FTHS sketch challenge #161

A fresh new week, and we're back with a fresh new I {heart}sketches challenge for From The Heart Stamps :)
Here's sketch #161...

The twist is 'Birthday Cake', and there is also an option of using the colour palette shown above the sketch, if you wish to use them. So you can choose the sketch, the twist, the colours... or have a go at all 3 if you'd like to!
One lucky challenger will win 2 images of their choice from the store :)
Remember though, you must use an image by From The Heart Stamps to be eligible for the random draw, and please include a pic of the sketch in your blog post too. Thanks :)

Here's my card...

This fun image is Party Hat Birdbrain, and comes with 7 sentiments, though I haven't used one here because I wanted to add a die-cut sentiment for this occasion, roughly placing 'birthday' where the sentiment is on the sketch (if you flip the sketch that is).
I glued the BB image to the front of a shaker element.
These pretty papers are all from the same pad, Sugar Shoppe, by Doodlebug.
The borders I added, have been punched using a diamond border punch by Xcut.
21 was cut using Die-namics dies, and birthday is a Clearly Besotted word die.
A little sparkle was added to the 21, shaker frame, and birdbrain's eyes and beak with a Spectrum Noir clear glitter pen.

I'm entering this card at:
Penny's Paper Crafty - anything goes
Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - birds
Crafts Galore Encore - anything goes

Thanks for looking xx

For baby Skye

Good morning,
Today i'd like to show you this card, made to welcome a friend's new baby granddaughter, named Skye...

I hand cut the shape from a top folding card base, then used the shape to cut another piece from pink card stock.
The pink piece was then embossed on the bottom portion, using a Sizzix 'Candy Hearts' Textured Impressions embossing folder.
I decorated the edges using an open scalloped border die from Tattered Lace, and a Xcut scalloped circle die. Using the same dies again to make the apron part. The patterned paper is from a pad called Mr & Mrs from Lili of the Valley.
'baby' was die cut using a word die by Clearly Besotted Stamps
'SKYE' was cut using Tattered Lace alphabet dies.
I finished by decorating the card with the 2 smallest dies from Die-namics Flower & Leaf Trio, and sequins.

Welcome to the world baby Skye, health and happiness always xx

I'd like to enter this card at:
Crafting Musketeers - anything but square
Craft Your Passion - anything goes
Crafting From The Heart - anything goes

Thanks for looking, have a great day xx

Birdbrain Snowman

Hello! Happy Monday to you & yours.

So, Monday means that we have a brand new I {heart}sketches challenge for From The Heart Stamps :)

Here's sketch #117:

The twist this time is 'Lots of white'...

My image today is Birdbrain Snowman, coloured with promarkers. The sky has been sponged with my very old stampin spot of SU Bashful Blue ink.
I decided to add teeny acetate stars to the falling snow, the glue that I used has made the little circles a green colour, but IRL it doesn't look too bad.
The image is placed upon a debossed snowflake piece, and the patterned paper used here are both from Lawn Fawn's 'Peace, Joy, Love' paper pad. The top piece has been punched using a diamond border punch by Xcut.
I finished with a snowflake using the smallest die from the 'Snowflakes Trio' set from Clearly Besotted Stamps.

I'd like to enter this card at:
Shopping Our Stash - put a bird on it
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
QKR Stampede - birds
Crafty Catz - anything goes
Craft Your Passion - always anything goes

You can find more inspiration by clicking HERE.
You can find our current Stamp Of The Month challenge and details of how you can join our progressive challenge HERE.
Please join us on Facebook and “Like” our page to read about the latest FTH news.
We'd also love it if you'd join our Facebook Group too, this group makes it easier for you to share pics of your FTH makes, we'd love to see them!

Football Fanatic

Hiya! it's time for a little mid-week inspiration for From The Heart Stamps.
This week i'm using an image from the set Birdbrain Football Fanatics.
This great download includes 3 individual Birdbrains (one with and without writing on the sign), a merged image, and 5 bonus sentiments. I think you'll agree, it's a great buy :)

Here's my card for today, made for my daughter's partner...

I opened up my image in Paintshop Pro, then added my happy birthday greeting (which is from Party Hat Birdbrain).
As the recipient is a fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers football club, I coloured this little dude with my promarkers so that he is wearing their football shirt.
The papers are from Doodlebug's 'Hip Hip Hooray' paper pad, and I teamed them with silver mirror card. The bottom border piece was punched with my Xcut 'diamond' border punch.
'Alan' was cut using Die-namics 'By The Letter' dies.

