Really, really, really exciting news...

As well as being a Design Team Member (which I am still so excited about) I am helping to organise and run a Challenge Blog for Ooh-la-la-Creations.

Check out ...

http://ooh-la-la-creationschallenges.blogspot.com/

There are masses of challenge blogs out there so I do hope we get some people joining in!!!

Please do visit our challenge blog and have a go.

The challenges are going to be monthly ones - not so much pressure!!! - and there is a prize. This month one lucky entrant will win Wendi's CD 'Passion for Fashion' which is full of gorgeous images and well worth winning.

The challenge is entitled 'A Spring Walk' and you can use images that can be uploaded for free on Wendi's craft site or your own images of any kind.

My card uses one of the larger images which is matted and layered on to vellum. The vellum is fastened to the matching backing paper with jewel brads.

Bird Challenge - with Tilda

The challengs on http://rainbowladyschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ this week was Birds! Everytime I have used this Magnolia stamp of Tilda holding a bird I seem to have chopped the bird off and put something else in it's place so just for once the bird has been kept.

The image is coloured with water colour crayons but to be truthful I never touched them with a brush as I quite liked the effect of the crayons by themselves.

The sketch is an Ismaki from a little while back. The papers are from a pad by Making Memories which has a whole of group of papers in that all co-ordinate beautifully - makes putting papers together sooooooooooooo easy.

Gems and Jewels - Ismaki 18

The challenge on http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/ this week was to use gems or jewels in a project. I decided to use my Tilda with balloon stamp for this but instead of stamping the balloon I used a jewelled balloon that came in a little set of stick on words and images by Me and My Big Ideas. I've also used jewelled brads in the top corners to add that extra bit of bling.

The design of the card is taken from the challenge on http://ismaki.wordpress.com/ this week and is Sketch 18 by Caroline. I would have loved to have done the scalloped edge but I couldn't get the scallops to look perfect when trying to cut them by hand.

Laura's Shoe Shop

After doing the Tilda Flower Shop I wanted to use the same shop theme for a card for my daughter Laura. Her Grandma always asks me to make one for her to send. Laura is one of those strange people who don't like Tilda - I know where did I go wrong? I must have fed her too many beef burgers when she was little or something!!!

But she does love shoes so there is some hope for her! Hence the 3D shoe shop card which is also perfect for the challenge on http://artygirlzchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ this week.

The bags are on little flaps so that when the display counter folds up for the card to be put in an envelope the bags do too.

All the shoes in the window are Papermania stickers which I have had ages and never got round to using. I put acetate behind the window this time to give it a bit of oomph!

Tilda's shop

This is a card I made last week for a special friend's birthday. The original idea came from a design in Making Cards magazine by a designer called Julie Taylor. As soon as I saw her bag shop I knew that Tilda just had to have her own flower shop.

I rethought Julie's template as I wanted my card to be A5 and I wanted the counter part to be strong yet foldable so I worked out my own template.

The flowers in the window are made using different peel offs, painted with water colour pearlised paints and decoupaged.

Tilda is decoupaged at front of the shop display counter - I would have liked to have had pots on the counter too but as the card was going through the post and had to be able to be folded I didn't. I was also running out of time too as the card needed to be posted.

As the challenge on http://magnoliachallengeblog.blogspot.com/ is to decoupage Tilda this card hopefully fits the bill perfectly.

CPS 62 Pirates

Hurray a challenge which I am actually doing in the first few days of it being posted - that must be a miracle! The is a sketch from http://cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/. The decoupaged pirate image and card inner is from the CD Kiddiwinks.
I must admit that I set out doing Pirates because there was a challenge on http://thankgoditsfriday.wordpress.com/ involving pirates but as per usual I didn't read the write up properly and sort of missed the bit that said you should be using stamps. Does anyone remember the way just before exams when we used to be told to read things more than once before putting pen to paper - well I think I ought to start following that advice!!!

Flap card

I made this card for the Monthly Challenge on the MSN group I belong to. The original instructions and idea came from http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/flap_card. I ended up making my own measurements as I wanted the card to fit an envelope I already had and to hold stamped images to send to a friend.

The paper used is from Making Memories and the stamp is one by Great Impressions. I used Pearlex Pastel watercolours to paint the image. The message stamps are from a great set of message stamps by Heidi Grace.

Sorry about the scissors holding the flap down. I hadn't got any magnets and my velcro fasteners are black and would have looked awful on the card!!!