Prima Ballerina moving into Creative Inspirations Wednesday Challenge!!

Hello to all of you beautiful people!!
I hope the day (or night) finds you well!!
It is time for a new challenge over at
Creative Inspirations Wednesdays Challenge Blog
and I hope you'll find this a fun one,
our theme for you is

On the move...

This can mean so many different things, an image that is moving action-wise, a literal move, like to a new home, a moving element on your card, and any other thing that you can imagine up, we'd like to see your creations of your "moving" ideas!!


This is an image called Twinkle Toes featuring Monica of the House Mouse gang, she is coloured in prisma pencils and her shadow was created in chalk, I've stamped around the image in Old Paper with some fun Inkadinkado swirls then dotted on top of the swirls with Buttermilk Spica glitter pen and Diamond Stickles.


It's been raining here, that means my natural lighting is next to none and my pictures have heavy shadows, but I hope you get the idea. Papers are K & Co., the flowers got the Stickle treatment, stamen from Prima and the Bridal Department at Micheals, as well as from my sweet friend Claire, the stringed pearls were also from Michaels, trim from Prima, flowers are mostly Prima except that lush pinched rose from Jodielicious, the lush organza was sent from Elise, that gorgeous gal!! Pearls are Recollections stickers that I just sort of reshaped, lace from JoAnne Fabric, MS doily punch and a Stickled Wilton doily. Is that it? NO. Distressed in Vintage Photo, CS has been distressed with scissors and then stickled.

Sooooooo, I am going to enter some challenges:
House Mouse and Friends is having a birthday bash for their wonderful teamie America, Happy Birthday!!! I have not finished up the inside of my card, but I have my sentiment printed out, it says, "May you be the Prima Ballerina, on your Birthday and every day,"
at Totally Papercrafts they are having 'one for the girls',
I used the gorgeous sketch from Stamp With Fun and I thnk that is it, my blog runner is playing games and not loading, so I couldn't go a-hunting for more places to stick this in at, lol!!

I hope you will think about our challenge this week at Creative Inspirations and come back and move us with your amazing work!!

Take Care,
Stephanne

To the fellas, go fly a kite!!!

Hello everybloggy buddies,
it is the dawn of a new Wednesday in the UK
and that means it is time for a new challenge at
Creative Inspirations
This week we are asking you to create
ONE FOR THE BOYS!!!
What will your one be?
I can't wait to see!!!!


This precious little hAnglar was a birthday present from a very dear blogging buddy, I won't name her, I don't want her to get pummeled with requests from eager hAnglar fans, lol!!! This stamp called Pojke med drake, which I imagine means something like Pojke with kite.... was coloured in distress inks, I stamped the image another time to create a shadowed background courtesy of Faded Jeans distress ink and a warm greey Prismacolor marker, and popped him up with foam dots, I also ran some string through the kite to enhance the image. The papers are K & Co., the lace is that yummy Tickled Pink Stamps house specialty, find it here, brads and metal sentiment are by Making Memories, the gingham is from Hobby Lobby and the button and hemp are from my stash. I distressed the papers in Brushed Corduroy and used my scissors to distress the edges of, well, everything.


Did you already notice that there's a
hAnglar challenge blog
for us to play in out there??? Hot diggity dog!!! Their challenge this fortnight is a themed one, give our creations a Shabby-look which I hope I have done well :)Cupcake Crafts is hosting a For the boys challenge as well, so I will pop this in over there as well as Friday Sketchers, as this is my rendition of their fabulous sketch, and the splendiferous Stamp Something is having a Happy Somethings challenge!!

I hope you will pop over to Creative Inspirations with your projects this week, I've put together a little prize for one lucky winner that will surely make you smile :)
Take Care for now,
Stephanne

Creative Inspirations Brown, Blue and Green!!

Hello dear friends,
I am running behind with the post,
but here is my project for this weeks
CREATIVE INSPIRATIONS
this week and we have a good one for you, COLOURS!!
BROWN, GREEN and BLUE!!


Dear Edwin and his, eh hem, rooster... Edwin is sitting on an apple bucket, and I've used the chickies accesory stamp, painted with distress inks. My delightful paper is MIA, so I used regular cardstock and wow, what an experience... The DP is K & Company and the cardstock is Bazzill, Kraft and Guacamole, my faves!! Does that top corner look naked? Eh, too late to worry about that!!


I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Weekend, I'd love to hear what you did, if you'd like to humour me and leave it in a comment here, especially you ladies with young kiddos or young grandbabies, any funny stories? My kids had fun hunting for eggs, then rehiding them, again and again and again and again. Saturday night, my son and I were walking into our house and there was a bunny outside sleeping, and he excitedly exclaimed, "It's the Eastew Bunny!!" Too cute.

I've been a no-show lately, wanna know why? I bought a house. Yay yay yay!! Now I am in the process of packing and cleaning and cleaning and scrubbing, and running after my toddler and cooking and working and cleaning and cleaning and woops, while I was typing this my toddler ran out the front door again and cleaning and cleaning and... My hubster and I will do the actual moving this weekend, and then I have to go back to my apartment and clean it up before I turn in the keys. Yes, I will clean it, most people say just leave it, not me. I'll be haunted by it, gotta be spotless. Yes, OCD, for anyone thinking it, lol.

So wish me luck. I am trying to find a way to keep my blog fun while I am out of commision through the next couple of weeks, maybe a candy? A wacky story or two?
Take Care Friends,
Stephanne

Ike and Mike play with Creative Inspirations!!

Hello ladies, and possibly a gentleman,
it's Wednesday and you know what that means,
a new challenge for you over at
Creative Inspirations!!
We have a fabulous sketch by Nat
for you to create with, it's a good'un too!!!
Here's my take on it!!


As some of you know, I have been on a quest for a penguin image and these little penguins from Whipper Snapper Designs are just what the doctor ordered!! Here we have "A Hug for Ike," Ike the penguin is getting a bear hug from the superbly adorable Mike!! Love these, I am totally pleased with my WSD purchase, as always, and even though it's a little late in the season, I think you'll be seeing more from Ike and Mike very, very soon!!


DP is K & Company, cardstock is Bazzill, the image is coloured in distress inks and layered, popped up with foam dots, background distressed in faded jeans, snowflakes have been stamped onto the back panel with Brilliance Moonlight white ink, Star Dust stickles has been added here and there, and the punched snowflakes are courtesy of a Martha Stewart punch, they've been glimmer misted in pearl and stabbed with these fabulous curdoroy brads from the dear Princess Bling Kristy, thanks snookums!! The snow is Martha Stewart coarse glitter and the sentiment is a stamp from Recollections, I cut and shaped a white peice of Neenah into a banner shape, distressed it in Old Paper, stamped the sentiment on it in Faded Jeans and slapped on some Stickles, the idea was to make it look snow-kissed, not sure I pulled it off, but a grand idea nevertheless!! More sewing, lots of distressing with scissors, scrummy lace from my stash, and there you have it!!


Seems sort of plain after my last couple of cards, but I wanted to show off the image work and the yummy paper and distressing, not to mention, my rapidly-improving sewing skills, lol!!

I have, of course, fit this into several other challenges:
A spoon full of sugar wants to see lots of layering, oh yesssss, I can do that!
Colour Create is hosting a kraft, white and blue + texture challenge,
Double Dutch wants to see our frozen, frosty creations,
PaperPlay Challenge is hosting a Furry Friends challenge,
Saturday Spotlight with Hidden Potential is suggesting we let our snowflakes go wild!!!
And of course, our sketch from Creative Inspirations


I hope you all will have a chance to play along with us this week, we have a yummy prize up for grabs and beautiful inspiration from the DT!!
Take Care,
Stephanne

Creative Inspirations DT New New New

Hello ladies,
Wednesday is upon us and that means
it is time for another challenge over at
Creative Inspirations,
a nice and easy one for you,
New Year, New Products!!
We want to see you create
with some of that new stash you got
from Santa or bought for yourself
in the last couple of weeks!!