I'm entering this card at:
Crafting From The Heart - always anything goes
Sweet Stampin - boys and their toys
Sugar & Betty - anything goes
I Love Promarkers - 3 or more layers
Crafting By Designs - anything goes

Thank you for stopping by today.
You can find more inspiration, and enter the latest I {heart} sketches challenge by clicking HERE.
You can find the current Stamp Of The Month and details of how you can join our progressive challenge using it HERE.

Birdbrain Balloon

It's time for another mid-week inspiration post for From The Heart Stamps.
I've made a simple card today, focussing on my fave feathered dudes ;)

Like many, I LOVE the Birdbrains! and this fab image is Birdbrain Balloon, coloured using promarkers.
The sentiment is one of 3 that you get for free with this image.
The paper behind the image is from a set called 'Superheroes' from a seller on Etsy.
The border punch used here is 'diamond' by Xcut.

Join FTH on Facebook and “Like” our page to read about the latest FTH news. We'd also love it if you'd join our Facebook Group too, this group makes it easier for you to share pics of your FTH makes, we'd love to see them!
You can find our Stamp Of The Month challenge and details of how you can join this progressive challenge HERE.

I'm entering this card at:
Creative Inspirations - feathered friends/animals
Papertake Weekly - a cut above (used a punch)
Crafty Creations - chevrons or stripes

Just Arrived

This card is for the sudden arrival of my grandson, who was born today at 2:50am
He wasn't due for another 9 days, my daughter went into hospital with back pain, 20 mins later she was holding her baby boy!
He's perfect, so gorgeous, and i'm totally in love with him.
I can't share any pics online, sorry.
RJ is short for Richard junior, as he will be named after his daddy...

My husband paid for some new LOTV stamps for me, one of my wedding anniversary gifts.
Just Arrived was one of these stamps.
I coloured this adorable image with promarkers.
All of the papers are from the same pad, Doodlebug's Snips & Snails, the only others used were white and kraft cardstock.
'baby' is a word die by Clearly Besotted Stamps.
'RJ' was cut using Die-namics By the Letter dies.

I'm entering this card at:
LOTV's ideas to inspire monthly challenge - anything goes
Penny's Paper Crafty - polka dots
Creative Inspirations - anything goes
Sister Act Card Challenge - anything goes
Crafting when we can - name it


UPDATE: This card won a top 3 slot at Crafting When We Can! thank you :)

I'm completely in love with my grandson, and i'm so proud of my daughter.
Thank you Laura & Rich for our gorgeous little RJ, a baby brother for Mikey :)

Birdbrain Smurf

My daughter asked me to make a card for a friend whose nickname is 'Smurf', and she is a Wolverhampton Wanderers FC fan.
Having used an image from Birdbrain Football Fanatics before for my Son-in-Law's birthday card, I knew straight away which image would look great...

I added the greeting with my computer.
I used my promarkers to colour the image, drawing in the football shirt.
The papers are 'Hello Sunshine' by Sweet Shoppe Designs.
I've used a xcut diamond border punch, and die-cut flowers (Die-namics Flower & Leaf  Trio) and leaves (woodware ash punch, and Marianne Stencil Leaves die) with card candi centres to finish.

Loving the hot weather we're having, although i'm not loving it quite so much when i'm working in the pub kitchen!
Have a great weekend xx

FTH June Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on this month's From the Heart Stamps blog hop.

Our theme this month is "One for the Guys"

As you hop along, please leave a comment on each entry. One random commenter will be selected on each blog to win the image that the designer used. And additionally, one commenter on the From the Heart Stamps blog will be selected to win a $5 gift voucher to the store!

If you have arrived here from the lovely Imke, you are in the right place, if not, why don’t you start at the From the Heart Stamps blog, so you don’t miss anything.

Here is my card, using an image from Birdbrain Football Fanatics.

Because an american football looks similar to an english rugby ball, I decided to colour up this image for an England rugby fan.
I used this week's sketch for my layout.

Papers: Bella Gypsy Designs, The Last Key and Moody Blues collections.
Sentiment: Birdbrain Football Fanatics.
Colouring Medium: promarkers.
Other supplies: Xcut 'diamond' border punch.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:
Paper Makeup - anything goes
Allsorts - for the guys
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
A Random Fan - let's polka dot (mine are massive!)
I love Promarkers - digi does it
Simon Says Stamp - father's day / masculine

Now, please head over to Kathy's blog to see what she has made to inspire you.

