouring. I am really impressed as to how easy the t-shirt transfer paper was to use and I have a feeling that I will be buying a pack of the paper as I have more ideas on how to use it! If you want to use it on canvas bags, then Photo Paper Direct also sell them!

From start to finish, the whole process took around 2 and a half hours although I staggered it over 2 days. Please remember to ask permission from the digital artist before their image is used.

Thank you to Photo Paper Direct for sending me the paper to use and for asking me to try one of their products (I feel like I really have made it in the blogging and crafting world!) and also to Trish for allowing me to use her very cute dino!

Polkadoodle Challenge Week 21 - Sew & Sew!

Another Polkadoodle challenge this week and it is a really nice one too!

Sew and Sew!

So that can be real stitching or stamped, or faux - however it takes your fancy!

I've been trying to use up stuff I've already printed and I found these flowers that I printed off ages ago from Sugar Birdies. They've been printed onto vellum and I've layered two of each colour together, added eyelets to the centres and then tied ribbon through. The ribbon matches the splash of colour across the middle of the card.

Backing papers are also from Sugar Birdies but I've printed them at A5 size as I wanted a smaller pattern.

The sentiment is from one of the Fairy Flutterfly stamps and I've faux stitched the flower stems and also around the edges of the card.

Good luck if you enter the challenge this week - you have until Sunday 6 June to enter!

• Backing paper and flowers: Sugar Birdies
• Sentiment: Fairy Flutterfly Fairies stamp
  
• Everything else: My stash
  

Thank You Cards

This is the last set of notelet cards that I have made, this time the sentiment is 'thank you'. Again I've used some lovely cream linen effect card from the Papermill shop online and I've used papers and letters from the Patti Picklicious cd by Kirsty Wiseman. And my only set of Spellbinder Nestability dies!

I've inked around the edge of the shape with Chestnut Whispers ink and there are silver seed beads running across the filigree pattern.

You can see this in more detail here:

And again, I like these too much so can probably be safe saying that they won't make it onto my website nor will I be able to use them myself!

• Printed paper and letters: Patti Picklicious cd by Kirsty Wiseman
• Dies: Spellbinder Nestabilities
• Everything else: My stash
  
  

Flutterby Windmill

I have a confession to make! I didn't actually make the red windmill in this post, Samuel made it at school! But when Anice released this Flutterby Flowers download, I just had to use it!!

The butterfly has been printed onto white card which I've cut out and coloured with Promarkers. I've added a vellum overlay by using the butterfly as the template and then added a black border around the edge with a Sharpie marker.

The butterfly antenna has been made from red beads (not got a clue where they came from - probably a magazine freebie from ages ago!) and gold beads and wire.

The download would actually make great sheets for kids to colour in as the designs are lovely and simple and bold!

• Butterfly: Flutterby Flowers digital download from Funky Hand
• Windmill: Made by Samuel
• Everything else: My stash
  

Craft Juice Tuesday - Week 15

Welcome to another week of Craft Juice Tuesday! I've gone for a holiday theme as I am currently on my holiday! That's if Mr Blogger plays nicely and publishes the scheduled post for me!

Click on each picture to be taken to the Craft Juice listing.

Stunning glass panel from amyorangejuice titled Coombe Martin, North Devon number 2. We are actually just up the road from Coombe Martin in Ilfracombe so perfect for this week's post!

Must remember this year to take some bags to the beach when looking for shells rather than putting them in my pocket and finding the remnants long after.... Cute mermaid pendant from Glamasaurus

This pendant is made from coloured sand and is fantastic! Buy from Twist21

See you same time next week!

Flutterby Notelets

These are some cute little notelet cards I made with the new Flutterby Flowers download from Funky Hand. The cards are A5 in size (two made from a sheet of A4 card) and I've simply printed one of the sheets with the flower design, coloured the flowers and leaves with Promarkers and then added a black background, cut with a Nestabilties die and then layered a smaller white one on top.

Then added the flowers and leaves!

Simples!

