Monday 31 August 2015

Tiny Dancers

There's a fun new challenge starting on Squirrel's blog today.  The theme is "purple friends" and you need to make a friendship themed creation involving a whole lot of purple.  Easy peasy!

I've got my first sample to share with you, and it's a new image for me, Tiny Dancers from Stamping Bella.  I think it's going to be another favourite because it was really fun.

So, pop over to Squirrel's blog, see the other purple delights from my super talented pals Jayne and Squirrel, and get yourself linked up with a purple friendship creation.  We look forward to seeing your creations.



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Sunday 30 August 2015

Birthday Surprise

This is a quick creation from me on this dreary rainy Sunday evening.

I've got a work conference with overnight stay on the Friday night before hubby's birthday. Although he's not attending the conference, he's driving up to join me for the evening meal and overnight stay at the hotel. It's not for 3 months, but already I know that dinner with my work colleagues and their spouses is not quite how he would ideally like to spend his birthday weekend.

So to cheer him (and me) up, I've booked us an extra night at the hotel we're staying at so that we can relax and enjoy ourselves using the facilities after the conference.  From its website, it looks quite a nice hotel with a spa so I think he'll enjoy the jacuzzi and sauna and I may try to sneak in a shoulder and neck massage while we're there.

I've made this little 'ticket' for my peace offering.  I'll slip it inside his birthday card and hopefully it'll make the weekend a bit more of a celebration.

I made my ticket from kraft card, and shaped it using a circle nestie.

Hopefully it's just the ticket!!!  :0)



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Thursday 27 August 2015

Frozen?

I've not coloured this princess before and I'll admit that the skirt was a bit daunting.  I think I need to try her again, but for now she's staying put.

I love this simple layout, which uses a strip of ribbon to cover the join between two backing papers, and a bow with a pearl brad to hold it on at the side.  I also love the simple method of adding a sentiment, and the flowers and pearls.  I use this layout quite a bit in different guises.

This project is to support the favourite layout challenge at As You Like It Challenge & also the new challenge at Sugar Bowl which both start today.



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Sunday 23 August 2015

Sally and her Snail

I really enjoyed this image; she was fun to colour although I got a bit mixed up with my colour choices half way through.  Usually I plan out my colours before I start, but I chose as I went along this time.  I think it worked out ok.

I love the sentiment too.  It was huge so my image panel is a little more off centre than I would have liked, but it was worth making space to fit it in.



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Thursday 20 August 2015

Pink Wings

I've got some exciting news today because I can tell you that I'm joining Christine's Pink Ladies over at In The Pink.  I'm only a part time member as I'm sharing the role with the super talented Squirrel, so we'll take it in turns to tease you with our creations, but as this is our first week we both have something we hope will inspire you to join in the challenge.

This fortnight, it's an easy one - Fly Away (Wings). So pick up your inks and create something which fits that theme, fairies, birds, flutterflies or even bugs if that floats your boat (I'm not so keen on the bugs in real life, but they're ok in cute form!).

I've chosen a Saturated Canary fairy for my sample card, and although there is a lot of yellow, there is definitely an overdose of the pink stuff!



AND ... I get one of these :
(thank you Christine!!!)



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Sunday 16 August 2015

James Laptop

It is another CAS from me today, featuring James Laptop from Lili of the Valley.  I don't think I've used this image before although I've had him a while.  He's such a sweetie I wanted him to be the focus of attention so all I added was a die cut sentiment.



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Saturday 15 August 2015

What's better than a penguin? .....

.... Three Penguins!!!

Yup, I'm lucky enough to be showcasing one of the forthcoming new releases from Lili of the Valley which is due at the end of August / early September.  I've used my favourite colour combo of pink and aqua blue, and featured all three of the cute pingu images which come in a set.  They can be used individually or all three fit neatly onto a basic card shape.  There are other trios being released, so keep your eyes peeled for some other cuties from my fellow teamies.  I think you're going to love these! They're really versatile.



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Friday 14 August 2015

Salad Dodger

I obviously fancied a bacon cheeseburger when I painted this image because I coloured the rippled bits on the burger as bacon.

When I showed the image to my non-salad-dodging pal Squirrel, she questioned whether it should have been green for lettuce.

And yes, I think she's probably right. D'oh!

But today, my lettuce is bacon.

Well, it could be, couldn't it?

Ok. I'll get my coat.



