Wishing you all a Blessed Easter

 Morning all.  We have a very seasonal Challenge for you over at Make My Monday.  We would like to see your 'Easter or Spring' projects please.  Easter has sort of surprised me this year.  Still being in lockdown means I have to book a place at Church on Sunday so I've only been going occasionally to give everyone a chance at the limited spaces.  Watching on-line isn't the same as being there and, as we have no hymns, it doesn't seem seasonal.  Oh well, I can still create an Easter card or two.

I was digging around in my digi stamp folders for an Easter image and I found this one from Crafts-u-Print.  I can't even remember buying it so I've no hope of finding it again to link it.  Sorry.  I did enjoy colouring it though.  You can't really tell from the photo but the rays of sunshine are all sparkly from a Spectrum Noir sparkle pen. I mounted it on some Easter backing paper with a twist of ribbon behind.

Whether you celebrate Easter or just want to create a spring themed card I hope you have a blessed week and I look forward to your creations.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Were all going to the Zoo tomorrow, Zoo Tomorrow, Zoo Tomorrow...

 I used to sing that as a kid.  I wish I was going to the Zoo tomorrow.  I'm going to work instead.  However, over at the Alphabet Challenge we do have 'Zoology' as a theme for you.  Put your thinking caps on for this one.  

I will admit to struggling with this a little bit.  I had plenty of things I could use but nothing was inspiring me.  

The amazing Cazro at Cazro's Crafty Corner was kind enough to send me a copy of Creative Stamping magazine with a fabulous animal stamp set on the front.  She had two copies of the magazine and, as I had commented on a card she'd made with one of the stamps, she asked if I would like the spare.  Cazro runs all the challenge blogs that I design for and I'm lucky enough to have 'known' her for years.  We started out exchanging ATCs when I first got into papercrafts and we've come a long way since then.  I love the idea that crafts and the internet can lead to some lovely friendships.

Anyway, back to the card.  I had some cheapy animal skin stencils from The Range and chose the giraffe from the stamp set as it matched one of the stencils. I didn't think it needed much more than the sentiment to finish it off.  Considering I didn't have an idea where this was going when I started it, I'm really pleased with the result.

OK, let's see your Zoology projects please.

Thanks for reading.  

Love Dawn  

A Cup of ...

 Morning all.  Are you ready for a new Cardz4galz challenge.  We want to see you 'Tea/Coffee' projects please.  Now, for a tea drinker I have surprisingly few items to use for this one.  I suppose it's because I don't send cards to myself.  However, as Will is a coffee addict I don't have to worry.  I have tonnes of stuff for coffee.

My stash busting lead me to an old background that I'd created that had been hanging around forever.  I layered it onto craft cardstock.  I then used a stencil from Funky Fossil (yes, I am obsessed with their stencils at the moment) and stenciled the images and words.  I cut the panels with a stitched die. On the largest panel I stamped the coffee mug from the Altenew set Coffee with a Splash.  I stuck the largest panel on first and arranged the others around it.  I'm quite pleased with this one.  I can see me using the stamp and stencil together again.

Time for you to join in the fun.  Please pop over and see what the DT have created to inspire you.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Water, Water Everywhere

 Morning all.  We have a lovely new challenge for you over at Cardz4guyz this morning.  We want you to create something with the theme 'By the Water'.  This was perfect for me as I needed a card for Patrick to send to his dad for his birthday. Will, my other half, is pretty obsessed with water.  The closest we get are the two ponds but he's pretty taken with narrowboats these days.  We both follow a couple of Vlogs by narrowboaters and we love to walk canal towpaths - especially me as they tend to be flatter with not many hills. I found a stunning piece of art work on Etsy by Kelly O'Gorman that was totally perfect.

I didn't want the boat to disappear into that stunning scenery so I used the spotlight technique to colour just a portion of the illustration. I kept the rest very simple by matting it onto green and red mirri card and using a plain white card blank.  I am really pleased with how this turned out and, luckily, so was Will.

Time for you all to join in the fun.  Please pop over to the blog and see what the other DT members have come up with.  They really do have some lovely examples.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Babies

 Over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge today we would like to see your 'baby' projects.  Now, for some reason, I really struggle to make baby cards I'm happy with.  Oh well, it is a 'challenge' blog after all.  

I'm still trying to sort my craft room out - I know, it's a never ending task - and my hubby had put me some shelves up.  I've arranged all my old rubber stamps - remember them? - so I can see what I've got.  I'd decided to use a sweet stamp that I've only ever used once.  Well, then I remembered why I'd only used it once and why the wood mounted stamps went in a box in the first place. Needless to say my efforts went in the bin and I found a small wood mounted stamp that I could get a decent image from.

