The Flower Challenge #51 Use Embellishments Reminder

It’s almost Christmas!!! Very happy that I’ve got the week off between Christmas and New Year for once. I need to tidy up all my crafting stuff so I can find things easily and clear so actual space to craft in! I hope you all have a lovely Christmas planned, even if it is very different from normal years. 

If you need a break from Christmas planning, there’s still time to join in our current challenge over at The Flower Challenge and this month we want you to use embellishments. 

I used some of the smaller left over flowers from my last card to make this card. I also die cut the leafy frame out of two different shades of green. The die only has leaves in two corners, so I snipped those corners out of the paper green and then glued them behind the bare corners of the frame. I did consider just turning the frame over but it would have shown the reverse of the die cut edges, so this way kept the smooth edges showing. I also cut the Sue Wilson sentiment out of black card. 

I assembled the card and added some pearls to the centres of the flowers and a tiny heart gem to finish. Simples! As ever I can’t wait to see your cards, please check out my teamies amazing cards and perhaps remind yourself of our rules as we hate having to discount stunning cards because they haven’t complied with our rules. If you can include our cue card in your post we’ll be eternally grateful too! Stay safe and have a wonderful Christmas x

The Flower Challenge #51 Use Embellishments

 

Happy Christmas Month! My road is definitely getting more festive by the day, with Christmas lights appearing everywhere. I’m only sad that working from home means that I don’t get to get out and enjoy them as often. 

I hope you’re all staying safe and warm at home, it’s definitely the weather this week to stay in and craft! It’s time for our new challenge over at The Flower Challenge and this month we want you to use embellishments. 

I made a card for a colleague’s 40th birthday for my card this month (I was actually quite impressed at managing two makes in one!). I used over 120 gems glued individually on the numbers, so I think it counts as using embellishments! Thankfully, the gems round the edges of the 7x7 card were in strips! I made the flowers out of Fleurs flower forming foam using Heartfelt Creations Arianna Bloom and Berry Blossoms dies. The foliage was cut out of card using Sue Wilson’s Winter Foliage and a few random foliage die cuts that were lurking in the box! 

As ever, I look forward to seeing your cards. As ever on  the challenge blog you can check out my teamies fantastic inspiration and see our rules, we’d love you to join in and if you can include our cue card in your post, that’d be amazing!

The Flower Challenge Reminder #50 - Use a sentiment

It’s the middle of a rather soggy November here in North West England and that means it’s time for a reminder about our challenge at The Flower Challenge and it’s an easy one this month, “Use a Sentiment”

I’ve had a pretty hectic month with work and taking my Dad to hospital appointments and so I went for an easy option for my reminder card and used up some of the left over flowers and leaves from my original challenge card this month. This time I stuck to just the purple flowers. Sometime ago I made a bunch of card blanks with sparkle paste spread through a stencil and so fished one out of my stash for the base. Sentiment from The Paper Boutique and some foam tape to raise up some of the flowers, and job done! 

I hope you can all join in with the challenge this month, crafting has got to be a good way to take your mind off the current world chaos. Working for the NHS, I’m hoping that our service doesn’t get stepped down and staff redeployed to front line services again, which is looking increasingly likely, so for me crafting is a great distraction. Stay safe, remember hands, face, space, craft!

The Flower Challenge #50 Sentiment

November and the weather is certainly getting more wintery! Definitely time to stay snug indoors (not that we’ll have many other options in England from Thursday!) and craft. It’s time for our new challenge at The Flower Challenge and it’s an easy one this month, “Use a Sentiment”

I made a bright card using two Altenew stamp sets (if I could find where I’ve put them, I could tell you which ones!) that I stamped and fussy cut elements from to arrange on the leaving card for a colleague, along with an old LOTV sentiment stamp. I used an Aall & Create stencil and distress ink to add some background interest, it is more orange in real life! It had to be an 8x8 card to fit all the messages in! 

As ever, I can’t wait to see your cards this month, check out our rules and if you can, please include our cue card in your post. Stay safe, remember hands, face, space to craft! 

The Flower Challenge Reminder #49 Circle/Circles

How are you all? Are you keeping safe, warm and well? I’m still working from home, which whilst the commute is much shorter, I do miss seeing my colleagues in person, rather than just on camera and definitely miss those corridor chats to bounce ideas around and catch up on the gossip! As the weather is turning chillier here, it’s a great excuse to stay indoors and craft, although I must admit I’m also missing going to craft workshops. 

So, it’s time for a reminder of our current challenge over at The Flower Challenge and don’t forget we have some fantastic prizes on offer. I used John Next Door dies again to make my card, both the Snow Flower and Pine Branches dies along with a few extras from the Tiny Flowers die. I cut the flowers out of Fleurs Flower Forming Foam and added some Mica Magic colour in places. The branches were cut in two shades of green card stock. I drew round a circle die to guide my wreath circle of foliage and I asssembled it all with some small pearls in the flower centres. I added a black sentiment cut from a Paper Boutique die set to finish. Simples! 

It's our 4th Birthday too!

It would be great if you could add our cue card above when entering .

We are happy to say that we are celebrating our 4th Birthday this month! Whoo hoo!! Can't believe it's been 4 years already. What a super team of talented girls we have here too, they are all just amazing! I am sure you have loved seeing all their fabulous floral creations in our gallery. Not to mention all the inspiration from all of you too! We hope you will continue to share with us in the coming months/years also ;)

So to celebrate we are giving away PRIZES for SEVEN of our lucky winners this time. Our main Winner and to 6 others who make it to our showcase this time also. We have decided to choose our winners rather than using the random chooser thingamajig! 

This month we are being sponsored again by the amazing Alex Syberia, she designs such fabulous digi images. Do check them out if you haven't already and what glorious flowers she designs too!

Alex is kindly giving us a coupon for $10 to one of our lucky winners to use in her store.

Also 'The Flower Challenge' is giving away 6 other prizes to our chosen winners also, see all the prizes listed below.

So the top seven people we choose will each win one of the prizes below. We will allocate them ourselves randomly. If you have any of the prizes on offer already, please state that in your post so if chosen you won't get the same one allocated. Or state which you would like ...but if several choose the same prize you will be given one randomly of course ;)

Here are the various stamps/dies you might win below...

PRIZE 1

Alex Syberia Prize

A coupon worth $10

to spend in her shop HERE

PRIZE 2

The Ton

Daisy Fields stamp

PRIZE 3

Hero Arts stamps and die

PRIZE 4

Make it Crafty stamps

PRIZE 5

Paperrose stamps

PRIZE 6

My Favorite Things Kite stamps and dies

PRIZE 7

Paper Roses dies

So this time we would like to see a circle or circles on your cards this month, as well as the usual FLOWERS of course too. 

The Flower Challenge # 49 Use Circles

 

I know I say this every month, but seriously, where is the time going?! The nights ate definitely starting to draw in here in Lancashire. I’m actually looking forwards to the clocks going back an hour as it means an extra hour in bed that morning! I hope you’re all staying safe and well in these interesting times. I’m still working from home which has greatly reduced my commuting time! Gives me a bit more time to craft/stroke crafting supplies! Speaking of which it’s time for our latest challenge over at The Flower Challenge and it’s also our 4th birthday! I’m so proud to work with such an amazing group of talented crafters (I often feel like I have imposter syndrome compared to them!). Speaking of which we have exciting news about a new member of our DT and prizes to celebrate our birthday. 

I decided to make a circular card and used some die cut circle frames mounted on different heights of foam tape. The sentiment is a Sue Wilson die which I layered up 3 times and flowers and leaves are from John Next Door - Snowflower, Small Leaves and Small Flowers. I applied glue to the flowers and dipped them in Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Jewels, the centres are all actually clear, but some have picked up golden tinge from the artificial light. 

So, all our exciting news and prizes, I copied this from our challenge blog as there’s so much to tell you! 

It's our 4th Birthday too!

It would be great if you could add our cue card above when entering our challenge.
Of course most of all....have fun!

Lots of exciting news from us this month, sorry if it's a long post!

First more news about our Design Team, as we have had Rachel and Karen sadly leave us recently we  have decided to replace one of them now. Ten seems to be the ideal number we are finding re showcasing etc. Anyway we are very happy to announce that the amazing Loll Thompson from 'Stamping with Loll' is joining our team.

I am sure you will all give her a very warm welcome ;)

Next we are happy to say that we are celebrating our 4th Birthday this month! Whoo hoo!! Can't believe it's been 4 years already. What a super team of talented girls we have here too, they are all just amazing! I am sure you have loved seeing all their fabulous floral creations in our gallery. Not to mention all the inspiration from all of you too! We hope you will continue to share with us in the coming months/years also ;)

So to celebrate we are giving away PRIZES for SEVEN of our lucky winners this time. Our main Winner and to 6 others who make it to our showcase this time also. We have decided to choose our winners rather than using the random chooser thingamajig! 

This month we are being sponsored again by the amazing Alex Syberia, she designs such fabulous digi images. Do check them out if you haven't already and what glorious flowers she designs too!

Alex is kindly giving us a coupon for $10 to one of our lucky winners to use in her store.

Also 'The Flower Challenge' is giving away 6 other prizes to our chosen winners also, see all the prizes listed below.

So the top seven people we choose will each win one of the prizes below. We will allocate them ourselves randomly. If you have any of the prizes on offer already, please state that in your post so if chosen you won't get the same one allocated. Or state which you would like ...but if several choose the same prize you will be given one randomly of course ;)

Here are the various stamps/dies you might win below...

PRIZE 1

Alex Syberia Prize

A coupon worth $10

to spend in her shop HERE

PRIZE 2

The Ton

Daisy Fields stamp

PRIZE 3

Hero Arts stamps and die

PRIZE 4

Make it Crafty stamps

PRIZE 5

Paperrose stamps

PRIZE 6

My Favorite Things Kite stamps and dies

PRIZE 7

Paper Roses dies

So this time we would like to see a circle or circles on your cards this month, as well as the usual FLOWERS of course too. 

The Flower Challenge #48 Reminder - Use Pink & Brown

Yep, halfway through the month already, which means it’s getting closer to payday too! If your payday doesn’t seem to come around quick enough, why not join our challenge to win a fab prize! You simply need to use pink and brown on your floral creations this month to be in with a chance to win.

 We’re being sponsored this month by the amazing Bugaboo Stamps again with a $12 gift code for our winner , (approx 4 digital stamps). Such beautiful and fun digital stamps to be found there, do pay them a visit if you haven't already! 

"Everything That You Ever Wanted to Know About Bugaboo Stamps: A Short Essay

As if raising five children in the frozen land of the North was not enough of a challenge, Jodie Mackrell decided to dip her cold little Canadian toes into the world of papercrafting by opening an online store full of her illustrations.
That was ten years ago. Today Bugaboo Stamps is one of the leading companies in digital images, and we're still growing!  From seriously snarky to sugary sweet to sublimely soulful all the way over to the other side of the super sexy spectrum, you're bound to find all that you need and more to create your paper projects.  Jodie works very hard to provide New Releases and Freebies every week". They also very generously gave all our DT images to use too. 

Please don't forget to use your Florals as always and as the MAIN feature on your card.

Only 6 other challenges allowed as well as our own. 

Also please take a few minutes to read our rules in the tab above as you may lose out on winning a prize this time too.Bought flowers or ones just cut out from design paper are NOT allowed. If in any doubt please do ask.

I coloured my image with a base of copic markers and a few extra bits of coloured pencils on top. I used some Tattered Rose distress ink through an Aall & Create stencil around it. Mounted on kraft card on a 5x7 card with a touch of pink ribbon tucked behind it. Super simple! 

The Flower Challenge #48 Use Pink and Brown

Did you miss me? Probably not! I was laid low for a few weeks with a bad chest infection. Thankfully, not Covid, but I am now very, very familiar with the testing process! So, on to the crafting........

This month we have a colour challenge, Use Pink and Brown. We’re being sponsored this month by the amazing Bugaboo Stamps again with a $12 gift code for our winner , (approx 4 digital stamps). Such beautiful and fun digital stamps to be found there, do pay them a visit if you haven't already! 