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Thursday 13 August 2015

Celebration Tilda

It's an easy challenge at As You Like It Challenge this fortnight, because we want you to use your two most favourite embellishments.  I think mine are pearls & flowers since they feature on most of my cards, although I also like ribbon and dies which have also sneaked into this one too.

I have flat-backed pearls in loads of colours and love colour matching them to my card.  Here I've used pale blue ones to match my girlie's dress.  Yup, she's another new Tilda called Celebration, and I've teamed her with my favourite Maja Design papers. The shape of the card has been cut using a Go Kreate nestie, which is probably my favourite card-base shape.



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Monday 10 August 2015

Lemon Carrot Apron Card

I'm really excited today because I was picked as this month's guest designer at Bunny Zoe challenge. The them is shaped cards, which is right up my street.  I've made an apron shaped card to fit the food theme of my Carrot Tilda image and lemon papers!

I seem to have a little bit of an addiction to Tildas at the moment, and this one was really adorable to colour. I've even used yellow and green which are my least favourite colours, because I wanted to match the lemon papers I'd used, but I really love how she turned out.


Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Sunday 9 August 2015

Abigail the Artist

Today's card has been created for a lovely blogpal whose birthday is today.  She just happens to like pink (I personally think she has exceptionally good taste!).

The image is a gorgeous Uptown Girl coloured with DI Reinkers (boy those tiny details were fiddly). I found it slightly ironic struggling to paint an image of a girl painting!

Anyhoo, here she is, in all her pinky glory!



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Friday 7 August 2015

Peek-a-boo

I'm back in inky mode again today with a simple card featuring James from Lili of the Valley.  I've had this image a while, but this is his first outing for me.  I thought he needed to be the centre of attention, so he's not got a lot of fuss around him.



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Thursday 6 August 2015

Be Your Own Hero

It's been quite a while since I used my markers because I've been having so much fun water-colouring using my reinkers, but this image was a bit daunting to approach with a paintbrush, so I reached for my Copics.

I'm not sure I got the pleats quite right, but they're a lot better than I could have achieved with the inks.

I was quite pleased with her legs!



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
  • Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
    (I couldn't bring myself to tear the papers, so created an arc instead using a die!)
  • Make the Day Special - Sketch (image and die from the store)
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Tuesday 4 August 2015

The Warm and Fuzzies

Sometimes I get a bit of a warm glow when I've finished a card.  Other times I think it's better suited for the bin and I am embarrassed to share it on my blog.

Thankfully today's card is one of the warm and fuzzy varieties and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

It probably helped that I used my favourite colour, but the image was a new one for me and it was the first time I'd coloured her so anything could have happened!  The papers are also from my gorgeous Coffee in the Arbour set and I've used a floral die to frame the card.

The bad news is that the reason for making her is that it's the final EVER challenge at Top Tip Tuesday. The TTT challenge has been running for 5 years and I joined in 2011, although for the last year I've only been helping out in the background on the DT blog rather than providing samples for the challenges each fortnight. However, as it is our last ever challenge, for sentimental reasons, I've decided to play along with the theme, which is ribbons and pearls.

It couldn't be a more perfect theme for me!!



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Monday 3 August 2015

Life would be boring without you

Today's project is to support the new challenge at Without Words Challenge where the theme is Harvest (fruit or veg).

I've used Cherry from Scrapberry's and also used a berry paper from my Coffee in the Arbour pad.

The sentiment was from a set by The Greetings Farm, and was bought with a special someone in mind.  This is the first time I've used it, but it's oh-so appropriate for her!  I just hope she knows it cos she regularly has me in stitches. :0)



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Sunday 2 August 2015

Patch & Bunny

I'm sharing another card featuring the cute Patches and Bunny from Lili of the Valley. It's currently on half price offer too, so it was a bargain!   Although you can't see much of it, I've used my stitched landscape die on the backing papers, and my stitched rectangle die on the image panel.  Otherwise, it's a very simple layout, although I did sneak in my customary trio of pearls!  :0)



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Saturday 1 August 2015

Mission Impossible

I was recently set a little challenge by the lovely Sue of Tanglemouse Cards to colour this little critter.  And boy, it was a challenge!  Considering I only really needed brown, this guy took me hours to paint. I tried to define the bristles of his coat, but think he ended up looking quite fluffy rather than prickly.  He looks like he's been fluffed up with a hair-drier!

But yes, he's cute, so I love him.  Thanks for the challenge sweetie!

And because I spent so long painting him, he became the centrepiece of my card with a very CAS layout using a stitched border die and a trio of brown pearls.

That's all folks!


Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx