Brrr,

 it's cold outside!

Good morning blogland,

And whose been enjoying this recent cold snap we're having then? Not me, that's for sure - tho if it had been just cold and bright I would have, I really don't like the dark, dank days.  Cold, dark, wet and miserable is almost as horrible as boiling hot and not being able to sleep in the heat!

Anyways, moan over.  Onto business, the other reason for 'brrr' is it's Tuesday and so it's time for this week's challenge over at Passion for Markers and the theme this week?  It's 'Cool Winter colours' - hence the 'brrrrrr' feeling!  The theme has been picked by my Teamie Lorraine and the sponsor is RAM Stamps, with a lovely prize for one lucky, random, winner.

The DT were also given a digi, or two, to use and this is my make with one of those digi's.

Supplies used:

Digital stamp:

RAM Stamps : Polar Bears

coloured with my Copics

Rubber stamp:

A sentiment taken from an ancient freebie set from a magazine - the set was designed by Polkadoodles

Dies:

Creative Craft Products - A2 Essentials Landscape Card Die set

I can't tell you whose die made the frame, it was just in my folder of 'left over bits'.

Anything else:

Distress Inks for the background

White paint for the 'snow' splatters

White gel pen to 'improve' those splatters!

I did have a mild freak out after having coloured the bears, but before the background, that the 'bears' looked more like elephants without trunks.  I think I picked the wrong colours to use- I should have gone lighter than C5, C3, C1, and the hat and scarf looked more grey than light blue and purple (respectively).  I carried on though, as I really dislike throwing an image that I've spent time colouring.  I'd really much rather 'do' something to bring it back to what I was thinking of instead of throwing the whole thing.

So I went at the image with Distress Inks for the background, in as light colours as I have and this is the result.  I was actually quite pleased with it, in the end.

Anyways, this has been a long post hasn't it, but I do have to toddle off now.  So I will just say, please come join in with the challenge and hopefully I'll be the one to come check out your 'cool winter colours'.

See you soon,

Sarah

It's all about the birthday

 Good morning blogland,

It's that time of the year - no not 'that' time of the year just yet- it's Birthday Time! Sweet Stampin' challenge is celebrating their birthday and I believe it's quite a big one!

So to celebrate both Teams were invited to join in with the celebrations and this is the card I made for the occasion. As always the challenge is a 'for fun' only one so no prizes on offer - other than earning yourself a Top 3 badge of course - but there are a couple of simple rules.  You must a stamp somewhere on your entry and you must follow the theme of the challenge and, of course, the unspoken rule - have fun!

Supplies used:

Rubber stamp:

Whimsy Stamps / Time for Tea stamps: Ruffles

coloured with my Copics

taylored expressions : Simple Strips - Birthday

Dies:

Creative Craft Products : A2 Landscape Card die set

Time for Tea Dies : Smile Inverted Scallop Die set

Julie Hickey : Birthday profile die set

taylored expressions: Simple Strips - well rounded

Papers:

BoBunny - Isabella

and some random striped paper

Anything else:

sequins for the shaker element

And that's about it.

It's hard to comprehend sometimes just how many years I've been making cards (ok with a bit of a significant break) but at times like this it's brought home to you.  I can remember making cards and invitations for TTT's various birthdays over the years and using them as my DT card for Sweet Stampin' and now Sweet Stampin' is celebrating a big birthday and TTT has flown the nest and living in Lincoln.  How time flies - next thing you know I'll be heading for retirement (ha - I wish!!!).

See you soon,

Sarah

Clean lines

 Good morning blogland,

With apologies for being a little tardy - hairdressers this morning put the blogpost straight out of my head - here I am with my post for this week's challenge over at Passion for Markers.

It's actually my turn to host this week and the theme I've chosen is 'Clean and Simple (CaS)' I know that makes a few people tremble but I have to say CaS - or a variation which I like to think of as a clean lines design - is one of my favourite styles.  So let's get to it!

Our sponsor this week is the wonderful Polkadoodles who are offering one lucky winner a lovely prize and who have allowed the DT their pick of an image to use.  Please do remember, when making your entry, that this is a markers challenge - so you must use your markers, any brand but there must be colouring in there somewhere - and you do have to follow my theme.

Here's my contribution:

Supplies used:

Digital stamp:

Polkadoodles - Cat Naps - Honeypie

coloured with my Copics

Rubber stamp:

taylored expressions - Simple Strips: Background

Dies:

taylored expressions - Simple Strips: well rounded

Whimsy Stamps - Connected Rectangle

Anything else:

Creative Expressions Stencil - Scattered Hearts

Polkadoodles - Stencil Butter Frosting: Sugared Pink

And that really is it folks - I wonder if the purists in the CaS world would probably say this is too busy to be properly Clean and Simple, but hey it's my challenge so I get to make the rules this time! ;-)

Looking forward to looking around every-ones blogs for their take on my theme, so see you soon.

Sarah