Summer’s here... at Dream Valley at least!! ;)

Hello there!! :)

I’m back again with another fab new challenge over at Dream Valley- and very timely it is too, seeing as the sun has decided to come out to play at long last here in my little bit of the UK at least!! :) So, if you haven’t already guessed, our theme this fortnight is ‘Summer’ and we are sponsored by Squiggle Stamps!! :)

Now, my card may not immediately scream summer as many of the gorgeous creations from the rest of our fab DT do but, as my health means no chance of going on a ‘sun, sea and sand’ type holiday (or even a ‘rainy English summer’ type one, come to that!!lol), I thought I would make my card reflect what this summer means to me... which, with the Jubilee last month and now the Olympics starting so very soon, is a celebration of all things British... oh, and a simply gorgeous SC digi ‘cause I love it!! :)

So, I have used my Portobello Road papers, stamps and buttons with some kraft card and Distress Inks to give this card a lovely vintagey-London feel... this is one of those cards that just came together so easily and enjoyably from the first moment of colouring to the last touch of embellishment- a challenge can be good but I just love the times when creativity just flows, don’t you!?!! :)

This image is my one of my fav SCs, I think- which is saying something as I love so many of them!! :) – I just think she looks so beautiful in her gorgeous dress, with that flowing long hair and the butterflies as the perfect finishing touch... everything about it just says summer to me, too, so perfect for this challenge!! :) I coloured with PMs, of course, using some new colour combos inspired by the Portobello papers... that’s what I love about paper packs- they challenge me to get out of my colour comfort zone... in fact, I have a pad on my desk at the mo’ which I would never have bought had I seen half the papers in it as it contains one of my most hated colour combos of purple and yellow... but, I’m actually still glad I got it as it has made me work with PMs which I have probably never even picked up before and, even if I don’t *love* the results, I’m pleased to have met the colouring challenge!!lol

I stamped Big Ben and the Postcard from the lovely Portobello stamp set on a piece of the Portobello paper, trimmed and distressed- the detail stamps so well, too!! :) - and then tucked them in behind the image... I was going for a bit of a clustered look with all my little extra embellies... not sure it was quite how I planned... but I like it anyway!! :)

Another of my little crocheted flowers with a button and twine and a little seam binding to finish it all off... I’m liking that I can have the Union Jack feel to the colours without necessarily needing to have bright red and royal blue as that’s not really me!! :)

The List:

• 6” sq. Scalloped cream card blank (Craftwork Cards)
• Saturated Canary digi- Cerridwen
• PMs (mostly) to colour (I actually can’t find my pic of the pens I used for this but have tried to piece it together from other pics/lists and my v dodgy memory, think it’s right, though!! :S): Dress- Cardinal Red, Antique Pink and Dusky Rose; Butterflies- Indigo Blue, True Blue, China Blue and Blue Pearl; Gloves- White Pearl (Spectrum Noir), Blue Pearl and Glacier Blue (FlexMarker) – had a bit of an indecisive moment over colour with the gloves!!lol; Skin- Satin, Blush, and Dusky Pink with Sunkissed Pink for cheeks; Hair- Caramel, Cocoa, Henna, Walnut, Umber, Burnt Umber; White Pearl around image and Ivory PM all over the white cardstock to tone in
• Spellbinders Nestie Labels 17
• Kraft card stock
• Papermania Portobello Road papers, stamps and buttons
• VersaFine Vintage Sepia
• Scissors to Distress
• Distress Inks- Antique Linen and Vintage Photo
• Tile Blue seam binding from The Ribbon Girl
• One of my little crocheted flowers in pink embroidery thread
• Ivory button twine from TRG
• Sakura Clear Stardust pen and waterbrush
• Ivory Flat-backed Pearls

...phew- long list!!lol

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Papertake Weekly - All Things Girly :) ; Fab 'n; Funky - Make Your Own Flowers :) ; Divas by Design - Anything Goes :) ; Allsorts - Distressing :) ; Charisma - Your favourite Animal (Butterflies, if they are big enough on my card to count?!) :)