I have had new deliciousness overload!!
With Christmas and my birthday in close vicinity,
gift cards and birthday cash,
punch cards ready to be redeemed,
I tell you, I am in Crafters Heaven!!


Some of my new loot used on this project include
Distress Stickles, 2 new colours of distress ink,
the K & Co. papers, how did I ever craft without them!!?
The gorgeous vintage rose Tilda never inked until now,
and my lovely sewing machine,
sure it isn't BRAND BRAND new anymore,
but I bought it in 2010, new enough, lol.


And my beautiful insignia stamp from Kellie!!
Check them out at MDU here,
truly adds that finishing touch to the project!!
Other items used are MS punches,
beads, pins, lace, ribbon and charm from stash,
Tilda was painted with distress inks in watercolour paper,
then cut out and placed onto Gina K cardstock
that I added a shadow to in faded jeans distress ink
before placing the cut out Tilda on top.
The beautiful gardenias are from Tracey, love them!!
And the mini roses are a custom-coloured item
by yours truly, layered in glimmer mist and inks.


I am playing along with a few other
challenges this time around:
Charisma Cardz
is hosting a colour challenge of
pink, brown, cream and toffee
Crafting Life's Pieces
January Sketch #15,
gorgeous ideas from an extremely talented crafter,
Cupcake Craft Challenge
is going girly this week!!
PaperPlay Challenges
has a Precious Metals Challenge
The Pink Elephant
is hosting a birthday challenge,
and although my creation isn't overtly
BIRTHDAY BIRTHDAY BIRTHDAY,
it is indeed a birthday card.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my creation,
I hope you have a moment to hop over to
Creative Inspirations
and see the other samples,
they are dreamy!!
Oh, to be in their craft rooms
with that new stuff, fun fun fun!!
Take Care,
Stephanne

Warm Winter Wishes

Hi folks,
I have a card to share with you.
I tried to step away from the Magnolias,
but I am not so sure that was a good idea!!
My husband just kept saying,
"The mouses don't make any sense."


I am late on many of the challenges I made this for,
except for Stampin' For The Weekend
whose challenge is to use blue and brown,
and House Mouse Monday Challenge
whose challenge is nontraditional Christmas and
Stamp Something is having a
Winter Wonderland Challenge.
The sketch is from the previous fortnights
Creative Inspirations challenge.
Only 5 days late, that's not so bad...


The image is called CloseKnit Friendship by House Mouse,
coloured in distress inks and popped up
on foam dots for dimension.
The dotted paper is K&Co. and the flakes are MME.
The snowflake punch is MS,
coated in MS glitter and waterfall Stickles,
pins, lace and gems, the pretty goodies are from my stash
and the doiley, hahaha, it is by Wiltons....

I hope everyone out there is
doing okay with their Christmas agendas!!
I spent an hour in the post office today
and just have a few more things to make
before I can say I am done.
Would anyone like to make some fudge for me
and ship it out ASAP??
Any takers??? No!??? Nuts!!!
Take Care,
Stephanne

DT-MDUC -Shell's sketch meets up with a few of my other favourite challenges

Hello to you, my dear bloggie buddies.
It's that time again, another
Magnolia Down Under Challenge is upon us.
May I just take some time to say WOW wOw WoW!!!
Our previous challenge was distressing and
you ladies did such an incredible job!!
Some of the entries were from seasoned distressing pros
and others were taken out of their comfort zone,
it was amazing, each and every project was a WOW!!!
Maybe I just love distressing a little too much??
No, that's not it, all of our participants do gorgeous work!!
Thanks to all of you
who are joining in with our challenges
and helping us break our previous entrant records
challenge after challenge!!!
Remember, you can combine us with any other challenge
that you'd like and we don't mind if you enter several times.


Well, now that I've got that out there,
let's get to the matter at hand;
this fortnights Magnolia Down Under Challenge!!
A sketch by the mega-talented Shell Barnard, yay!!!