"Everything That You Ever Wanted to Know About Bugaboo Stamps: A Short Essay

As if raising five children in the frozen land of the North was not enough of a challenge, Jodie Mackrell decided to dip her cold little Canadian toes into the world of papercrafting by opening an online store full of her illustrations.
That was ten years ago. Today Bugaboo Stamps is one of the leading companies in digital images, and we're still growing!  From seriously snarky to sugary sweet to sublimely soulful all the way over to the other side of the super sexy spectrum, you're bound to find all that you need and more to create your paper projects.  Jodie works very hard to provide New Releases and Freebies every week". They also very generously gave all our DT images to use too.

Please don't forget to use your Florals as always and as the MAIN feature on your card.

Only 6 other challenges allowed as well as our own. 

Also please take a few minutes to read our rules in the tab above as you may lose out on winning a prize this time too.Bought flowers or ones just cut out from design paper are NOT allowed. If in any doubt please do ask.

I used the lovely Flower Border for my card, coloured with copics and pencils. I printed it off a second time and decoupaged some of the flowers. I added a few gem embellishments to the centre of each flower to finish. Simples!

Please check out all my teamies stunning makes and I’ll be back with a reminder card mid month. Happy crafting, stay safe and wash your hands! You’ll still be left with ink stains though...

The Flower Challenge # 45 - Navy Plus One Colour

It’s the middle of the month (and almost the longest day!) and so it’s time for a reminder about our current challenge over at The Flower Challenge use navy plus one colour.

I was determined to use the same die as I did for my original challenge card this month and so cut it from matt gold mirri card and snipped off one of the flowers.

I spritzed navy Izink dye ink spray through a Finnabair stencil onto A6 white cards. Once dry I die cut circles out of one piece and with foam tape added it over another ink spritzed piece. I added a border in navy fine liner. I cut the Lawn Fawn Scripty Hugs die in both an ink spritzed piece of card and the gold and layered them up on the card. I added the flowers and some pale gold gems to finish. Simples!

The Flower Challenge #45 - Navy Plus One Other Colour

Yep, June already! I can’t believe how quickly time is passing even in lockdown. The good thing about working from home is that I’m always in when my crafting goodies arrive. Currently waiting impatiently for my new Speckled Egg inkpads!
Whilst I was waiting I made this card for out new challenge over the The Flower Challenge and this month we want to see you use a limited colour palette of navy and one other colour.

I had a messy afternoon creating some backgrounds using various ink sprays and I used one of them in Pink with a touch of shimmer to die cut this beautiful Studiolight flower die. 

On a piece of navy card I spread some clear texture paste through my Aall and Create Lotza Dotz stencil, then mounted it on a 5x7 card with a pink mat. I found the perfect colour  Studiolight washi tape with the words sending hugs printed on it. I added it on foam tape along with some Lavinia Stamps glitter to the centre of the flowers to finish. Simples! 

The Flower Challenge #44 Reminder - Monochrome

Yep, halfway through the month and it’s time to remind you about our current challenge over at The Flower Challenge and this month we want to see your monochrome floral creations. Make sure you check out my teamies and our amazing guest design team member’s fantastic works.

I used a lovely new Stamp from Studiolight’s Grunge 5 collection for my card. I created a few backgrounds using my gel plate, two Louise Withers Studiolight collection stencils and distress crayons in a few shades of blue. I trimmed down one of the backgrounds to for on a DL card with a black mat behind it and stamped in black. I also stamped it onto a darker background piece and cut out the flowers. I added them to the panel with heavy body gel to add dimension and a touch of glitter for the centres. Simples! I can’t wait to see your creations, reminder the main image needs to be floral, check out all our rules on the blog. Happy crafting x

The Flower Challenge #44 - Monochrome

I know I say this every month, but where is the time going? I can’t believe it’ll be the longest day next month now, it’s certainly getting warmer outside. I hope that you’ve all got access to some outside space to enjoy it, especially if you’re currently under lockdown as we are in the UK.
Thankfully, most of my favourite craft shops are still open via mail order, although my bank account would look healthier if they weren’t!

If you are spending more time at home then why not join us this month at The Flower Challenge

This month we would like to see a 'Monochrome' look on your cards.This means either 'black and white' or varying tones of one colour. We are allowing a white card base & touches of white also, so you could have a white card base with say shades of purple stamped flowers or dies on as an example.