Okay, that’s it from me for now- thank you so much for stopping by and reading my waffle and I hope you like this one!! :) Pleased pop over to the DVblog to see the rest of my teamies fab summer creations and I hope you get some lovely sunshine to inspire you to join in wherever you are!! :) Hope you’re all well and have a lovely week... I’m hoping to make the most of the sun out in the garden while we’ve got it!! :)

Less bears is more cake... humour at Dream Valley :)

Hello!! :)

Time for my broken record moment... altogether now- ‘Well, another fortnight has passed us by in a flash...’!!! Seriously, where is this year disappearing to!?!! At least the weather seems to have finally caught up with the calendar, though... or maybe overtaken it even!! Isn’t it lovely to have so much sunshine and warmth at last?! Lots of excuses for icecream... as if I needed one!!lol:) :) But enough random waffle and down to business...

It’s time for a new challenge over at Dream Valley and this fortnight we’d like to see your creations with a touch of ‘Humour’!! :) We are sponsored by the fab Bugaboo (perfect for this one, I’d say- and quite a few of the team have put their images to good use!! :) ) and Crafty Emma's Store!! :)

Now, I have to say that I was a bit worried when I saw this one... I don’t mind trying a new style or technique but I don’t really seem to do humorous cards whatever the style- but then I remembered this image and, though not exactly roll-on-the-floor hilarious, I like the gentle humour in the sentiment... as well as the ever adorable Newton, of course!! :)

I’m not sure how it came out *quite* so CAS as this but sometimes a card just makes up its own mind, I find, and this one just wasn’t having any of that fancy paper or pearls and gems malarkey at all!!lol Don’t think it helped that I got myself a tad confused with the colouring when I came to do his patch as I coloured it grass green and it looked kind of odd- I toned it down with greyer greens but then didn’t know if it looked feminine or masculine... was leaning towards masculine but then- pink icing on a man’s card?!! So I kept it simple as that always seems to be my way for men's cards... did manage to persuade myself a scalloped edge card blank was okay, though, which livened it up a bit... but I still don't know- can you tell I’m not sure I like this one?!! :S lol

I coloured this cute Newton digi (a free colouring page from here – there are quite a few and all great!! :) ) with PMs and added a few touches of glaze pen to his nose and the cherries... couldn’t not really!! :) Then I doodled a border and coloured it with a PM and fine nib... couldn’t live without those nibs now!! :) And that was it- couldn’t get much simpler really!! The sentiment even comes on the image, btw, so I just sized it and printed!! :)

The List:

• 6” Sq.  white On the Edge Scalloped card blank
• Newton’s Law digi image - free download from here
• ProMarkers to colour – no colours I’m afraid as I had pens from several images all in a jumble on my desk!!lol
• Sakura Clear Glaze pen
• Black Fineliner

I’d like to enter this card in the following challenges: Crafty Catz - Card for a Man :) ; Passion for ProMarkers - Birthdays :) ; 

Well, CAS is clearly the way to go- that’s been the easiest post to write for a while as well as a quick card!!lol Don't forget to pop over to the DV blog to check out the (far more amusing!) inspiration from the rest of our fab DT!! :) Thanks for stopping by today- I hope to be able to manage a mid- fortnight post with an non-DT card soon... still not feeling great and got to make the most of what energy I have to enjoy this lovely weather while we have it!! :) Have also been experimenting with a couple of new jewellery ideas but nothing’s ready to share quite yet!! :) Hope you’re all well and having a lovely weekend!! :)

A Fairytale Birthday... For A Special Lady at Dream Valley :)

Hello there folks!! :)

Well, I thought I’d be all prepared with this post as I had the card sorted over a week ago but my body’s had other ideas again... and now I just can’t get my head in gear to write either... so big apologies if this comes out even more garbled than usual!! :S lol Anyways, better late than never- here goes...

It’s time for another challenge over at Dream Valley and this is one that’s had all us DT girls v excited over the last couple of weeks as we have a fab sponsor... but first, the challenge itself!!lol This fortnight we’d like to see your cards ‘For A Special Lady’... a lovely easy challenge indeed!! :) And our fabulous sponsor is Krista Smith of Saturated Canary, who is offering the winner a $10 voucher for her Etsy store!! :) And she also gave us lucky things on the DT a chance to choose an image for our projects- hence the excitement!! :D So- thank you, Krista!! :D

Now, as some of you will know, I’ve been kind of avoiding my papercrafting supplies recently but I needed a card for one of my best friends and this challenge and the beautiful digi I chose were perfect to tempt me back to my desk to try to make her something special :) I was wary to start with, not sure I wanted to do it, but I loved every minute in the end!! :)

I tried to keep it simple to show off Krista’s gorgeous image and also the beautiful Bo Bunny Gabrielle paper that my friend and I both love... and also to go a bit easy on myself ‘cos I was feeling a tad rusty after a month and more off!!lol 

I chose the amazing ‘Rapunzel, a Princess’ image... I hadn’t seen this one before but I knew I had to colour her the moment I saw her!! :) My ongoing mission to improve my colouring is currently stuck in a hair-obsession phase and I think I have been getting better... but when I think that I only plucked up the courage to try colouring my first Simply Sassy stamp about six months ago (having had several in my stash for at least six months before that!!) because I was so bad at colouring hair and Krista draws such gorgeous hairstyles on her images that I was a tad intimidated... and now I jumped at the chance to colour this one when I’d have had nowhere to hide had it gone wrong as it’s a DT project... well, that has given my kinda shaky crafting (and life atm :S) confidence a much needed boost!! :) :)

I’ve added a second pic as I struggled to get the colours right in the pics and I think this one's the best likeness :S Thank you to Krista’s images, ProMarker Fine Nibs and MiC colouring tuts for the improvements!!lol

This card is based on the one I made with that first Sassy last year, which I loved but haven’t got around to sharing on here yet... I used the same paper pack and similar ideas for layout, embellishments, etc. but this time I chose this gorgeous butterfly paper and had a play with my new gilding flakes and Flitter Glu and they do look similar but quite different...!!lol The sentiment is stamped with the Flitter Glu and it worked a treat first time...I now have so many ideas buzzing around my head for stamps I want to try this with!! :)

The butterfly is gilded, too, but I just traced over the design on the paper with a Quickie Glue pen... so easy but it looks so stunning... and is incredibly difficult to photograph to in any way do it justice!! :S I smooched some Distress Stickles over the wings with my finger for interest, too- love doing this!!lol

Everything is distressed and inked and the corners got some Stickles, too :) I tore the corners off one of the sheets from the pack as so many of the designs have a lot of lovely detail on the corners, but which would almost all be lost if you trimmed the sheets enough to fit on a 6” card... and that made me sad!! :( Not sure what I’ll do with the middle of the sheet mind!!lol

The List:

• 6” Sq. Scalloped cream card blank
• Saturated Canary digi- Rapunzel, a Princess
• ProMarkers to colour (see picture below, click to view it bigger- the Copics are the blender and a pale Warm Grey)
• Papers from Bo Bunny’s Gabrielle pad
• Gilding Flakes (Variegated Green from Crafty Notions) with Indigo Blu Flitter Glu and a Quickie Glue pen to adhere
• Distress Inks – Antique Linen and Vintage Photo
• Sentiment stamp from Cat’s Life Press
• Cream Seam binding from The Ribbon Girl
• Antique Linen Distress Stickles
• Sakura Clear Stardust pen
• Cream Flat-backed Pearls from stash

I’d like to enter this card in the following challenges: Saturated Canary – Happy Birthday :) ; The Stampman – Shabby Chic or Distressed :) ; Paper Sundaes – Ribbons and Pearls :) ; MAWTT – Flowers or Gardens (my butterfly):) ; Creative Inspirations – Anything Goes :)

Well, thank you for stopping by today!! :) I’m sorry I’m still being so rubbish at leaving comments... really hoping I’ll be well enough to do better with that soon... in the meantime, thank you so much to those of you kind enough to still leave comments for me!! :) And hello and thanks to my new Followers, too- I'll try and visit you as soon as I can!! :) I hope you’ll join in our challenge- pop over to the DV blog to see all the fantastic creations from the rest of the team, too!! :) I hope you’re having a good weekend despite this awful weather... here in Manchester it’s like the middle of winter... a very stormy winter at that!! :S Tomorrow’s supposed to be lovely, though, so fingers crossed!! :)

Purple Haze for Mother's Day at Dream Valley... :)

Hello there folks!! :)

I hope you’re all well and enjoying the weekend!! :) Another fortnight has flown by and I’m still feeling rubbish which is why I’m here a tad later than intended again- I’m so desperate to be feeling better and get back to blogging more often and even for crafting (or anything else come to that! :S ) to be a little less like climbing Mount Everest but I am glad to have my fortnightly Dream Valley posts to keep giving me the impetus to get on here occasionally at least!! :)

Speaking of Dream Valley- it’s time for a new challenge and this fortnight we’d like to see your ‘Mother’s Day’ creations... not long to go for us here in the UK so perfect timing if you need a bit of inspiration!! :) We have two fab sponsors this time- our monthly sponsor OSCC and also Crafty Ribbons...

I make four Mother’s Day cards each year to give- one each for my Mum and Gran, of course, and these two are usually fairly involved, then slightly simpler ones for my Aunty (who’s also my God Mother) and for a lovely family friend who I think of as my ‘adopted Gran’- she has always been there for my Mum and I since I got so ill and we’d never have managed without her all these years... this one was made with her in mind :)

I kept it pretty simple again, partly due to how I’ve been feeling and partly because I think that suits this lovely image from Tiddly Inks pretty well... :)

I bought a couple of these gorgeous Wryn digis a few weeks back and printed them straight away as I wanted to enter the Tiddly Inks Valentine’s challenge... well, that didn’t happen so instead of being red, little Wryn has now come over all spring-like and pastel-coloured... and I finally got a purple blend I liked with my Amethyst PM, too!! :) I layered her up with the free co-ordinating flowers in my graphics program before printing.

I edged everything with two shades of purple DI and stamped the little LOTV corner stamp twice on top of each other- the second time in the darker shade and slightly off centre to give a bit of depth. Then I added some sparkle to that and the flowers... well, you just have to really, don’t you!!lol

The List:

• 5”x7” white card blank
• Wryn – Grow A Little Love and Freebie Garden of Love digi from TiddlyInks 
• ProMarkers and FlexMarkers to colour: Dress- Amethyst and Orchid; Flowers, Grass, Shoes and Stripes- Pink Carnation & Blossom, Lilac, Lavender & Soft Mauve (FM), Blue Pearl & Glacier Blue (FM), Soft Green, Pastel Green & Honeydew (FM); Skin- Satin, Blush, Dusky Pink & Putty with Pale Pink for cheeks ; Hair- Caramel, Cinnamon, Cocoa, Henna, Walnut, Honeycomb & Spice (no clue why it ended up so many!!lol); Soft Aqua (FM) and Copic Blender for shading
• Paper from First Edition’s Dreamcatcher  pad
• MS Traditional Scallop border punch
• MS large Butterfly punch
• DIs- Milled Lavender and Dusty Concord
• Cat’s Life Press sentiment stamp
• Crystal Stickles and Sakura Clear Stardust
• 3mm and 2mm teeny gems from Docrafts

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Joanna Sheen – Spring/Easter :) ; Crafter’s Companion – Spring :) ; CES – Flower frenzy :) ; Flutterby Wednesdays – Open Challenge (must include fairy, angel or butterfly) :) ; Sweet Stampin’ – Nature, bugs and bees :) ; Craft Your Days Away – Mother’s Day :)

So, that’s the first of my Mother’s Day cards... only three more to go... wish me luck- and some more energy!! :S Make sure you pop over to the Dream valley blog to check out the rest of the DT’s fab cards... there’s so much lovely inspiration to make that special Mother’s Day card!! :) Right, I’m off for a much needed rest... see you whenever my body decides to let me post again!! And thank you for all your lovely comments, they mean a lot!! :)

Teddy Bo’s back... and it’s just for the men at Dream Valley...

Hello everyone!! :)

I hope you’re all well and having a lovely weekend? It’s rather windy and cold here but at least the days are getting longer!! :) Well, the last fortnight’s just disappeared on me again... largely because I’ve still not been feeling too good at all so will do my best to keep this as brief as I can... typically I have a double project to share with you today but here we go...

Our challenge for you over at Dream Valley this fortnight is one which- if you’re anything like me at least!! ;) - will give your creative muscles a wee bit more of a workout than our last few lovely, easy challenges have... but I had fun with mine and hope you’ll brave it and join us, too!!lol We’d like to see you creations made ‘Just For Men’ this time and we’re sponsored by the fab Bugaboo who have some great fun images for men’s cards- which some of the DT did an amazing job with to inspire you so do pop over to the DV blog to check them out, too!! :)

Luckily I’ve had my projects for this challenge ready for a while as I’ve not been up to creating much this last couple of weeks... but this is the card I made for my Dad’s birthday earlier in the year :)

When I made this back in mid-January, I hadn’t been well enough to get to my desk since Boxing Day and the old mojo was feeling as rusty as the rest of me so I kept it all very simple!!lol

I went on a little shopping spree at Teddy Bo ready for my Dad’s birthday- any excuse!!lol I cropped the outline tag shape off this image then added in my own border and personalised greeting. I tried a different colour combo of PMs and FMs for his fur this time, which I found a lot easier and much prefer to my previous attempts!! :)

To make a little extra gift (I am pleased to have finally come up with an idea for a handmade gift for my dad as I have given many to the female members of the family and have been trying to think of something he’d actually like for ages- scarves and jewellery not being quite his thing!!lol), I made an easel base for a calendar with my Nesties and used the same gorgeous First Edition papers to decorate it, along with the same MS punch and some more little brown brads, too, so it all co-ordinated :)

My dad works from home and I thought this fella, called ‘Computer Daze’ might sit on his desk and catch his eye while he worked... maybe even diffusing a bit of the computer daze/rage we all feel when we stare at these (can’t live with’em, can’t live wiithout’em!) things too long!!lol

The List:

• 6” Sq. White card blank and two A6 white card blanks (for the calendar base)
• Teddy Bo images- TEDDYBOBEA_TABS_002 Three Little Piggies and TEDDYBO_135 Computer Daze
• ProMarkers and FlexMarkers to colour: Bo- Antique White (FM), Ivory, Vanilla, Oatmeal, Tan and Putty for cheeks; The rest- Cinnamon, Cocoa & Walnut; Lime Zest, Pear Green & Moss; White Pearl (Spectrum Noir) and Copic Blender; CG 1, 2, 4 and Ice Grey 1 (FM), Tulip Yellow and Lemon; Satin, Pastel Beige and Khaki
• Nesties- Labels One
• First Edition New Leaf paper pad
• MS Zig Zag punch
• Scissors and brown ink pad to distress edges, Peeled Paint DI for calendar image
• Brown Sugar Baker’s Twine from The Ribbon Girl
• Brown brads from stash (possibly from Panduro years ago)
• Calendar by Anita's

I’d like to enter the following challenges: Allsorts - Anything Goes :) ; CES - Spots and Dots :) ; Sarah Hurley - Die Cuts (my calendar made with Nesties) :) ; PaperPlay - Critters :) ; Fab 'n' Funky - Try something new (this was my first calendar) :) ; Hotshot Crafts - One for the Boys :) ; Paper Sundaes - Birthdays :)

Well, so much for brief, eh!! :S Thanks for stopping by today and for all the lovely comments on my last cards!! :) Sorry I’m still not managing to leave comments when I visit you all at the mo’- really hope I’ll be feeling well enough to soon but thank you for the fabulous inspiration and for saving my sanity when I’m not up to crafting in the meantime!! :) Don’t forget to stop by the Dream Valley blog to see all the amazing creations from the rest of the DT!! :) 

My first Saturated Canary image... and more Valentine’s over at Dream Valley!! :)

Hey folks!! :)

Sorry I'm a couple of days late with this one- I’ve had a bad week and an even worse last few days... but it’s definitely a case of distraction-therapy rather than waffle-about-it-therapy needed so I’ll do us all a favour and crack straight on with the point of my post...

It’s time for another fab new challenge over at Dream Valley and this fortnight we’d like to see you Valentine’s inspired projects!! :) Another lovely easy one at the moment!! :) We’re sponsored this time by the fabulous Joanna Sheen!! :)

Now, for someone who doesn’t normally do much in the Valentine’s card line I put a rather disproportionate amount of time and effort in to the various digi files I created for the card in my last post and so really wanted to enjoy playing with them while I had the excuse... so this card uses many of the same items along with the rather fabulous addition of one of the (quite a few!!lol) Saturated Canary images I got from the lovely Krista while she had her discount running last weekend!! :)

While not exactly CAS, I did go for a simpler, less busy look to this one as I wanted to see how I could get different looks with the same basic materials... I think the two do have quite different feels to them despite both being suitably masculine... or masculine enough- they are Valentine’s cards after all!!lol

This is by no means the first SC image I have bought or coloured but it is the first that has made onto a completed card so far (Christmas kinda took over!!lol) and I’m pretty happy with how she came out- though I can see massive room for improvement in virtually every area of my colouring... the hair is the *most* glaringly obvious mess-up, but you’ll be kind and not look at that, right!?!!lol Seriously, every time I think I’ve cracked ‘hair’ at last, I prove myself sooo very wrong!! :S I wasn’t sure if I should get this image, if I would get that much use out of it, but I really loved it and I do think I’ll be to use it for plenty of other occasions in different colours :)

I’d cut the circles in alternate colourways and embossed and sanded them as before, then layered them up with some leftover paper. I then had fun with a Fineliner, some gems and a glitter pen!! :) The sentiment stumped me to start with... ‘til I remembered a freebie set of Val’s Day stamps from a mag last year (or maybe the year before!!) and the hearts allowed me to add a pop of red to balance out the gems, too :)

I just took this for my own curiosity regarding the similarities/differences really but thought I may as well add it in!! :)

The List:

• 6” Sq. White card blank
• Fab Saturated Canary Digi ‘Love Letter’ from Krista’s Etsy shop, coloured with FlexMarkers, ProMarkers and Fine Nibs (photo included below to save energy!! FMs- Ice Grey 1, Soft Aqua and Copics- Blender and Warm Grey 1)
• My own design digi paper
• Core’dinations cardstock- red from the vintage selection, grey an All-in-the-Family pack
•  My own design embossing mask and cut files for the heart circle and lacy rectangle, created in my graphics program and cut on my Cricut
• Sanding block for cardstock
• Black Fineliner and Sakura Clear Stardust pen
• Red gems 

I’d like to enter this card in the following challenges: Cards for Men– Seeing Red :) ; Joanna Sheen – Love is in the Air :) ; Sarah Hurley – Love is All Around :) ; OSCC – For the One I Love :) ; Allsorts – Free and Easy :) ; Sweet Stampin’ – The One I Love :) ; MiC – Shading Red :) ; Crafter's Companion - Anything Goes :) ; Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes with optional 'Love' theme :)

