Lili Boo Too - September Download & Recipe Challenge

There is a new challenge blog! Lily-Boo Too Challenges - they are monthly and this is their first one! There is an image to download for the challenge which is also a recipe to use:

Two ribbons, 3 flowers and 4 brads

And here is my card! I've coloured the image with watercolour pencils, layered it twice onto some co-ordinating cardstock that I found in my stash and added the 4 brads to each of the corners.

The orange ribbon you may have seen before here (waste not want not!) and the red grosgrain is from my stash. The three mulberry paper sunflowers I've had for years and they worked better than any of the flowers I could find!

Apologies for the dark photos - it just seems to be dark all the time!

• Backing papers: From my stash
• Image: Freebie download from Lily Boo Too Challenge blog, coloured with watercolour pencils
• Everything else: My stash
  
  

Recycled Alien

Now it's been a long long while since I entered a Funky Fairy challenge. I've been looking over the last few weeks but just never managed the time to get anything done. BUT! I have managed this weeks challenge which is a:

Recycle Challenge

Now I am all for recycling old stuff - usually bits of ribbon or buttons or stuff from other cards etc, so I thought this one would be easy. Well it was!

My inspiration came from a slight computer hiccup at work on Friday. My lovely / useless computer decided to have a little time out and shut down. It takes an age to restart as it is on a shared network, so whilst it was getting its act together, I had a little clear out on my desk. I found a presentation that had been bound with a sheet of textured navy blue card - so that gave me the inspiration for this card!

I've used papers from Boys and Girls (the boys bit obviously!) and the stars originally were Christmas tags so I've covered them with the Funky Fairy paper, inked the edges and then doodled a thin black line around the edges. The navy blue recycled card has got a doodled white gel pen line around the edges too.

The alien is from my stash - I've added wobbly eyes and chalked him a little. The sentiment is handwritten with the white gel pen as my stamping was not good!

I've got a thing for doing boys cards at the moment but with fab papers like this - long may it reign!

• Blue card: Recycled from a presentation
• Printed papers: Girls and Boys download from Funky Fairy
• Stars: Christmas tags covered
• Die cut: From my stash
  
  

We Saw The Sea at Southport!

Yes indeedy we did! For those who have visited Southport you will know that the tide goes out a long long way down the beach and although it doesn't look that far, you can walk and walk and walk and never really seem to get there.

However, yesterday the tide was in. Right upto the concrete breakers!

So the boys spent some time throwing stones and bits of wood back into the sea.

Birthday Dino for Jack

Nearly ran out of time with this one, but could not resist this sketch from my fab Funky Hand DT mate Carol! This is challenge 14 sketch: And I used one of the other images I coloured whilst at Isabel's Birthday party. The image, again, is Dustin Pike (such fab stuff for boys!) which I've coloured with watercolour pencils.

The backing papers are from the Craft4Charity collection Anice designed a while ago and I must say, one of my favourite collections from Funky Hand!


I've inked all the edges and doodled a fine black line around them too. The letters have been cut with a Sizzix Round-a-Bout alphabet set. And it's for a friends little boy Jack who will be 6 in October - see how organised I am!! I met Liz and Jack's Mum, Karen, when we were heavily pregnant - we were all having our first child and it was the most relaxed anti-natal class ever (I only actually went to this one, so it has a high estimation in my opinion!) and we had a good laugh. We've remained good friends and keep in touch with fairly regular curry nights!

Anyway, back to the card - the blue backing is actually printed vellum. Which I like, so I've used!

• Backing papers: Boys and Girls Craft4Charity collection by Funky Hand
• Image: Dustin Pike, coloured with watercolour pencils
• Dies: Sizzix Round-a-Bout alphabet
  
  

Birthday Dino

Following last Saturday's mega Birthday party for the boys I could think of nothing better than to take some Dustin Pike images and my watercolour pencils with me to a 10am Sunday Birthday party for Isabel (she of the flying fairy Birthday card!)

And whilst chaos reigned around me with screaming kids, I merrily coloured away! I managed three images, this being the first and I thought it would fit nicely with the second Digital Ink challenge which is this sketch:

I rotated it slightly as the dino did not look right portrait style and because I'd already coloured the image, I had the task of sorting through my scrap box to find suitable papers. I hate to throw any scrap away that is bigger than a postage stamp - yeah, I'm a miser!

Anyway, I found these papers, all Funky Hand and I think from Now That's Funky - printed off as A5 size so I get a smaller pattern. I carefully cut a square around the dino to make him stand out a little, inked the edges and the edges of the papers.

The sentiment is a Snag 'Em stamp which I've cut a really poor circle around it, layered it onto some similar papers (same cd, different collection) and then covered a large brad with some scrap paper because the brad was just not the right shade of green!