I do like the boldness of the flowers and leaves and they are really easy to colour so great if you are not so confident with your colouring techniques!

• Digital Stamps: Flutterby Flowers from Funky Hand, coloured with Promarkers
• Dies: Nestabilities
  

Simple Doodles Challenge 18 - Anything But a Card

It's time for another great Simple Doodles Challenge and this time I've set the challenge!! Which is:

Anything But A Card

A while ago I was contacted by a representative from Photo Paper Direct asking me if I would test and review some of their products. I was sent a sample of magnetic photo paper, sticker sheets and also T-shirt Transfer sheets. So far I've only used the T-shirt transfer sheets and here is what I made!

Apologies for the gappy toothy child but I needed a model! The sheet was really easy to use - I simply printed off the digital image I wanted (remembering to flip it to mirror image) and then coloured it with felt tips. I did try and use Promarkers but the surface of the sheet disintegrated.

After I'd finished colouring I cut around the image leaving a thin border. I then ironed this flat onto the t-shirt until the iron icon changed to brown.

Once it had cooled down I peeled off the backing sheet and then re-ironed it with a sheet of greaseproof paper between the iron and t-shirt. Left it for 24 hours and then washed it, inside out, and then popped it in the tumble drier.

Easy peasy!!


As you can see, the colours are really vibrant on the image! So not only have I managed to use the iron (on two separate occasions) I've also created friction between the boys as they are now fighting over who has the t-shirt!

So check back over the weekend as I plan to use the second sheet I was sent to make another t-shirt transfer and this time I'll blog it as a step by step tutorial. Edited to add - the tutorial will follow next weekend as Mr Blogger has really messed up my pictures and I'm on the verge of going on holiday and have not got enough time to sort it out!!

You can buy the packs of t-shirt transfer paper for just under £8 for 20 A4 sheets, and their service is fantastic!

Back to the challenge!! If you want to enter and need some inspiration, head over to the Simple Doodles Challenge blog - you have until 3 June to enter - good luck!

• T-shirt: Primark for two t-shirts
• Image transfer paper: Photo Paper Direct, coloured with felt-tips

Polkadoodle Challenge Week 20 - Something for Mum

It's Friday again and another Polkadoodle challenge! This week, Fliss has set the challenge to make:

Something for Mum and the colours Blue and Peach

I had a little disaster with my first idea and attempt so that's on one side to be resuscitated for another day! So in the end, I made a little fancy gift box.

I've used the Sugar Birdies cd and used one sheet of A4 for the actual box. There is no need for glue as it holds itself together with the tabs through the top.

The flowers are also from the same cd and I printed the sheet so that it fitted four times onto a sheet of A4. The flowers were then coloured with Promarkers and I've simply layered them up and gently rolled the petals to give some definition.

And finally I've added a silver flower brad to the centre.

The box is really quite small so it won't hold anything much bigger than a bag of chocolate buttons!

If you want to join in with the challenge, we would love to see your creations and you have until Sunday 31 May at 12noon GMT to add your entries to the Polkadoodle challenge blog. Good luck!

• Backing paper: Sugar Birdies cd
• Flowers: Digi stamps from Sugar Birdies, coloured with Promarkers
  

Six

Another great challenge over on Lily Boo Too for May which is:

Shaped Cards

I am very chuffed to have won the April Challenge with this card and I got to pick two sets of digi stamps (which took me ages!) so look out for me using those two sets in the future. Thank you so much to Lou and the Design Team for choosing me for April!!

Anyway, onto the May challenge. I've made a word book which spells out the word six. I've used papers from Funky Daze which have been printed onto lovely white linen effect card. The letter shapes were made using Word Art in Word and I've outlined them with a black Sharpie marker.

I've dangled a silver princess charm from the last letter, added some glitter glue here and there and added a funky bow to keep the book from falling apart!

Apologies for the slightly over exposed photo but at least you can see how vibrant the colours are!

• Papers: Funky Daze from Funky Hand
  
• Everything else: My stash
  

Craft Juice Tuesday - Week 14

Welcome to another Craft Juice Tuesday! This week the theme is Christenings as we attended a Christening on Sunday.


