Sketch n Stash DT cards - Challenge #53

Hi everyone, it's time for the next Sketch n Stash challenge, how quickly did those 2 weeks go?
What do you think of our new look blog, isn't it gorgeous? It's all thanks to the wonderful Angie for designing our new header and blinkies and of course, our own lovely Lizzy for setting them up.

You certainly made some wonderful cards again for the last challenge, so if you joined in don't forget to see who the winner of the Simon Says Stamp prize was and we'll be selecting our new DT members too.

This week we have another fabby sketch by Jill and we have TWO wonderful sponsors Pollycraft and Just Some Lines, please do check out their shops, you'll be spoilt for choice!

Now as both of these companies create such gorgeous images I decided to make two cards this time, using one image from each company.

 My first card uses Pollycraft's cute 'Jenson' image, doesn't he look like he's having fun on his skateboard?

Card Details:
* Image - Pollycrafts digi 'Jenson'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'For Him'
* Punch - MS Double Scallop
* Everything else from my stash

 My second card uses Just Some Lines adorable 'Emo Crystal' image, I think she's such a sweetie!
I tried to go with neutral and earthy tones for this, but I think it was a mistake. Although it is better in real life than this scan, it still looks a bit 'wishy washy' to me!

Card Details:
* Image - Just Some Lines digi 'Emo Crystal'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Joanna Sheen 'Pastel Lace' and DCWV 'Old World'
* Punch - MS Double Scallop
* Everything else from my stash

Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog and check out the other DT cards, they're fabulous. I hope you can manage to join in with us this fortnight and I'm already looking forward to seeing all your creations.

Tiptoe Fairy

Hi everyone, today's card is very late, but it's been one of those days!
I'm entering my card for the following 2 challenges:
One of my favourite LOTV images is the sweet tiptoe Fairy and she fits the bill at the LOTV challenge this week where the theme is 'Things with Wings'
I've used the gorgeous sketch from CLP, this was a bit of a challenge as I only usually do 'simple' sketches and this one was quite complicated (well for me anyway!)
It's certainly NOT one of the CAS cards I've been making lately, but I do quite like it.
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Card Details:
* Image - LOTV 'Tiptoe Fairy'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - K & Co (various collections)
* Punch - MS 'Double Scallop'
* Everything else from my stash

I'm afraid I haven't managed to do any blog hopping today, so I'll have to do double the amount tomorrow to catch up with you all.

Grace

 Hi everyone, my card today uses the second Sugar Nellie digi from Funky Kits.
Her name is Grace, and looking at how beautiful she is it seems the perfect name for her. I did warn you that you'd be seeing the other image very soon didn't I?

It seemed appropriate to enter this for The Sugar Bowl challenge, which this week is a sketch (and a very nice one to use too) and the optional extra of embossing (I used my 'swiss dots' folder through the cuttlebug)

Card Details:
* Image - Sugar Nellie 'Grace'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Papermania 'Rose Garden & 'Blueberry Hill'
* Punch - MS 'Valentine Heart'
* Everything else from my stash

I've managed to do some blog hopping over the last couple of days too, so I'm catching up with my favourite blogs and all their inspiring creations (maybe that's why I can't stop crafting at the moment!) Anyway, if I haven't already caught up with you, you should be seeing me very soon lol!

Verity

Hi everyone, today's card is for a couple of challenges that I've been wanting to join in with, but never quite managed until today...so hoorah!

I've used the sketch from today's challenge at The Shabby Tea Room and I'm also entering my card into today's challenge at Cupcake Craft Challenges which is 'Something New'.
My 'new' item is this beautiful digi image. As soon I saw her I absolutely fell in love and I also had to buy another gorgeous one at the same time, which I'm sure you'll be seeing in the next couple of days lol!

Card Details:
* Image - Sugar Nellie 'Verity'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Hot off the Press, Papermania 'Rose Garden & 'Blueberry Hill'
* Punch - MS Valentine punch & MS large Butterfly punch
* Everything else from my stash

I'm thoroughly enjoying myself crafting and entering challenges at the moment. I spent hours yesterday colouring (my favourite pastime!) now I need to get all my coloured images made into some cards, so it looks like there will be lots more challenges being entered yet lol!

Once Upon A Time

Hi everyone, my card today uses Lena Katrine's wonderful sketch  for this week's Lili of the Valley challenge.

I bought some of these adorable 'cute squares' ages ago, but forgot all about them until a couple of days ago (I know, how could I?) when I came across them while searching for something else.

Card Details:
* Image - Lili of the Valley 'Story Time'
* Papers - Jak Heath  'Iced Blue Dot'
* Punch - MS PATP 'Vintage Lace'
* Everything else from my stash

As you can see, I'm still in my 'less is more' phase but don't worry, I don't think it'll last much longer as I've been thinking how much prettier this might look with little pearls added. lol!

Holly Fairy

Hi everyone, today's card is for three christmas challenges. I'm hoping to join in with these on a regular basis so that I don't have the normal mad rush to get cards made at the end of the year.

