By the Cute and Girly

So much going on blogwise at the moment I was almost late with this one, had it saved as a draft but forgot to schedule it.

Jules has selected the theme for February and most of will not be surprised that her theme is 'LOVE' which she says we can interpret as we wish.

The first creation I am going to share is a card I created with the new Hero set CL375 Big Flowers stamped several times onto Doodlebug DP and acetate, cut out and layered. I stamped Hero F5042 over the card itself with Hero cerulean blue chalk ink and created a stem for my flower with a Sizzix swirl die cut on the Big Shot and the border Fiskars threading water punch. The sentiment is computer generated.

A Special Challenge and Blog Hop

Don't forget to add you name to this post to be in with a change of winning candy.

Good Morning everybody.

This post is rather different to my normal ones, no card just some very exciting news about something I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to organise.

On the 1st February there will be a very special ‘One Off Challenge’………with some rather special candy as the main prize. No ordinary candy I can tell you, but a really serious piece of equipment that all of us would love to have in our craft rooms.

I know I am a tease and I will be sharing some sneak peeks of the prizes on offer over the next three weeks........yes ‘prizes’ because as well as the main challenge prize, there will be runners up prizes and a Blog Hop with prizes to be won at each stopping point. And I will also be sharing details of the wonderful sponsors of this challenge and some exciting news about them as well.

But I need you all to help me spread the word and make this as much fun as possible for everyone ........and there is even a prize for doing that. Does this all sound fun or what ? I just know you will all want to get involved and join in so here’s what you need to do now:

1) Give the challenge a plug on your own blog.

2) Add the logo above to your sidebar with a link back here .

3) Link up and leave me a comment on this post to tell me you have done that so I can enter you into the prize draw for this first part of the challenge.......the winner of that prize will be drawn by Random Org on 31st January.

Can you tell I am just a tad excited about this one and I know with your help we are all going to have some real fun.

Snow Nouveau Shirts

Snow White t-shirts from the Disney 2008 Disney Art Nouveau Collection...

Shirt images copyright DisneyStore.com

Snow Nouveau

Alphonse Mucha (1860 – 1939) was the Czechoslovakian artist who pioneered the ornate stained glass style of Art Nouveau. He moved to Paris in 1887 and lived as a "starving artist" for the next seven years. Then in 1894, his fortunes changed.

From Wikipedia:

Around Christmas 1894, Mucha happened to drop into a print shop where there was a sudden and unexpected demand for a new poster to advertise a play starring Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress in Paris, at the Théâtre de la Renaissance on the Boulevard Saint-Martin. Mucha volunteered to produce a lithographed poster within two weeks, and on 1 January 1895, the advertisement for the play Gismonda appeared on the streets of the city. It was an overnight sensation and announced the new artistic style and its creator to the citizens of Paris.

Bernhardt was so satisfied with the success of that first poster that she entered into a 6 years contract with Mucha. He produced a flurry of paintings, posters, advertisements, and book illustrations, as well as designs for jewellery, carpets, wallpaper, and theatre sets in what was initially called the Mucha Style but became known as Art Nouveau (French for 'new art').

In 2008, Disney released their short-lived Art Nouveau princess collection of faux stained glass hangings, trinket boxes, journal books, and shirts. Each of the main princess characters were reproduced in a style after one of Mucha's famous paintings. Ed Irizarry conceived and sketched the designs for the princesses and Enrique Pita colored them.

The Snow White reproduction was patterned after Painting from The Arts Series, 1898.

A. Mucha, Painting, 1898

Irizarry and Pita, Snow White, 2008 as seen in The Art of the Disney Princess book, p.47.

Sun catcher copyright DisneyStore.com

Allsorts challenge 37

This post is all scheduled ahead as when it pops up on Saturday morning I should be in deepest Essex for the girls first bridesmaid dress fitting for the May wedding of our second eldest son which is taking place in France.

And I am so thrilled that this week I eventually got my dental work completed and now have three front teeth implants.........that might not sound too exciting, but some of you might remember back last summer and autumn I had lots of problems and a couple of ops on my mouth and they thought I would lose my front teeth. Since then eating has been a nightmare and it's sounded as though I had a serious speech impediment, but several months on, endless hours in the dentists chair and thanks to a wonderful consultant I am all sparking white again.

So on to the serious stuff of crafting and exciting happenings at Allsorts challenge this week. We were all sorry to see our team mate Gro leave us, she has been with us from the start and we will all miss her inspirational work. But this means we have a vacancy, so this weeks challenge is also a DT call, our very first one since the challenge started last May.

There is a sketch to follow this week and I have used it as an opportunity to ink up another of my new Hero stamps for the long overdue samples I am supposed to be making for Sir Stampalot.

I have used this lovely stamp Hero K5313 Silhouette Ivy which I stamped onto a piece of silk card using new Hero Chalk Inks Punch and Grass. The background panel is stamped with good old faithful Hero H2065 Old French Writing again with the grass ink. The DP used for the red panels is Doodlebug and the sentiment Hero CL273 Great Flourishes. I punched the edge of my stamped piece with the zutter and tied ribbons through the holes.

Before I go, have you entered your name for the candy in the post at the top of my blog........just one day to go until I announce the Special Challenge and Blog Hop and the fabby candy on offer.

Polkadoodles 4

The new challenge at Polkadoodles this week has been set by my teamie Kerry who would like to see Valentines cards made with non tradition colours.

Before I move on to my card I need to remind you all that there are still a couple of days left to enter the candy draw at the top of my blog. The winner will be announced on Monday 1st February........the day our Special Challenge and Blog Hop goes live. So much candy on offer that you won't want to miss out on this one and of course be part of the fun.

Now for my card, I have used the Elegance section of the new Love and Romance CD. The main image was cut with Nesties, inked with versamark and embossed with iridescent powder, then layers onto to more mats cut on the Big Shot Express. I made three roses with paper from the same collection and added some punched leaves and pearls to finish and an 'I love you sentiment'.

Have you added your name for candy ?

Well folks, just four days to go until lift off.........of course I mean your chance to win some of the mega candy on offer in the Special One Off Challenge and Blog Hop.......all prized of course coming from the challenge sponsors Sir Stampaot.

The last week or so seem to have flown by with all this organising and I appear to have turned into a very bad blogger missing so many of your posts, so apologies but I should soon be back to normal because on Monday I will be officially posting the challenge and introducing you to my very talented Honorary Design Team........we rather liked the sound of that and it has sort of stuck.

So I hope we will be seeing lots of you entering and myself and the DT are so looking forward to visiting all your blogs to see what creations you come up with for the great theme that Andy and Janice at Sir Stampalot have chosen for us.......no, I'm not telling what the theme is until Monday.......I know I'm a real spoil sport. And don't forget there is still time to enter the candy on offer on the post at the top of my blog which will drawn by Random Org on Sunday night.

So on to a card that I have made for this weeks Everybody Art Challenges which has a colour combo of 'Brown, Blue and White'. A chance to use some more of my new Hero stamps, this time CL375, Big Flowers and CL278 Great Flourishes. I stamped the flowers and leaves onto a piece of brown Bazzil cardstock, using versamark and detail clear embossing powder, masking some of them as I stamped, then bleaching out the flowers and leaves.

I coloured with Twinkling H2o's and added punched circles to the centres which I glittered with crystal glitter. The sentiment is stamped with versfaine blue and embossed with detail clear.

Moons, suns and masking turotial

I have been asked several times if I will do a tutorial to explain in a bit more detail how I create some of my backgrounds. Most of what am going to show here is what I have picked up over the years from various sources and I am not trying to teach anyone to suck eggs........but going back a few years I would have loved to discover how to achieve certain things. Therefore I hope this might help some of you and as with all things crafty I have made little changes over the years to fit with what I am trying to create.

The first technique is to create a simple sun, but equally it could be a moon with a change of ink colours. Basic materials: Ink, preferably two shades of the same colour ink or similar colourways to add definition and to help build the image. For a moon a blue and silver work well. I always use either Tim Holtz distress inks or a chalk based ink such as the Hero range. Make up sponge and your mask which is a piece of paper or card with a circle punched out.

Lay your mask over the piece of card you want to use for your project. Take the make up sponge and roll into your fingers as shown below. By rolling it you avoid any edges and will get a smoother finish without any harsh lines.
Tap the rolled sponge into the lightest colour ink first, dab onto a piece of scrap paper first to remove excess ink, then tap gently round the edges of the circle, slightly firmer near the edges - I never go right into the centre of the circle with ink as this gives a more graduated finish (example). Follow the same process with the darker ink until you are happy with the shading.
Lift the mask off, allow to dry for 5/10 minutes, or give a blast with your heat gun, then you are ready to stamp your images.

The next technique takes it a step further as you create a mask for your sun/moon and image. This is useful if you want to use very light colours for colouring your image as there is no underlying colour to conceal.

Stamp (and emboss if you wish) your image onto a piece of good quality cardstock. Stamp it a second time onto a post it note, piece of paper or if you are really posh masking paper !

Cut our the second image and lay it over the main image, then lay your mask (sheet of paper with the circle cut out) over the image where you want to see the sun/moon. Follow exactly the same process as the first technique above. Lift of both the circle mask and the main image one and you are left with the sun/moon behind your image.

Basic brayering technique. There is no limit to how far you can take brayering and some wonderful effects can be created, but here I will stick to the sun/moon again with a few hills thrown in for good measure. Basic materials: Ink pad, big and juicy are by far the best as apart from the blend of colours, they are large enough to accommodate the brayer - I always use a speedball brayer as they are soft and give a nice even finish. A circle - paper rather than card is best as it is less likely to give off shadows as you roll the brayer across. Non permanent glue. Gloss cardstock - in my view essential as a matt cardstock can absorb the ink, is harder to work with and is less likely to give an even finish.

Place the circle onto the gloss cardstock roughly where you want to see it on your finished project attaching it with the non permenant glue which will gently rub off yur cardstock when you have finished. Gently roll your brayer back and forth over the inkpad, ensuring you keep it to the same area - if you move it sidewards too far you will contaminate the colours. When it is covered roll it briskly over a piece of scrap paper to remove the excess - this might seem wasteful but you need to start with a lighter tone - you can always add more, you can't take it away once it's on your cardstock.

Once you have removed the excess you need to do a wheelie - assuming you are starting to brayer the top half of your piece first (and right handed) you will need to do the wheelie on the left hand side of the brayer. This removed the ink from the edge and will prevent lines in the middle of your cardstock.
Gradually build the colours up with light movements drawing the brayer towards you. When you are happy with the colour, turn your cardstock round so the bottom becomes the top temporarily (there will be no ink on that part yet) then continue with the same process and you will end up with graduated colours over your whole piece.

Next tear a piece of plain paper, lay it over your brayered piece, ink up your brayer again and remove the excess and brayer more ink across the top of your piece of cardstock (part of your brayer will be inking the piece of paper). Move the paper down and repeat and you will see your hills building.

This picture is pretty poor as I did the photos under my daylight lamp, but the hills are just visible. These are clearer.

Remove the mask from the sun/moon. Scrunch up a piece of plain paper, ink up your brayer, take off the excess ink, do a wheelie on the left side again then roll with a fairly hard movement over the piece of scrunched up paper. Run the brayer over the top half of the card and you will create a clouded effect over the sun/moon - just about visible in the picture. The same technique gives great water effects if you want to create water/sea (see here).

I really do hope this makes sense, not the easiest thing to explain on paper, so as always any questions just yell.

Rosie D's challenge 63

Over at Rosie D's challenge we have a new challenge for you and a great sketch from our very own Rosie.........really enjoyed working with this one Rosie. The DT were also treated to images from this weeks sponsor Teri at Delicious Doodles and this weeks winner will be getting some images of their own to play with.

I printed the heat and ribbon image three times onto DP from the new Polkadoodle Love Marriage and more CD, but them out and gently shaped them to give a cushion effect before building up with silicone. I added a rose made from the same DP to the centre, liberally glittering both the image and rose.

The ovals were cut with Nesties through the Big Shot and placed inside the double aperture which I cut on Cricut Storybook. The simple 'I love you' greeting is Penny Black 3322D stamped onto a ribbon slide created with a Nestie and threaded with organza ribbon.

Snow White's Apple

Snow White's Apple (Mac)! 
From Crave: We don't have the details for this bit of art--whether it is a vinyl sticker or painted on. And it looks like this picture is all the information we'll be getting for now because the original image has been deleted by Flickr user LubeckerJung.

And here's Snow White's Revenge available from vinylville etsy shop

Multi-Plane Camera

The Multiplane Camera enabled the studio to create the realism needed for feature-length animations.

Allsorts week 37

Saturday folks and a new challenge at Allsorts and this week our teamie Lisa has chosen the theme "Hearts and Flowers", so if you still have that special Valentines card to make here's your opportunity.

For my card I created a template on the Cricut using Home Decor and Plantin Schoolbook, welding the elements together on the DS so that there was a leading edge which I could punch with the Zutter to hold the three layers together. The DP's which are all from the New Love Marriage and More Polkadoodles CD were cut in the same way and stuck to the cardstock. Roses, well yes more of them (tutorial here)........ but this is a Valentines card, which I embossed roud the edges with Judikins garnet embossing powder. I added some hearts cut with my new Martha Steward punch........you need strong wrists with this one, it weighs a ton, but is is sooooo pretty plus lace and ribbon to decorate.

Rain rain everywhere......

Hello peeps from a very wet Fenland. It rained most of the night and has not stopped yet today, so lots of muddy paw marks in and out and hubby's not too impress as Bernie went straight into the conservatory last time he came in and puddled all our the new wood floor. Guess who'll be cleaning that later ?

Challenges and a combined effort here, this weeks Creative Card Crew is "Punch it" and the same at Simons Says so a first here for me as it fits so nicely and I have followed the sketch at Friday Sketchers although I have turned the oval inside out.

What with all the Stampalot challenge activity this is the first chance I have had to have a proper play with my latest collection of the new Hero goodies........and not much chance to visit most of your blogs, so sorry I have been such a bad blogger this week but just not enough hours in my days right now.

The new Hero Chalk Inks are just lovely, super vivid colours and for this card I have used Iris and Grass stamping the Dandelion Frame CG153 which I just love. I cut an oval from the centre with Nesties through the Big Shot and then smaller scalloped circle placing it behind to add definition. I then stamped Hero G4917 Dandelion with the same inks and placed it into the aperture.

A little glitter has been added to the dandelions as well as the three punched butterflies. The border is Martha Stewart embossed butterflies with some organza ribbon added. I also used knotted ribbon for the butterflies thorax's for a change to gems. My card looks a bit drunk in the picture, but it is straigtt in the flesh - honest.

Polkadoodles 3

Before I launch into this weeks Polkadoodles challenge set by my teamie Enfys, I want to say a huge thank you to the team at ABC challenge for selecting my card for their Top 5 last week, I was super thrilled to see my name there.

We have been given us a sketch to work with plus she would like to see projects made with 'Orange and Red', might sound an odd combination but try it out, it works really well.

I have used one if the images from the Back to Nature CD, coloured with Copics and decoupaged the little girls clothes, then added some chalk clouds and grass to the background. The patterned paper is from the same CD and the top panel bazzil run through the Big Shot using a daisy folder. Border are punched with Fiskars threading water and ribbon and gems added to finish.

Special challenge and blog hop update

Mysterious goings on eh ?

Well, that's how I have seen it referred to in blogland several times and you could just be right ! And this is just a cardboard box ? And it takes up a big chunk of my conservatory table.

But I know you have all been waiting for me to post some more information, so I figure I can't keep you waiting too much longer so here we go...............bet you thought I was going to reveal all didn't you..................oh no, not quite yet, where's the fun in that ?

But I am going to share a couple of sneak peeks of the candy the overall challenge winner will receive. There will also be two runners up prizes which I will share soon.......and one or two more might be added along the way if the challenge proves oh so popular.........so the more of you that enter, the more candy prizes we will be giving away.

And I am also going to let on who's behind all of this, it's Sir Stampalot who are offering the oh so generous candy to celebrate their move to a lovely new shop. It's only a few doors away from their old shop, but so much bigger........you have all heard the one about the kid in the candy shop, well it's like that every time you step inside. The hardest decision is knowing which direction to go first......the buying bit sort of comes naturally ! There is plenty of parking space and of course their on line store will continue as previously.

Then there is the blog hop with ten more prizes on offer.........one at each 'blog calling point' you will visit on your way round, plus yet another prize for getting the correct answer using all the clues you collect. And of course all of those who link up and leave a comment in the post which is at the top of my blog - not this post, will be entered into the draw on 31st January for yet another candy prize. So keep your eyes peeled as I will adding more details over the next week or so. Remember, you have to be in it to win it.

Candy winner

First things first as I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who entered my followers candy. And also to all of you who have linked up to the first part of the special challenge and blog hop I am organising for 1st February. There is still time to add you name to be in with a chance of winning some candy before the challenge even starts.........and so much more candy to follow that you won't want to miss out. I will be posting later today with some sneak peeks to wet your appetites.

..............................................................................

So on to the winner of my followers candy and huge congratulations to Sue B who Random Org: selected from all your entries for my candy

................................................................................

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1

Max: 260

Result: 115

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I have had a quick peek at your blog Sue and it looks like you are fairly new to blogland, so what a fabulous introduction to this friendly community. There is no e.mail link on your profile so please contact me with your addy etc - my e.mail link is on my profile - so I can get your candy packaged and off to you.

ABC challenge

ABC challenge this week is "M for Masking" so one I just had to join in with as it gives me the perfect opportunity to do some brayering and masking with my fairies.

All stamps used are from Lavinia. I started by placing a circle mask onto a piece of gloss cardstock to create a moon, then brayering over with a Big and Juicy Hydrangea inkpad, then more brayering over a mask of torn paper to create mountains (I promise I will shortly be doing a 'moon and sun' tutorial as requested). All stamping was done with versfaine black and embossed with detail clear. A piece of ribbon is tied round the card to finish and I added Inkssential white here and there to add some dimension.

Face Lift to Seven Dwarfs Mine

Renovations to the facade of the Seven Dwarfs Mine shop outside Snow White's Scary Adventures ride, Walt Disney World--November 2009.

All go at Sir Stampalot

Ciao peeps. Hope you all had a good weekend. Ours went according to plan and I think my hubby might be in demand as a Derby mascot as they beat Peterborough 3-0. And the way our team Liverpool are playing this season he might be converted, although in reality I doubt it.

Saturday Jules and I had a whale of a time........what better way to spend the day than at Sir Stamplaot unpacking boxes of the new Hero Arts stamps and other goodies and stacking them all onto racks.........drool, drool........I was able to introduce Jules to most of the gang and it was such fun helping Andy and Janice with the move to their new store which is just amazing. And even better was seeing customers faces light up when they saw the fantastic new shop and all the space. And Louise was doing a Copic demo and showed us how to make her flowers which we decided were a floribunda/wild rose - thanks Louise.

I have lots of new Hero stamps and inks which I need to get creative with, but for now I have one card to share for this weeks Penny Black challenge which has the colour combo of Blue, Cream and Gold and I have followed the sketch at Stamping for the Weekend designed by Fiona.