Thanks for hopping with us today. The hop will end on Monday June 9th at 6am, EST.
Winners will be posted on the From the Heart Stamps Blog on Wednesday June 11th.
Happy Hopping! x

FTH May Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on this month's From the Heart Stamps blog hop.

Our theme this month is Get Well or Encouragement

As you hop along, please leave a comment on each entry. One random commenter will be selected on each blog to win the image that the designer used. And additionally, one commenter on the From the Heart Stamps blog will be selected to win a $5 gift voucher to the store!

If you have arrived here from Jessica, you are in the right place, if not, why don’t you start at the From the Heart Stamps blog, so you don’t miss anything.

Here is my GD card, using Rainy Day Birdbrains...

I have coloured using promarkers, I sponged the sky with SU inks though (basic gray and a touch of bashful blue)
The papers are by Bella Gypsy 'The Last Key' (grey gingham), and Echo Park 'Times & Seasons' (navy piece)
The borders were made using the Xcut 'diamond' punch.
The sentiments come with the image.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:
That Craft Place - Anything goes
I Love Promarkers - Not quite straight
Simon Says Stamp - Anything goes

For your next stop on the hop, please head over to Angela, and see what she has created to inspire you.

Thanks for hopping along with us. Don't forget to tell your crafty friends!
The hop will end on Monday May 5th at 6am, EST (11am UK time)
Winners will be posted on the From the Heart Stamps Blog on Wednesday May 7th.
Happy Hopping! xx

Little Sprout & friends

There's some fabby new Pollycraft cuties released today over at Little Miss Muffet Stamps :)
Now before you go dash off to the store, please let me show you my card using the adorable Little Sprout...

I decided to go with autumnal colours for this one, with a splash of sunny yellow added too.
The papers are both by Stampin Up (spotty - 'spiced cider' dsp, strip across card - 'haiku' dsp).
The kraft pieces were punched with the xcut 'diamond' border punch.
I found the glittery ribbon in my stash, it was just the right colour I was looking for, and then hung the pretty butterfly charm from it.
I used another punch for the brown leaves, and glued on a few mulberry roses to finish.

To see more of this lovely new release, please go to the LMM blog and see what the other Little Misses have been up to.
There's still time to enter our Monster Ball challenge too, click the link to find the details.


Little Sprout is entered at:
Crafty Cardmakers - fun in the sun
Papertake Weekly - flower power
Penny's Paper Crafty - dies and/or punches

Thanks for stopping by today, you can go shopping now! ;) xx

Strawberry Basket

Woohoooo! It's new release day over at Little Miss Muffet Stamps today!
More sweet sunbonnet images that you will want to add to your collection ;)
Here, i've used SB Strawberry Basket with the So Berry Sweet sentiment (available with the Strawberry Jam stamp)...

I coloured her twice and then layered one, which i'd cut out first, on top of the other.
The background paper is a freebie from a craft mag, it's from a Holly Hobbie paper pack.
I've used two border punches, Xcut 'sparkle' (gold vellum) and SU's eyelet border punch (red and white pieces).
Three further punches were used, Xcut large retro flower, Nellie Snellen stamen, and a small heart punch. The first 2 of these were used to create my strawberry flowers, but I wanted them to look like they have developing fruits, so I used some yellow mulberry paper and tore little pieces off, added some tacky glue and then squished the paper to resemble a small cone shape, using more glue to secure to the centre of the flower. I finished by dotting a green marker on them.
The leaves and ladybird were found in amongst my stash, and I wrapped a few thin strips of green cardstock around the end of my embossing tool to make the tendrils.

To see more of today's new release, please go to the LMM blog to see what delights the other Little Misses have made with these adorable images.
Oh and there's still time to enter our current challenge with the theme 'Away with the Fairies'
Click the link to find all the challenge details.

DT CALL
Would you like to be a Little Miss too?
We are currently having a DT call, so now's your chance to be a part of this amazing design team.
All details can be found HERE
Go on, apply now, you know you want to ;)

Happy Crafting!

I'm entering this card at:
Anything Goes challenge - coffee break and/or food
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
The Pink Elephant - texture
Cute Card Thursday - die-ing to punch

Rudolph Day - July

Over at Auntys forum, the 25th of each month is Rudolph day. July's challenge has been set by Kathy, and she has given us the theme... HOLLY.
Here's my card...