Well, thanks for stopping by today and I hope you like my first SC card... I’m off to link that lot up now and then have a much needed rest, I think... or maybe the other way around!! :S Hope you’re all keeping well and warm (what a weekend here n the UK, eh?!)!! And don’t forget to pop over to the Dream Valley blog to have a look at all the wonderful inspiration from the rest of the fab team!! :)

MiC Manga for my sis... and colouring fun!! :)

Hello everyone!! :)

Well, I managed to get my head in gear long enough earlier to remember what was going on in there when I made this card late last year so thought I should get on and post it while the going was good!!lol ETA: I've just realised as I hit publish how incredibly similar this card is to the one I posted yesterday... guess I like the design- hope you do, too!!lol

This is the card I made for my sis, who loves Manga and all things Japanese, for her 17th birthday a couple of months ago :) Now, I'm often not quite sure about some of the manga style images (the styles of character all have different names but I can never remember them for more than a minute!!lol) I see for crafting... although some of them are growing on me more recently... but I really do like some of the fab ones that the lovely Zoe of MiC brings for us and, having spent a fair bit of time perusing the various MiC galleries and groups, etc., I was more than happy to have an excuse to treat myself to a few digis and have some fun colouring them up!! :)

I wasn't originally planning to go so CAS with this- I tend to go to town with my sis' cards and throw all sorts of things at them!!lol- but when it came to it, I simply couldn't find any papers in my stash that suited the image, either in style or colour... and then, when I put her down on a piece of white card I had on my desk, it really seemed to let the colours and colouring look so much better... so I went with it, printed a greeting panel, found some seam binding and coloured a matching mat layer- I still so love that I can do that with my PMs!! :)

I chose this image (called Cici) in particular as- apart from it just being gorgeous and fun!!lol- I wanted to try improving my colouring and shading of pleats and contours using Zoe's fab video, and her dress and flower are great for that :) My sis is also artistic and has started to get into Copics (always wanting to use my PMs when she's here, too!!lol) so I knew she'd appreciate that I'd put some effort into the colouring... most non-crafters just don't get that, do they!?!lol There's still huge room for improvement with the shading but this was my first attempt and I was pretty pleased considering :) I think the proper blending card I was using for the first time was a big help, too... couldn't believe how much ink I could put down to get the blend before it started bleeding!! :) Nearly ruined the whole thing when I tried to do her hair, though- thank heaven I remembered my Prisma pencils to hide my mess!!lol

I added some glaze to her cherry and some Stickles to the flower for a bit of interest :)

The List:

• 6" Sq. Elegant white card blank from Craftwork Cards
• Fab digi image, Cici from Make it Crafty
• Coloured with ProMarkers and Prismacolor Pencils... PMs: Marine, Turquoise and Pastel Green for dress and flower... don't know what colours I used for her hair as it was going so horribly and knew I wouldn't want to repeat it!! A deep pink Prisma came to the rescue to hide the worst and add some texture, though!! :S
• White paper coloured with Marine PM for mat layer
• Computer generated sentiment using free fonts: Candy Round BTN & BlackJack
• Strawberry Glaze Seam Binding from The Ribbon Girl
• Pink mini dewdrops with a gorgeous pearly shimmer
• Crystal Stickles
• Sakura Clear Glaze pen

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges: Charisma - CAS :) ; I ♥ Promarkers - Anything Goes :) ; Joanna Sheen - Celebrations :) ; Cupcake Craftroom - Anything Goes :) ; Papertake Weekly – Buttons, Bows, Bling and Blooms :)

Thank you for visiting... hope you like the card!! :) I have a load of photos already edited and waiting to be posted as I've been doing that when my brain has been refusing to form sentences to write posts for the ones I already had waiting before that so I hope I'll have another moment or three of lucidity soon to catch up with myself!!lol Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last card, too- I really do it appreciate so much!! :) :)