I am in need of a thank you card
for my aunt and uncle, as they let me stay
at their house while on my California sleepover.
What a crazy experience, after that,
nothing seems like too hard a task.
In extending me their hospitalities, they set up a
sleeping area and fresh towels along with a "Snuggie"
just in case I needed a little comfort.
Have you seen those things,
the blanket/robe fleece contraption?
Geez, what WON'T people try to sell these days?
Anyway, I opted out on the Snuggie and got a Poptart instead.
Poptart is their sweet little kitty that decided
she wanted to sleep in my womb area, for lack of a better term,
I sleep in the "Fetal Position" so Poptart helped herself
to the ultra warm and comfy Stephanie Sleep Spot,
I have no idea what to call the area, the nook that forms
when you bring your knees and head toward your torso????
Anyhoooo, she was a very comfy addition to the accomodations,
no Snuggie for me, I'll take the Poptart, lol!!
And maybe even a Ginseng too!!
Ginseng is their older kitty who came out and gave me
lots of love as well, I lub kitties, that I do!!
They apparently don't mind me either :)
Sooooo, long story short, this is a thank you card
for my aunt and uncle and cousin and kitties,
and why it makes sense to me
is because of the aforementioned happenings.
Of course, you could use any Tilda at any time
and it's still gonna look cute,
but this project was deliberate,
this is the right Tilda for the occasion.


I've used Tilda with Cat,
she's coloured in distress inks and got a little MS glitter,
she's cut out and placed alongside making memories DP,
the other DP is by K & Co.
I've used gorgeous tea roses with a touch of Stickles,
and these most fabulous shell buttons
(been to the ends of the earth looking for them!!!)
with hemp run through them.
Most everything is distressed in brushed corduroy
after I abused my cardstock with scissors and sandpaper.
The sentiment stamped is "merci" by stampabilities,
and the scallop is courtesy of Fiskars shears.

A little side-angle action for ya,
complete with thumb at no extra charge, haha.
I've made this with a slue of challenges in mind.
Firstly, The Pink Elephant is hosting a colour challenge,
brown, yellow, neutral + 1, I chose pink.
Saturday Spotlight with Hidden Potential's
lsat challenge was to use words to convey your message,
so I chose this lovely script from
the making memories Autumn Harvest collection
and stamped in merci multiple times,
I am too late to enter it over there,
but had the challenge in mind when I made this.
I could, however, enter it for their current challenge,
which happens to be "Repeatedly Useful."
Naaa, I would feel like a cheat!!
No worries, I made something else, see devil tilda, lol.
So, that lovely merci allows me to take part over at
PaperPlay Challenges whose challenge is to
use language other than english on your project.
At Pile It On they're hosting a Thank You challenge,
and so is the same at Simon Says Challenges,
and just in case it is a curiousity of yours,
merci is the french equivalent to our thank you.

Still with me??? Sorry, this is getting lengthy.
So, on that note, I hope you all have a fabulous weekend
and get oodles of crafty time!!

Take Care,
Stephanne

Pilgrim Tilda

Hi there lovely blogger buddies,
I hope your Sunday finds you well.
I was tickled to see Magnolia's So Spooky collection,
as I LIVE for this time of year,
autumn is my favorite season and
Halloween my favorite occasion,
and having recently admitted that I am in love
with Magnolia (who isn't?), I bought a few images to play with.
This one is called Witch Tilda with Pumpkins
and when I saw it, I thought, of course, how precious,
but another thought, how versatile!!
She could work for Halloween cards as well as Thanksgiving.


She was as fun to put together as I imagined.
I preordered at 7 Kids and got my order a week or so back
& have been dreaming about playing with this, especially.
I've used K & Company papers,
distress inks to colour, layered up to 3 times,
Pewter Perfect Pearls in some spots,
all flowers are Prima and the ribbon is from my stash.
I wrote the sentiment and added in a few peiced parts
of 2 different stamps, the Witch Tilda with Pumpkins
and the pumpkin accesory stamp.
I also used the big pumpkin behind my main bloom.



I've made this card with several challenges in mind:
Roses On Paper wanted to see fall colours of
Orange, Brown & Green combined w/ a sketch from another Blog.
Stampin' For The Weekend has just the sketch I needed.

The Pink Elephant would like to see our Fall creations,
PaperPlay Challenges would like to see us use
our favorite embellishments, mine are ribbon, flowers and 3D-ing,
that's an embellishment, right?
Here's a side view for ya,
so you can see why I think it is an embellishment, lol!!


Welp, thanks for coming and visiting my project,
I hope you've gotten some crafty time this weekend as well!!
Take Care,
Stephanne

Magnolia Down Under gets cute as a button!!

Hello to all of you,
hope your weekend has been stuffed
full of crafty time.
It's time for another challenge over at
Magnolia Down Under,
and this fortnight,
we'd like to see you use buttons on your project.
We have a $20 gift voucher from

Scrapbook Boutique
for one lucky participant.

And here's my project.
Happpens to be the perfect time
for a button challenge to come along!!


I've used an image called Tilda with Flower Basket,
coloured in distress inks,
wings are a GlimmerMist/Stickles combo,
papers are K & Company and Basic Grey,
flowers are made with several distressed and curled
layers from an EK Success punch,
and the fabulous buttons are from
Mina's delicious blog candy that
I was lucky enough to win,
(see, told ya I'm due for a karmic cash-out...)
and I strung them with hemp, and also
the buttons in the flowers have a
touch-O-hemp as well.
I've gone around the circle and image
with my crap stitch machine and then
added the stitches with pen.


I decided, since I was lucky enough
to be crafting with Mina's buttons,
I'd use one of her sketches as well.
This is one I saw on the
Truly Scrumptious Challenge Blog,
(the link above will take you to the sketch)
and as it seems to be all too natural for me,
couldn't make the cutoff for the challenge,
so I tucked the sketch away for a rainy day.
As I like it quite a bit,
I'm thinking about doing some scrapbooking with it.
And here's a piccie of the yummy stuff:


I just love getting handmade cards.
I seriously sat and stared at her creation
for, ohhh, I don't know,
enough time for the hubby to ask if I was okay,
hahahaha, just gorgeous and the colouring is PERFECT!!
Thanks again for this bundle of fun, Mina!!

Well, I guess that means that I get to play along
with a few more challenges.
Stamp Something wants us to create
with out favorite sketch or layout,
and I LOVE this even more now that I've actually used it, lol.
Simon Says Challenge is saying
to use stitching, I entered there already, I know,
but Lorraine said I could enter again, teehee,
heya, GOOOOoooooOOOOOOooo 200!!!
I also get to play with
Roses on Paper Challenge,
they want to see some stitching.

Welp, thanks for coming by my blog.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend
and can't wait to see what everyone's been creating!!
Take Care,
Stephanne

MMSC16 plays along with Tilda and her pup

Hello to you!!
I hope your weekend is off to a good start!!
I have finally completed my entry for
this months Just Magnolia Too challenge,
which was based off of a wonderful
3-D Tutorial from the amazing Debby,
whose got a wonderful gift for 3-D creations,
you must go take a look!!


So what's next?
To see if I can match up some other challenges
to go along with the project.
Well, why not the Delicious Divas Colour Challenge?
To be honest, I had a VERY hard time with it...
Now that it's done, I am pleased overall,
but wow, not really my range of colours I guess.
Had to find a savvy sketch to play with,
and here's where the
Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge
came to save the day.
They are so much fun to play with,
such great inspiration and their team
leaves the most thoughtful, sincere comments,
I want to come back week after week,
let's hope that happens!!


As I was accessorizing my card,
lurking around for specific challenges,
I saw that Just Magnolia
is hosting a Ribbons and Bows challenge,
not hard for me, as I love to layer on the ribbons,
so I got to play along over there as well!!

I've used a Magnolia stamp, Tilda with Puppy,
coloured with watercolour pencils,
distressed in Tattered Rose,
layered and layered and layered
my image in various spots
with foam dots and glue,
her shoes are Basic Grey,
the background paper is K & Company,
the floral runner paper is Making Memories,
flowers are Prima, and miscellaneous,
I've glimmer misted them,
the rest is stash stuff,
and here are the challenges I used.... again....

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge
Jeni's Sketch

Just Magnolia Too
3-D challenge

Delicious Divas
A colour challenge

Just Magnolia
Ribbons and bows

Now, to post this before I miss the cutoff!!
Take Care,
Stephanne

Flower Flurry Furry Focal Point

Hello to you!!!
I have a lovely project to share with you today.
I was looking for some new challenges
and new ideas and I came across Create4Fun
who are letting us use this adorable heart bag template
Hope you'll take a look at this challenge,
it was absolutely FUN!!!


In keeping with the new-to-me challenges,
I will also be playing with
PaperPlay Challenges
whose theme this week is
Creatures Great and Small.
Well, I do love me some critters,
and this stamp, although kitty is small,
is showcasing kitty.
In so many of Sarah Kay's wonderful images,
kitty is in the scene, walking, watching, playing,
and when Stampavie released this image
where kitty is front and center,
it spoke to me.
I love kitties, they are trusty companions,
and always seem to show up when you are down,
LOVE this image, and I think,
although kitty is small,
it is the focal point of this image.


I am hoping that I can get this typed up fast enough
to make the cut-off over at
A Spoon Full of Sugar
where the challenge this week is
Floral Fantasy.
I enjoy trying to place an image
into the movement of the paper,
I think the floral flurry will qualify for the challenge...


A bit about the card,
Prima Flowers, which are Glimmer misted,
Sarah Kay Stampavie image
coloured with watercolour pencils,
paper is K & Company and fibers are Basic Grey,
and my beloved Inkadinkado Brenda Walton
clear sentiments have been used here also.

Thanks for looking,
enjoy your day!!
Stephanne

Stop and smell the mousies

Hello to you!!
There is a fabulous sketch over at
House Mouse Monday Challenge
and I have squeezed out an entry,
much to the protest of my tot.
This has taken so long to make
that I haven't got much juice left
to give you interesting dialect :(


About the card, coloured with distress inks,
what an undertaking!!!
Sentiment from Stampabilities,
Tattered Angels glimmer mist in my image
and Martha Stewart punch,
K & Company papers, Prima flowers and stamen,
Kaiser pearls, everything else is from the stash.
Yes, I can officially say I have one, lol.


And here is the sketch.
Go have a look at the gorgeousness
the design team has made this week,
glorious as usual!!


Thanks for stopping by,
enjoy your weekend!!
Stephanne

Edited: Swapped piccies for edited pics, better clarity

Blue Penny Black

Hello to you!!
I hope you've been enjoying your weekend.
I had Saturday off work,
so I got a little extra playtime,
and this is what I came up with:


I wanted to play along with Colour Create
this fortnight as their colours are blue and white,
with the added challenge of adding vintage flair.


I also plan on submitting this one in the
Penny Black Saturday Challenge
This week, they have a recipe:
3 ribbons, 2 flowers, 1 charm
I wound up adding to the recipe though,
so if I need to be disqualified,
then that's okay.


The fabulous Kellie Winnell
recently hosted a sketch challenge
on her blog and offered up some delicious
Motivet stamps as the bounty.
Unfortunately, I have missed the cutoff
by AT LEAST a day, maybe two
when you consider the time difference.
But the sketch was fab and I already had the
idea brewing, just needed the time.
I hope to see her host another sketch or challenge,
as this was very fun to use.

I have used K & Company Blue Awning papers,
a PB stamp called Fragile,
the sentiment is from a
Brenda Walton Inkadinkado clear set,
the flowers are a Bazzill/Prima combo,
lace and charm are from my stash.
Brads and blue "fiber" are Basic Grey.
I coloured with distress inks on watercolour paper.
Decided to layer colours instead of blending.
I think I like it, still deciding...

Thanks for coming by,
feel free to comment!!
Stephanne