I dug an sadly unused stamp out of my stash for this card. It’s a lovely large stamp by Stamps by Me and was a member’s free gift with Create and Craft, must may still be available from Stamps by Me. I stamped it in black Versafine and then painted it in Distress Oxides - Blueprint Sketch, Broken China and Salty Ocean. Once dry I stencilled then through Aall & Create’s Lotsa dotz stencil around the image. I added a some white lines with a white gel pen and splattered on some white paint and some of the leftover blue ink. I trimmed it down to fit on a 5x7 card and drew in a border. I added a sentiment from Art from Marlene’s sticker pad, which I cut in half so it fitted better and added everything to the card base with foam tape. To finish I added a little glitter to the centre of the flowers. Simples! 

The Flower Challenge #43 Reminder - Spring/Autumn

I’m popping by quickly with a reminder that there’s still time to join in our latest challenge over at The Flower Challenge 

It would be great if you could add our cue card above when entering our challenge.

Of course most of all....have fun! 

So this month we would like to see some reference to 'Spring or Autumn' on your cards. As we are a global Design Team and so many of our entries are world wide too it's most likely either Spring or Autumn where you are atm. 
So you could choose Spring or Autumn flowers or just go with Spring or Autumn colours for example. Just make sure to use flowers as always of course...and remember they have to be the MAIN image too! We are being sponsored this month by the amazing Bugaboo Stamps with a $12 gift code for our winner , (approx 4 digital stamps). Such beautiful and fun digital stamps to be found there, do pay them a visit if you haven't already! All the design team have been given some of their stamps to use on their cards also.

The DT were lucky to be given some digi stamps by our sponsor to use for this challenge. I used the same image as my original card, but only used one of the 4 squares, the spring tulip. I enlarged it before printing it off and then colouring it with my copics. I then fussy cut it and glued it to a 6x6 card. I doodled on the flower with a white gel pen and drew in a frame with my black copic pen and added a few dots. To finish I added a sentiment from an Art by Marlene sticker sheets booklet.  A very different style of card, but hopefully a bright cheery one!

The Flower Challenge #43 Autumn/Spring

Happy April! This is going to be a very strange month and Easter isn’t it? I hope you’re all keeping safe and well wherever you are. Are you like me working from home? All our face to face clinics have been changed to telephone consultations which is um interesting as you really appreciate how much we rely on body language to communicate!
Working in the NHS, I’m just waiting for confirmation that our Easter bank holidays are being cancelled and I’m assuming that we’ll be redeployed into more frontline services as the situation escalates. Of course, I’m happy to do whatever I can, whether that’s using my Occupational Therapy skills or cleaning wards to keep them running.
Don’t tell them, but I’m even missing my colleagues (a tiny bit). My new co-workers are good for a hug, but they never offer to make me a brew! Beans bunny has been acting as my body double on video calls and I’ve discovered that Pickle bunny snores. Think the squeak when you clean glass sound!
Working from home also means that my commuting time has reduced dramatically giving me more time to craft. I always knew that I was hoarding craft supplies for a reason. The  I think in about 3 months I might need some more glue, but that’s about it! Then again I might have ordered some more  stamps recently....
So, if like me at the moment you have a little more crafting time, why not join in our new challenge over at The Flower Challenge 

It would be great if you could add our cue card above when entering our challenge.
Of course most of all....have fun! 

So this month we would like to see some reference to 'Spring or Autumn' on your cards. As we are a global Design Team and so many of our entries are world wide too it's most likely either Spring or Autumn where you are atm. 

So you could choose Spring or Autumn flowers or just go with Spring or Autumn colours for example. Just make sure to use flowers as always of course...and remember they have to be the MAIN image too! We are being sponsored this month by the amazing Bugaboo Stamps with a $12 gift code for our winner , (approx 4 digital stamps). Such beautiful and fun digital stamps to be found there, do pay them a visit if you haven't already! All the design team have been given some of their stamps to use on their cards also.

The DT were lucky to be given some digi stamps by our sponsor to use for this challenge. I continued to play with acetate for my card, printing the image in draft mode on the acetate. I then used sharpie pens to colour it in. I very simply mounted it on Hunkydory mirridazzle card and added a black frame around it. In hindsight, it would have looked better with a gloss black frame, but hey ho!

I can’t wait to see what you come up with this month. Stay safe x