As this is going in my Church box and I don't know of any impending babies I chose to go with a neutral yellow and grey colour scheme.  I'm quite pleased with how it turned out - bonus! Maybe I need to do several in all the colours, seeing as how I don't hate it.

Anyway, as I am always looking for inspiration for these types of cards please join in the fun.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Beanz Meanz...Coffee

 Morning all.  We have a 'Clean and Simple' challenge for you today over at Make My Monday. In fact, as I was having a hell of a week last week, the clean and simple theme did me a favour as I needed a birthday card for my other half and didn't have time to faff.  So, the love of my husband's life is coffee.  I'd like to think I'm up there somewhere but I'm not sure I get the top spot when he needs his cup of rocket fuel in a morning.  His favourite shop, Drury's in Covent Garden has just shut down but, thankfully, they have a thriving mail order service.  So, coffee beans it is.

The stencil is a full square from Funky Fossil but I cut a heart shape from some scrap card and stenciled through it.  I added the 'with love' die and some gems.  There we are - done.  Can't get cleaner and simpler than that.  Or can we...

Over to you guys.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Mellow Yellow

 Morning!  We are up to Y for today's Alphabet Challenge and I have chosen 'Y for Yellow'.  Now this is a challenge for me as Yellow is probably my least favourite colour.  I get that it's bright and cheerful but if I wear it near my face I look washed out and ill.  As this is the case I've left my card very simple with just a little yellow detail.

I'm stash busting again with my image.  It's one I've had printed for ages and is no longer available as Digistamp Boutique is now closed.

I cut a frame in a square and then cut another frame from my yellow paper and mounted the image behind both.  There's a bit of shimmer to the flower centres but, other than that, I thought I would let the image do the work.

Please pop over and join in the fun otherwise I won't have anything to judge.  Go on, convince me that yellow is a colour to use more often.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Rainy Dayz

 Morning all.  It's time for a new challenge - a very appropriate one as I write this - for Cardz4galz. Today we are asking for 'Spring Rain' cards.  Think wellies, umbrellas etc.  I was a bit stuck for ideas for this one but I popped onto Etsy for some digital stamp retail therapy.  I found this sweet little duck over at Drawn by Krista. He looks so very happy in the miserable weather.  I also added a quote from Baer Design Studios.  This came in a valentine's set but I think it works quite well with my smiley little fella.  I have to say I'm obsessed with quotes at the moment and often find myself browsing Baer Designs.  

Isn't he adorable.  I guarantee you will be seeing him again.  I loved colouring him.  I kept everything very simple and stencilled a few raindrops behind him.  If you look very very closely you will see that I've carefully managed to stencil them...upside down!  Oh well, it's the little unique features that make a card personal don't you think.

Please pop over and join in the fun.  The DT have some really lovely projects to inspire you.

Thanks for reading.  

Love Dawn x

Terrible Teens

 Morning all.  Thank you for the lovely entries in my 'Thinking of You' challenge.  I loved the different inspiration in the gallery.  It's so nice to see other people's ideas for such a difficult type of card.  Anyway, it's time for a new Cardz4guyz Challenge and, this week, we are thinking of the 'Teens'.  We want to see projects for the teenagers in your lives.

Well, if you've been following my blog, you will be aware that I'm on a stash busting mission.  This challenge gave me an opportunity to use a digi stamp I've had printed out for years. I'm afraid I can't give credit for it as I deleted the file by accident years ago.  This was my first purchase of a digital stamp set and it was long before I figured a way to store and index them.  I think the folder got lost in some digital paper files before I backed everything up to memory stick.  When I changed computers I deleted a load of stuff and I think this set must have been amongst them. 

You can tell how inexperienced I was.  I printed it on textured cardstock - although I quite like the effect it did bleed outside the image a little.  It's a good job I was fussy cutting it.  I'm not sure why I chose orange as a colour scheme.  It's a colour that I rarely choose. I'm glad I did though. I love how it's turned out.

Ok, let's see your Teenage cards for the boys please.

Thanks for reading

Love Dawn x

Masculine Monday

 Morning all.  I'm sorry you didn't seem to enjoy my emergency services theme over the last fortnight.  Hopefully, today's Make My Monday topic will be more appealing.  We would like to see your 'Masculine' projects please.  I always enjoy these cards more than I like to admit.  For a start off you can get away with some fun images.  I have loads and most of the 'male' themed ones seem to come from Dr Digi's House of Stamps.  I had real fun colouring this one for my card.

I'm not sure who I would give it to as most of our friends have scooters.  I suppose I could have used a scooter image as, although you can buy this stamp on it's own, I bought the whole transport set.  I added it to some paper that matched my colour choices and popped on some die cut spanners.  I hope you like it.

Please pop over and join in the fun.  For those who struggle with cards for the boys the design team have some lovely inspriation.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x