I'm entering this adorable fairy into the following challenges:
Bah Humbug where the theme is 'Holly and Fairies'
ABC Xmas which this week is 'A for Anything'
Winter Wonderland and their theme is 'Let's go Dotty'

Card Details:
* Image - Mo Manning's Holly Fairy
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Hot off the Press
* Everything else from my stash

I'm trying to put less embellishments on the christmas cards due to the postage costs. My cards always seem to have to go as 'large mail' so clean and simple is definitely going to be the order of the day for this year!

A Retro card

Hi everyone, my card today uses another gorgeous image from Mo Manning and I'm entering it for this week's DP2 challenge which is 'Going Retro'. Hopefully this sweet  little boy and his best friend will fit the bill.

Card Details:
* Image - Mo Manning's 'Out There' from DP2
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - My Mind's Eye 'Wild Asparagus'
* Punch - MS Garden Trellis
* Everything else from my stash

I've just noticed that Bah Humbug is back today, so hopefully I'll manange to get a card done for that. The plan is to join in with this, and some of the other christmas challenges, each week this year.....you know what they say about the best laid plans lol!!

New Beginnings

Hi everyone,
Today's card covers three challenges:
the first used the sketch from Truly Scrumptious (although I did not use the optional extra)
the second is Simon Says Stamp where the theme is 'New Beginnings'
the third is Creative Card Crew which is also asking for 'New Beginnings'

Card Details:
* Image - Panduro
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers -  Hot Off The Press 'Blue Lace Collage' and Raspberry Road 'My Baby Love - boy'
* Punch -  MS Valentine Heart
* Everything else from my stash

Thank you for visiting and I hope you like my card.

Sketch & Stash DT card - Challenge #52

Hi everyone,
I hope you managed to have a wonderful Christmas and New Year and that Santa was kind to you.

Today I'm sharing this fortnight's DT card for Sketch & Stash where we are being sponsored  by Simon Says Stamp. 

Our sketch this time is by Jill and I really enjoyed using it, don't forget to take a look at the gorgeous creations from the rest of the DT, I'm sure they'll inspire you.

Did you all enjoy joining in with our last challenge? your creations were just wonderful and do remember to check out the challenge blog for the winners!

For my card I've used another image from Mo Manning, I absolutely love colouring these, so I really had fun! This delicious looking cookie and frothy coffee look like just the thing to enjoy on your birthday.

Card Details:
* Image - Digital Pencil Too 'Sweet Tooth'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Punch - MS 'Deco Fan'
* Everything else from my stash

Mo's Digital Challenge Fantasies & Fairies

Hi everyone,
Today's card is for two challenges:
The first is this week's Digital Pencil challenge. This is another challenge blog that I loved taking part in and have missed, I'm hoping that 2011 will see me managing to enter all my favourites again. This week they are challenging us to use any fairy tale images we have and I've decided to use Mo's 'Charming' image for my card.
The second challenge is Crafty Ann's challenge where 'Anything Goes' this fortnight. I used her wonderful digital papers for my card as the colours were absolutely perfect with my sweet little prince.

Card Details:
* Image - Mo's Digital Pencil Too 'Charming'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Crafty Ann's 'Woodgrain Effect' collection and DCWV 'Old World' mat stack
* Punch - MS 'Zig-Zag' and EK Success 'Photo Corners'
* Everything else from my stash

Once again I must apologise for the awful scanned image. Unfortunately, I can't get my camera to load properly on my new PC and as I seem to have lost the driver disk it looks like it's going to be terrible scans for the foreseeable future (If you screw your eyes up a bit and imagine the colour being a few shades more intense you may get a rough idea of the real cards ha ha!)

Just Magnolia - Mina's Sketch

Hi everyone,
My card today is for this week's Just Magnolia challenge which is a sketch by the fabulous Mina.
I've used the adorable 'Honey Tilda' image and added lots of Glamour Dust, Stickles and Cosmic Twinkles to the card so it's very sparkly.
I'm also entering this for the Passion for Promarkers Mega Christmas Challenge.

Card Details:
* Image - Magnolia 'Honey Tilda'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - Laura Ashley 'Contemporary'
* Mats - Nestability 'classic ovals' and Cuttlebug 'Script' embossing folder
* Everything else from my stash

Unfortunately, I had to use the scanner again so the colour is showing as very muted and wishy washy, when irl it's much brighter.
I'm really enjoying getting back to crafting after my long break and I hope you like today's card (despite my scanner!)

Sketch & Stash DT Card Challenge #51 And A Celebration!

Hi everyone, yes I'm back again and I've managed to produce a DT card for Sketch & Stash based on our very first sketch, designed by the lovely Becky. Sorry the photo isn't very good but I had to scan it.
Card Details: 
* Image - Thomas Kincade CD from Joanna Sheen
* Sentiment sticker - Daisy & Dandelion Outline Stickers
* Punch - EK Success 'Retro Flower'
* Glitter - Twinklets 'Diamond Dust'
* Everything else from my stash
 I'm entering this card for this fortnight's Crafty Ann's Challenge 'Anything Goes'

Now I've got some very exciting news to tell you about this fortnight's Sketch & Stash challenge.
We are celebrating Christmas early, and our almost 2 year anninversary ... yes the Sketch and Stash has been going for 2 years at the beginning of January, how amazing is that?  So we are doing something a little special this time for you

Some of our regular sponsors are offering up some fab prizes for you and we also are running a scavenger hunt on some DT members' blogs.

Here are our prizes ...

from our very regular sponsor Simon Says  Stamp we have this fab prize.

Katharina over at Whiff of Joy is offering a stamp of YOUR choice

Elaine from Quixotic Paperie is offering this fab embellishment pack ...

Whimsy Stamps are offering a $15 voucher for their store

Paula from Pollycraft Designs

is offering 2 of her fabulous new rubber stamps ...

As well as offering these fabulous prizes we are also running a scavenger hunt.
Hidden on some of the DT blogs are some mystery  prizes ... if you want to be in with a chance of winning one of these prizes, offered by Meljen Designs and Wags n Whiskers, you need to comment on the DT blogs and enter the challenge  (we will check LOL!!).

OK so to be in with a chance of winning one of these fabulous prizes all you need to do is make a card using one of our last 50 sketches ... yep it is your choice which sketch you use.
To find our sketch catalogue click on the link on the right hand sidebar of the challenge blog ... all of them are there for you to peruse!
Please put a pic of the sketch on your blog so we can see which one you chose (we will check you have used one of our sketches, so no cheating LOL!!).
To join in the scavenger hunt please click on each DT member's link and it will take you to their post.

I look forward to seeing your cards and I hope you have lots of fun with the challenge.

The Ribbon Girl Giveaway

Just look at this news!
Starting in January the Ribbon Girl will be a regular sponsor of the Lili Of The Valley Challenge on the second Thursday of every month and Lili Of The Valley will be a regular sponsor of our Colour Challenge on the third Sunday of every month.
So every month during 2011 you will have double the chance to win both Lili Of The Valley goodies and Ribbon Girl goodies. 

Starting next year's cards!!!

Hi everyone!
Following on from managing to make all my Christmas cards for family and friends last week, I decided to continue with them so that I make a start for next year.
I noticed that there are still some challenges out there requesting christmas style cards, so I've made the above card which fits a few of them (I hope!)
Unfortunately I had to scan this, now my scanner just HATES metallic and sparkle and as my card is mostly metallic and sparkle this is not good! Please trust me when I say that the card is really pretty in real life and the silver foil card and icicle colour glitter (NOT blue!) looks lovely.

Card Details:
* Image - Penny Black 'Birthday Angel'
* Colouring medium - Promarkers
* Papers - K & Co
* Punches - MS 'Valentine Heart' & 'Vintage Lace' PATP
* Die Cuts - Cuttlebug 'Vintage' corners & 'D Vine Swirls'
* Everything else from my stash

I'm entering this card for the following challenges:
Penny Black @ Allsorts - Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder
Crafts and Me Challenges - Moody Blues
Craft Your Days Away - Punch It Out
Simon Says Stamp - Silver, Blue, White
A Spoon Full of Sugar - Christmas Card

I hope you like my card and hopefully I'll be back again on a more regular basis with postings from now on.

By the way, do you like the little self portrait of me hugging my PC 'cos it's where my friends live? Just wanted to do this to say how grateful I am that my friends have kept in touch while I've been away.

SURPRI-I-ISE!!!

Hi everyone, and I'm sure it is a surprise to see me about again!
A recent e-mail from a crafting buddy inspired me to make a Christmas card and of course, once I made that I couldn't stop lol.
I had decided to send bought cards this year (!!!) as I really felt I couldn't be bothered, but I find I've now made enough cards to send out to friends and family. Mainly thanks to the lovely Thomas Kincade CD.
Having said that they are all very plain and simple so haven't taken a lot of  making, but I do feel it's a step in the right direction.


























Most of you know that I'm a bit strange (well more than a bit really, but still!) and just can't work in a mess. In fact lots of you complain about how tidy my work space is when I'm crafting, so I thought I'd quickly snap a couple of piccies to show that since inspiration hit me (a couple of days ago) I haven't had a chance to clear up and am using the 'push back' method of crafting ha ha!

I'm also linking this post to WOYWW as otherwise dear Julia will never believe it!

Huge thanks to all my crafting friends who continue to keep in touch, you've been my lifeline throughout this horrible time.

 

Thank you to all my crafting friends.

Just a quick post to thank all of you who were kind enough to send me cards for my birthday yesterday.
I appreciate this so much, especially as I haven't been about for a while.
Just to bring you up to date, the latest tablets from the doctor seem to be helping and I'm starting to feel brighter, although I have decided to wait until next year before getting back to blogging again in the hope that by then I shall be raring to get back into things.
Once again thank you so much for the beautiful hand made cards I received, it meant more than I can say.