Click on the photos to be taken directly to the Craft Juice listing.


A beautiful Christening bracelet by beadsbydesign - this bracelet has a hidden message!
Wonderful fimo cake topper from nikkisnoveltygifts and this one can be kept forever!

And a sock monkey with painting is an ideal gift! Buy from strumpfkunst

See you next week for more Craft Juice Tuesday!

Christening

A wonderful sketch once again over on Sketch Girl and I had the perfect occasion too!

We'd been invited to a Christening and of course I'd left it to the night before to make the card! I knew I wanted to use the Sizzix elephant and that was all! The papers are from Funky Daze and I've rounded the edges then inked them.

The letters are from my Cuttlebug Baby Face alphabet set and the cross is a Quickutz die.

• Backing papers: Funky Daze from Funky Hand
• Dies:
Cuttlebug Baby Face for the letters, Quickutz for the cross and Sizzix for the elephant

Polkadoodle Design Team Call

Nikky has put out a Design Team call for Polkadoodles as we are looking for another Doodler! See the advert above and then email sales@polkadoodles.co.uk saying in no more than 25 words why you want to join us!

Closing date is 12noon on Sunday 23 May.

Good luck!

Polkadoodle Challenge Week 19 - Dimension & Texture

Well, this is a special week as on Polkadoodles we are celebrating our First Birthday! And celebrating we are! There are lots of prizes up for grabs for the challenge this week, and Enfys has set the challenge of using Dimension and Texture on your creation!

Because it is our Birthday, Nikky has very generously offered a free download which, if you are going to enter the challenge this week, you need to use. Pop over to the challenge blog to grab the link and to see the wonderful Design Team samples!

And now for my card! I've used the decoupage ladybird from Paper Boutique along with backing papers. I've used D'Vine Swirls and Swiss Dots embossing folders to create some texture on the shell of the ladybird (no animals were harmed in the creation of this card) and also on the grass.

A bit of wire, some card candy and organza ribbon from my stash, along with a sentiment badge from Sugar Birdies (handwritten message and coloured with Promarkers) and the card is complete!

Hope you can join us this week with the Dimension and Texture theme along with the freebie download! You have until 12noon on Sunday 23 May to enter. Good luck!

• Ladybird: Paper Boutique from Polkadoodles
• Sentiment: Sugar Birdies from Polkadoodles
• Everything else: My stash
  

Soooooo Yummy!

Second post for me today, only because I forgot to blog yesterday! This card is for the Rosie Dee challenge which is:

Sooooo Yummy!

The digi image is from Mama's Kitchen and I've coloured it with Promarkers and some inking (or rather splodges). The red card is from my stash and I've had it that long I can't actually remember where it came from but it is a sort of shiny red card. What ever the technical term for that would be.

The printed backing papers are from an old copy of Papercraft Inspirations which I downloaded and then can print off as I don't like the shiny thin quality of the actual freebie papers that come with the magazine. The sentiment is also from the download.

And the ribbon. Well, I realised that the knot would take up the space where I needed to put the image, so its a falling off the card kinda knot.

Hmmm, I feel hungry now. I've not long since eaten my sandwich, but there is a Wispa calling me from the fridge. But I don't think I can be bothered to walk from my desk to the little kitchen (I'm at work) and back.....

• Backing papers: Red card from my stash, printed paper, Papercraft Inspirations
• Image: Mama's Kitchen coloured with Promarkers
• Ribbon: My stash
  
  

Some Red Laces

A cute little theme over on Bugaboo stamps for this week:

Flower Power

I got the Bugaboo digi image as part of the 50/50 Digital Stamping Group and I've coloured it with Promarkers and added some glitter glue to the little character's wings.

I've doodled a little around the edges of the backing paper (Dreams Come True from Funky Hand) and also around the edge of the image.

The plastic red lace is from the Scrap Store and I just knew it would come in handy one day! I also got some in orange and yellow. It looks great but ain't easy to tie!!