I created a background with Brilliance gold, Mediterranean blue and sky blue by dabbing the inks onto a silicone sheet, spritzing with water and rubbing the card into the mix. I part dried it with a heat gun then spritzed with Glimmer Mists midnight and gold. Next I stamped Penny Black 3817K Tigress using versfine black and detail clear embossing powder and coloured in with Twinkling H2 0's. The circles are all cut with Nesties through the Big Shot and the greeting PB3419D in the same way using a Nestie ribbon slide. The DP's are Daisy Bucket and Basic Grey. Borders and corners are Martha Stewart double loop.

To create two of Louise's roses I spritzed a piece of plain paper with the same Glimmer Mists and gold brilliance, scrunched up whilst still wet and then punched out when dry and made up the flowers. Louise used the Copic air gun system to colour hers, my method was rather messy by comparison.......but you know me, if I don't have mucky fingers I'm not having real fun.

Evil Queen Endures a Few Autographs

Video posted by TwilightZoneAnaheim

On the Train to Hollywood

After its premiere on December 21, 1937 and then subsequent release to theaters on February 4, 1938, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became an instant worldwide critical and financial success. The film enabled the Disney brothers to pay off their entire loan of over $1,480,000 to the Bank of America as well as build a brand new state-of-the-art studio.

Disney's Folly it was not.

Yet some 15 years prior, Walt Disney was broke. He was living in the Kansas City office of his Laugh-O-Gram studio, taking baths just once a week at Union Station. It was 1923, and unable to make a profit, his studio went bankrupt. He sold his movie camera to pay for a one-way ticket to Hollywood.

Walt Disney reminiscing many years later about this point in time:

I met a guy on the train when I was comin' out. It was one of those things that kind of made you mad. I was out on the back platform--I was in my pants and coat that didn't match but I was riding first class. I was making conversation with a guy who asked me, "Goin' to California?"

"Yeah, I'm goin' out there."

"What business you in?"

I said, "The motion-picture business."

Then all of a sudden. "Oh, is that right? Well I know somebody in the picture business. What do you do?"

I said, "I make animated cartoons."

"Oh."

It was like saying, "I sweep up the latrines."

Some people make you mad, and you want to prove something to them even though they mean nothing to you. I thought of that guy...when we had the premiere of Snow White. And that darn thing went out and grossed eight million dollars around the world.

Excerpt from: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Making of the Classic Film by Richard Holliss and Brian Sibley (page 35)

Allsorts challenge 35

Another Saturday and another challenge at Allsorts. I am scheduling this one ahead as when it pops up on my blog I will be on a weekend jolly with my mate Jules........so apols I can't visit any of you for a few days. We've had it booked for weeks and are spending the weekend in Peterborough........I know real long distance for me, but by staying over we can have a meal in the evenings and a bottle or two of the red stuff.

The boys are going to the footie to see Peterborough v Derby who Jules hubby supports - it's going to be a real enlightening experience for my hubby as like me he's a Liverpool supporter, although in his defence rather more reserved than me when it comes to showing emotion about the score line.

So where are Jules and I going.......one guess ......Sir Stampalot of course and it should be a good day as Louise is doing a Copic demo so plenty of crafty gossip and even a bit of shopping. And might have a nose round Phase Eight and Coast to see if anything takes my fancy for the May wedding.......it will be good to have the second opinion from a woman's perspective rather than the normal "it's fine, it's OK" that the men usually trot out.

Our teamie Kirsten has chosen this weeks theme of "Pink and Brown" a fabby colour combo and gives you a pretty open field to create your entry. I have gone with a Sarah Kay image First Kiss, stamping it three times with versafine black and embossing with detail clear, coloured with Copics, cut out two layers and decoupaged. I created a sun on the base piece using a mask and sponging with chalk inks, added some clouds, greenery and flowers.

I created a tied band effect across the middle and tied on some hearts......very thrifty of me indeed, they were part of a wedding favour. Flowers are punched, leaves cut with a Sizzix die through the Big Shot and DP's are Polkadoodles and Doodlebug.

Fan Club Pin

From the Pin Pics site:
The original Disney princess is showcased on this gold-finished "membership" pin for the Snow White Fan Club, one in a series of collectibles rallying support behind favorite Disney stars. A Disney Auctions exclusive in a limited edition of 500 fixed-price pins, available only from Disney's Purchase It Now Store at DisneyAuctions.com.


Pin 32584  Released August 30, 2004

Polkadoodles challenge 2

Hopefully some of you already have your new 'Love and Romance' CD which Nikky from Polkadoodles launched on Create and Craft last Sunday and are enjoying playing with it as much as I am. Nikkly has come up with a real gem with this one, the colours are just stunning and everything on the CD so versatile that myself and the DT found that the cards come together so easily.

So of course the theme for this weeks Polkadoodles challenge is "Love". I have gone with an easel card using the Heart to Heart collection, covering the front image which is a section of one of the papers, with acetate. The border is a new Martha Stewart double punch, with I cut out twice, once with pink paper and again with acetate laying one over the other. I added some ribbon tabs and pearls to embellish.

Vintage Snow White Board Game

The Game of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs board game by Milton Bradley ©1937 Walt Disney Enterprises. Boxed board game 9.5" x 19", wooden playing pieces.


[Update: 9/8/2010: Below are a couple pics of the board game being offered by Heritage Auction Galleries. Click images for SUPERSIZE detail.]

Special thanks to Bob of the Allure blog for the tip-off on the auction.

[Update: 12/1/2010: Below is an image via The Collectors Encyclopedia of Disneyana by David Longest and Michael Stern, p.146. Published by Collector Book 1992.]

Tuesday Taggers

A really quick post with my entry for this weeks Tuesday Taggers who's theme this week is 'Tag it with Birds', do go check out their blog as there are some fabulous DT samples for inspiration, plus my blog buddy Sally is a GDT.

I cut my tag from Cricut Plantin Schoolbook, used a circle mask to create a moon and coloured with Tim Holz distress inks dusky concord and spiced marmalade. I inked and embossed the edged with detail gold and stamped Penny Black 3937H Birds on a Wire across the moon using versafine black and detail clear embossing powder. Using the same ink and embossing powder I stamped the trees which are a Lavinia stamp as is the, fairy and toadstools which I embossed with clear and gold embossing powders. The leaves are Art Impressions and I highlighted here and there with an Inkssentials white pen.

Cupcake challenge

Before I go any further I want to say a huge thank you to everyone both for joining in with my blog candy and the One-Off challenge and Blog Hop I'm organising for 1st February which looks like it's going to be great fun.

As a result of all this organising I have not had too much time for crafting but did manage to put one card together especially for Mr Andy Stampalot who asked me to try out another of the Martha Stewart round the corner sets. This one really is very pretty with the lovely loopy finish and probably my favourite of these corner sets.......well at the mo anyway and until I get my hands on another one.

It is my entry for this weeks Cupcake challenge who have the theme 'Going Girly'. Another easel card using the round the corner punch in the background. The image is Sarah Kay coloured with Copics and the DP Doodlebug. Now the flowers........and a confession to Lou the Tilda Queen.......lurking in Stampalot the other day, as you do, I browsed through........wait for it.......the first edition of the Magnolia Tilda magazine. Shock horror......I just don't do Tilda, don't even own one, but I was really impressed by the magazine.

It has some wonderful ideas plus these flowers. The ones in the magazine were done in white with gold on a Christmas card, but I thought I would try them with coloured paper and really like the unusual finish. They are made with three punches and so easy to create and it's worth buying the magazine just for these and the overall inspiration which can be translated into whatever style of crafting you are into. I used a pre made butterfly and added some ribbon, punched leaves and pearls.