Aliens Amongst Us

I love this set from Kaboodle Doodle - it is the alien papers and I've used them with the sketch from Sketch Saturday. I'm new to this challenge blog - I love finding new challenges.

Talking of new challenges you still have a week to enter the Kaboodle Doodle challenge with it's fab FREE papers.


Materials:
Papers - Kaboodle Doodle
Stamp - Stamps Away
Inks - VersaFine Black

Loving These Papers....

Another card using the the Sugar Pie kit from Designs by Krista.


Materials:
Stamp - Sarah Kay
Papers - Designs by Krista Sugar pie
Colouring - Letraset Promarkers
Inks - VersaFine Black; Distress ink walnut stain
Others - Ribbon; eyelets

More Exciting News....

I'm honored to be on another design team! Krista designs beautiful digital scrapbook papers, embellishments and kits and I count myself lucky to be on her design team working with these beautiful papers on card layouts. Krista's shop is called Designs by Krista and she also has a blog.

You guys should go take a look the downloads are really easy to use and look fab on cards and scrapbook pages. Here is a card made with Krista's Sugarpie kit.


Materials:
Papers - Designs by Krista Sugarpie
Stamp - Sarah Kay; HOTP
Colouring - Letraset Promarkers
Inks - VersaFine black; Distress ink Walnut stain; Anna Griffin pink

Sewing Embellishments

I had the urge to do some sewing - a touch of embroidery and this week Papertake Weekly has a stitching theme - real or faux. So here is a little embroidery strawberry for you - not that I am trying to hold onto summer or anything.




Materials:
Paper - made by me
Card - white cardstock
Other - embroidery threads; cotton calico; metal frame; wadding; finemarker

What Happened to Wednesday?

I seem to have lost a day. I honestly thought it was Wednesday today. Oops. So I think that this ATC is particularly apt for me today. This one is for Think Monday, Think ATC which this week has a watches theme.



Materials:
Paper - Kaboodle Doodle
Inks - VersaColor Pink; Distress ink Walnut Stain; VersaFine Sepia
Stamp - Studio G alphabet
Other - Pearl brad

Christmas Angels

I was naughty and bought some Core'dination papers recently. Couldn't wait to try them out so I used them for this week's Friday Sketchers Challenge which has a fab sketch from Carole.




Materials:
Stamp - Whiff of Joy, HOTP
Colouring - Letraset Promarkers
Inks - Versafine black, Versacolor White, blue and purple
Card - Blue cardstock; Core'dinations
Equipment - printed sentiment; Cuttlebug
Other - wire; snowflake charm

More Summer Challenge

As Summer starts to drift away - being a not quite sunny August bank holiday in the UK - I have another make from the Mystery Pack sent to me by Susan Daly.



Instructions:
For this one, I cut four equal sized squares from the double sided patterned papers and aged the edges with the distress ink. The squares were arranged onto the green card as shown and the edges of this card also distressed. The 'Hello' was cut from the same green card - and yes, distressed again! For the finishing touches I coloured the arrow with a red promarker and you guessed it, the edges distressed :)


Materials:
From Stampin'Up - Susan Daly
Papers - Stampin'Up green card and double sided papers
Others - Chipboard arrow

From My Stash -
Ink - Rangers Distress Inks Walnut stain
Other - Letroset promarker

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog Goes LIVE

Hey everyone, the Kaboodle Doodles Challenge blog is live from today and your first challenge is to make something from the free download papers available on the blog - Wahoo.
The first challenge will last for two weeks and then after that the challenges will be once a week.

Here is what I made with the papers:


The design team has made some great stuff go take a look and of course
take part.

Enjoy.

Materials:
Papers - Kaboodle Doodle Challenge blog papers
Stamp - Free from a magazine
Ink - VersaFine black
Colouring - Galaxy markers

Blog Candy

Debbie has some fab blog candy over at her blog... go take a look.

Kaboodle Doodle Excitement

There is some major excitement going on with Kaboodle Doodles. Not only has Andrea got new kits coming out but there is a new challenge blog starting this Sunday 24th August 2008.

The first challenge will be to make something with free papers available to download from the blog on Sunday - FREE PAPERS and I've been using them and they are fab!

There is also a chance to win some Kaboodle Doodles downloads at Papertake this week with one of Katharina fab sketches:

Summer Challenge

Well as promised here is a make from the fab Mystery pack I received from Susan Daly as part of her Summer Challenge. There will be more makes on the way but this is the first.



To Make:
Matt and layer the patterned paper onto cream card and draw faux stitching around the edge. Cover a chipboard flower with the same paper and use the button with an embroidery thread bow in the centre. Layer the patterned paper and card onto red card and edge the bottom with a lace trim. The flower was stuck to the lace with silicon glue and a label was made with the metal tag and stamping onto cream card and held in place with brads.

Materials:
From Stampin'Up - Susan Daly
Paper - Patterned paper
Card - red card
Other - Chipboard Flower; Button; Metal tag frame

From my stash -
Stamp - Studio G alphabet stamps
Card - cream card
Other - Lace trim; Embroidery thread; brads; pen; versafine ink

Boys Boys Boys

Cards for boys are always hard aren't they? Even the boys cards I make I wonder if any boy would actually like them or if they are still a bit too cute! Anyway here is one I like even if no boy would like it :) This is for A Spoon Full of Sugar which this week has a wonderful sketch from Debbie.


Materials:
Stamp - Sugar Nellie
Papers - Kaboodle Doodle All Star
Ink - VersaFine Black
Colouring - Letraset promarkers
Other - Blue cardstock; raffia

Initially.....

A card for the Funky Fairy Challenge which this fortnight is all about initials. A friend's young son is having a his birthday at the end of this month and his name begins with 'A' so:


Edit:
Ooops - I've just re-read the Funky Fairy challenge blog rules and there is a new one that you have to use something from Funky Fairy's in your design. Teach me to not to take more notice! I just saw the challenge and got on with it! Won't do that again!

Materials:
Image - Made by me
Papers - Made by me also!
Card - white cardstock

Cupcakes again.

Ok I confess - No not to a cupcake obsession but to not having that many Penny Black stamps at the moment. So for this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge I had to be a bit creative as I have now used all the stamps I have, all two of them! So for this week's challenge, which is ribbons, I have only used part of a stamp :)

Can you guess which stamp it is from....




Materials:
Stamp - Penny Black; HOTP
Papers - Basic Grey Recess
Colouring - Watercolour pencils
Inks - VersaFine Black; Rangers Distress Inks Walnut stain
Other - Ribbon

Blog Candy

I haven't been following the blog candy much recently but here are two I've found today - but you will have to be really really quick as the deadline is today :)

Ros at Stamp and Scrap has posted 400 posts - well done Ros.

Jean at Paper and Cakes (Mmm yummy) is celebrating her birthday - Happy birthday Jean.

Christmas Brights

I'm dreaming of a bright Christmas and here is a bright tag to go with it :) This one is for Tag You're It which has a Christmas in August theme this week.



Materials:
Stamp - Hero Arts; HOTP
Papers - BasicGrey Sultry
Colouring - Twinkies H2O
Inks - VersaFine black
Others - Ribbons; crop-a-dile; eyelet

Secret Messages

A Spoon Full of Sugar have a fab challenge this week - Secret Messages on your card. So here is my go. I love these papers from Kaboodle Doodles they go so well with the stamp from Sugar Nellie.




Materials:
Stamp - Sugar Nellie
Papers - Kaboodle Doodle All Star
Inks - Distress ink Walnut stain; VersaFine Black
Colouring - Letraset Promarkers
Equipment - Cuttlebug, Spots and dots embossing folder
Other - String; Raffia; Coloured staples; mini-bulldog clip; cardstock; Brown cardstock

Blossom Berry Leaving Card

Here is my take on this week's great sketch from Mumur at Friday Sketchers. The papers I've used are from a fab new kit, 'Blossom Berry Brights', that is being launched from Kaboodle Doodles soon.


Elizabeth over at Elzybells Art Stamps has showcased my card on her blog - I'm tickled pink, thank you Elizabeth. You must have a look at her stamps, they are fab.

Materials:
Stamp - Elzybells Art Stamp; Studio G alphabet
Papers - Kaboodle Doodle Blossom Berry Brights
Inks - VersaFine Black; VersaColor Orange and Amethyst
Colouring - Letraset Promarkers
Other - Pearl brads; Orange sead beads; Metallic elastic; White cardstock; Orange Bazzill; White galaxy marker; Notepaper

Flowers for a RAK

Here is a RAK card I made recently. It uses some flowers I made from paper inspired from nature itself.



Walking to work one day I found a petal shape on a flower that I just knew I had to copy. I sketched it then made a template flower which I've now been using in lots of different ways. I've been asked how I did it so here is a step by step, hope it is clear :)

So first using my template I cut the shapes from my chosen papers which in this case are from the All Star set from Kaboodle Doodle.









I then cut a small slit between the petals to separate then a little.











For these flowers I distressed the edges using a felt block (a bit of felt attached to wood with velcro) with small circular motions around the edges on a craft mat. The edges pick up the ink nicely. You can also ink the edges directly or drawn on them - anything really.




To shape the petals I use a thin embossing tool, but a thin knitting needle or a cocktail stick works as well.

I start by bending the centre of the petal downwards over the embossing tool.




Next there is an upward bend on either side of the centre line of the petal.








Then a downward bend on both edges of the petal











I also curl the tips downwards and if you want even more dimension you can use the ball to a larger embossing tool to dent the centre.







For the centre of these flowers I used a flower punch, curling the tips of these flowers downwards, and a brad. But there are all sorts of things you can do - use a sentiment, a decorated brad, gems, buttons - it is endless :)






The finished flower :)








Hope that helps :)


Materials:
Stamp - Elzybells Art Stamps
Papers - All Stars Kaboodle Doodle
Inks - VersaFine Black; VersaColor Pink
Equipment - Embossing tools; small flower punch, felt block; craft mat
Other - Letraset Promarkers; Fine black marker pen; white cardstock

A Mystery Pack Challenge

As I came back from hols last week I arrived to find my Mystery Craft Pack from Susan Daly in my post box - Excitement :). Susan is a Stampin' Up Demonstrator in the USA and has been running a 'Summer Challenge' where she sends crafters from around the world a pack of selected crafty bits and pieces and a card she made and then we make something to post on our blogs and Sue's using the pack. What a totally fun idea - well I had to join in didn't I? Thanks for letting me join in Sue.

I haven't made mine yet - still in the creating process :) But I thought I would blog the fab set I got and Susan's gorgeous card for you to look at :) Then I will post my creation later. Be sure to go look at Sue's blog she has some lovely cards up on it.


And here is the pack she sent me (there is also a square paperclip which I forgot to photograph as it was attached to the letter Sue sent for safe keeping - D'oh).



So what to make......?