• Backing papers: Dreams Come True from Funky Hand
• Image: Bugaboo, coloured with Promarkers and a little glitter glue
• Red lace: From the Scrap Store
  
  

Cream Jeans?

I was at a bit of a loss as to how to colour his jeans so have gone for the retro 80's look of cream jeans. Not sure they would stay that colour long as he's off to play football!

This is for the current challenge on Cute Card Thursday which is:

Boyz to Men

The image is one I got for May as part of the 50/50 Digital Stamping Group and is an image from Lexi, and I've coloured it with Promarkers. The papers are DCWV 6x6 Retro stack and I've used some base card from my stash.

The brads are also from my stash, and the sentiment was a freebie Papermania stamp. The bloke ribbon is a sort of twill and I bought it as a full spool for a steal a while ago!

A nice quick card, even if he has got dodgy coloured jeans!

• Backing papers: 6x6 Retro papers from DCWV
  
• Image: From the 50/50 stampers group, drawn by Lexi and coloured with Promarkers
  
• Sentiment: Papermania
  
• Everything else: My stash
  

Craft Juice Tuesday - Week 13

Welcome to week 13 of Craft Juice Tuesday! This week I have made a search on Craft Juice for the word 'monster' and here are my favourite three that came through!

Buy this strange looking monster from blondedesigns

We all know that Daleks are monsters, but this one is a little cutie! Buy from mungbean

Ah, a monster t-shirt for your little monster! Buy from noahsarkcrafts

On closer inspection on my search for Craft Juice monsters, it appears that I have significantly contributed to the population as it seems I have a thing for monster cards....!!

See you next week for more Craft Juice Tuesday!

Another Fairy

I am really liking the simple sketches at the moment! And this one is no exception! It is the current sketch from Sketch Girl.

I've made this cute girly card as it is about time I made some! The digi image is part of a set that I bought from here and has been drawn by Gordon Fraser. The papers which I selected after I'd coloured the image - why I do that I don't know as it should be the other way round - are from Funky Daze. Mind you, all of Anice's papers are stunning so it wouldn't be too hard to find a match to anything that I've coloured!

Both the image and sentiment have been coloured with Promarkers (sets 5 and 6 arrived today - who-hoo!) and a little glitter glue. Wonderful images to colour as they seem so alive and vibrant!

• Backing papers: Funky Daze from Funky Hand
  
• Image and sentiment: Drawn by Gordon Frazer, bought from here and coloured with Promarkers
  

Blue Sapphire

I was asked to make a very special Wedding Anniversary card by an old school friend of my Mum's - it was to be her In-Law's Sixty Fifth Wedding Anniversary - and could I make a special card?! Of course! So I did a bit of research (google!) and found that a 65th Anniversary is Blue Sapphire, so I used those colours as the theme.

I made a Joy Fold card as I wanted to incorporate some photos of when the couple were courting which I tidied up in photoshop before printing onto photo paper. All the backing papers are Basic Grey and are from the Wisteria Collection. The base card is a lovely linen effect cream 300gsm card that worked wonderfully well with the theme. The bow on the ribbon hold the front of the card down but is flexible enough to let the card be displayed.

The flowers I bought from Hobbycraft and they are beautiful handmade flowers and look very lifelike! The gems I also bought for the occassion along with the blue satin edge ribbon.

The verse was asked to be included on the card and I've printed it on my computer with a font and colour to match the overall card. The blank panel inside the card had an insert upon which the message could be written and then stuck inside the card as it would be a little tricky to write it directly onto the card with all the flowers on the reverse!

I made the hatpins myself and used some pearl beads that were left over from making my Wedding dress 10 years ago.

My Mum and Dad celebrate their 40th - Ruby Wedding Anniversary this summer so I now know what I'm going to make - just will substitute the blue for red!

The card also fits the current challenge on Charisma Cardz of a Wedding or Anniversary card.

• Papers: Basic Grey - 12 x 12 papers - Wisteria Collection
• Flowers, Gems and Blue Ribbon: Hobbycraft
• Everything else: My stash