And that's it! A fairly quick card to make all because I had 2 hours of relative peace and quiet to spend colouring!

• Backing papers: Now That's Funky cd from Funky Hand
• Image: Dustin Pike coloured with watercolour pencils
• Sentiment: Snag 'Em Duo stamp
  

Polkadoodle Challenge 18 - DIY Flowers

It's Friday again and I am also hosting the Polkadoodle challenge! This week, I challenged the Design Team to:

DIY Flowers or Make Your Own Flowers

There are some wonderful samples from the Design Team over on the Polkadoodle challenge blog - so go and have a look for more inspiration!


I've also written not one, but two tutorials on how to make your own flowers - just before this post is the accompanying tutorial on how I made these flowers and then there is another tutorial on how I made some others!


For these flowers I used the Candy Doodles cd which includes the letters for the sentiment. A bit of inking and some doodle stitching and this was quite a quick card to make!

I really do like the dandelion papers on the cd - they are so fresh but subtle. Should use them more instead of my very favourite target dotty ones!

Hope you can join the challenge this week - for more details click here to go to the challenge blog - and you have until Sunday 27 September to enter. Good luck!

• Backing papers: Candy Doodles cd
• Sentiment: Candy Doodles cd
  

Tutorial - Make Your Own Flowers - part 2

Here is part 2 of a tutorial on how to make your own flowers!

Again I used the Candy Doodles cd and printed the backing papers on both sides of 100gsm glossy paper. You will also need a compass, scissors and pencil. Other embellishments and ink are optional. The flowers took around 30 minutes to make in total.

Firstly, I printed on two sheets of A4 - both sides were used and I printed at A5 setting.


I then cut 4 different sized circles from the paper.

And then roughly ripped 4 more different sized circles from the paper (I used a compass as a guide to the shape).

From the first set of circles, I made a small cut around the edge, creating a fringe.

For the second set of circles, I followed the same method, but used the ripping technique.

I then inked all the edges.

Next, I layered all the roughly torn circles to create a flower, fluffing out the petals. I then layered all the neatly cut circles.

I added seed beads to the centre of one flower and mixed flat back gems to the other, although you could add what ever you wanted.

And finally!! Yes I did have a bit of a roll making these flowers! Again, using Candy Doodles, I printed the black and white polka dots on one side and the pale pink on the reverse of another sheet of A4 100gsm glossy paper.

I then cut two sets of 5 different sized circles by using a compass (I simply guessed the sizes rather than measuring - its easier and quicker!)

Randomly, I cut a 'v' shape all around the edges of each circle - this creates petals.

I then gently curled back each petal on each flower to create a 3d effect.

The flowers were layered alternating between black / white and pink to create two full flowers.

The centres then had a pale pink button added and I threaded a very thin strip of off cut paper through the centre holes and tied it.

This was then added to the center of the flower.

And that's it - really simple and quick to make! Here are all the flowers I made through the two tutorials

Hope you enjoyed them!

Tutorial - Make Your Own Flowers - part 1

Here is a tutorial on how to make some flowers - there is another tutorial on how to make some different flowers just after this post. Both tutorials will suit both experienced and novice crafter so no matter how confident you feel, you can give it a go!

To make these flowers you will need: scissors, pencil, compass and glue. These flowers took me around 30 minutes to make which included adding them onto a card.

I printed two papers from the Candy Doodles cd but printed them as A5 size and double sided onto 100gsm glossy white paper.

I then drew 3 different sizes of circles using the compass - 3 on the blue paper and 3 on the green.

I then randomly snipped pointed petal shapes around the edges of each circle.

I then cut a little deeper into the centre of the flower so I would be able to curl and ruffle the petals.

From the left over scraps, I cut some thin strips and then curled them using the scissors

I then ruffled the petals to make them 3d and also layered the flowers - smallest in the centre and then alternative colours.

I added the curled strips to the centre of one of the flowers

I added them to a card. The coloured panels were cut from the remains of the paper and I doodle stitched around the edges.

The sentiment is also from Candy Doodles.

Vintage Christmas

A Very Vintage Christmas

Is this weeks Winter Wonderland challenge.

I dug out my remaining chipboard embellishments from last year and found enough backing paper to make this card. The buttons are from my stash as too the ribbon.

I've rounded all the edges and inked them too with chestnut Whispers to give it a bit of a vintage look. As you can see, this was quite a quick card to make but it's another one into the Christmas box!

• Backing paper and sentiment: Downloads from Mad About Cards
• Image: Chipboard embellishment from the Pound Shop
• Ribbon and buttons: From my stash