I chose this adorable image because firstly I so wanted to colour him up, and secondly, it has holly in the image too. This is 'Spencer Loves Christmas', a Pollycraft digi that is available to buy exclusively from Little Miss Muffet Stamps. Seriously, you need this little cutie in your christmas image collection.
I coloured Spencer with my promarkers, and teamed him up with gold vellum, gold mirror card, and papers from HOTP (red) and Kaisercraft (green).
The pretty border punch used is by Xcut.
I decided to embellish the card further by adding some homemade holly, made by using a small circle punch on some oval pieces of card stock that I had coloured holly green, finishing with a red button.
The sentiment used is from Stampin Up, from their 'Best Yet' stamp set.

That's another crimbo card made for the collection :)

I'd like to enter this card at:
Cards For Men - Christmas in July
 I Love Promarkers - Christmas in July
Crafting By Designs - Christmas in July
Crafty Catz - Christmas in July
Card Crafter's Circle - Christmas in July
Charisma Cardz - make your own embellishments

New release day at LMM

That's right, today sees a fantastic new release over at Little Miss Muffet Stamps, and I just know that this release will be a HUGE hit! the Little Misses have already fell in love with them.
There's beautiful mermaids, an adorable Polka Dot Pals range, and the oh so cute Jr Hatters, one of which I have used for my card today. This is Jr Hatter Kathrina...

I decided to go with a brown and teal colour theme for this card, the pretty papers are by First Edition and called 'summer breeze'. I coloured Kathrina to match using promarkers, then die cut her out before framing onto more brown, then white cardstock.
The borders, flowers and leaves were made using punches. The sentiment is by Inkadinkado.
I shall send this card to my friend's daughter who celebrates her birthday next week.

To see more of today's new release, please go see what the other Little Misses have created to inspire you, there's some real beauties I promise you.

Oh, and please don't forget to take part in our current challenge, which is a sketch, or anything goes if you use a LMM or Pollycraft image. The challenge runs through until Tuesday 11th. You could win yourself adorable LMM digital images and be our next guest designer if you want to too. Fab eh? ;)

Happy Crafting! xx

I'd like to enter this card at:
Allsorts - here come the girls
Kaboodle - for the kids
Creative Card Crew - punches/dies
Penny's challenge - birthday
Inky Impressions - birthday or anniversary

Pearls n Leather

This card is for my cousins daughter who celebrates her 18th birthday next week...

The image is by Stitchy Bear, well actually it's an image of one shoe, I flipped it, then added another shoe as I prefer the look of the pair, although I did print the single shoe with pearls again so That I could layer it with foam pads. I printed an additional string of pearls too, after colouring them, I cut them out and gave them a touch of Anita's 3D clear gloss. Once dry, I glued them on top.
The papers used are by Dovecraft (spotty), Samantha Walker 'cuckoo 4 u' (floral) cut with a xcut scalloped circle die, and a ditressed pale pink piece found in my stash. The pretty border was made using a xcut punch (sparkle), I used more punches to make the daisies and the leaves, punch out the number 18, and create the faux ric rac. Flat back pearls and gems finish the card.

I'd like to enter this at:
Wags n Whiskers - anything goes
Stampin for the weekend - monochrome
Crafting when we can - punches and/or die cuts
My Mums Craft Shop - spots or stripes
Paper Makeup - anything goes (digi)

thanks for looking :)

Kraft, Red and White

It's Thursday, so that means that there's something going on over at Little Miss Muffet. This week we have a new challenge for you, a colour challenge, kraft, red & white. Now you can colour on to kraft if you'd like to, or you can do as I did and colour on white, but use the 3 colours in your design. Simples!
I kept my layout simples too, just layers of punched cardstock and paper across a stamped background, because I wanted my image to be the star of this show! (plus I have room at the bottom if I want to add a name before sending out).
He is of course Letter Chester, available in rubber from Little Miss Muffet Stamps.

Oooooh I love Chester! He's so adorable isn't he?
I've used my promarkers to colour him, added a stamped greeting to his envelope, then gave him a fur trim with a glue pen and some white flock.
The snowflake stamps used on the base card are both from a set called Enchanted Christmas from HOTP. I used white craft ink from SU, then gently used my heat gun to dry the ink. Next time I stamp snowflakes onto kraft though, I think i'll use white embossing powder so those snowflakes would pop out more.
The spotty paper is also by HOTP (forever christmas).
The 2 punches used are, SU's eyelet border, and Xcut's diamond.

Here's a close up showing the white flocked fur trim...

Awwww, look how cute he is.
Have I told you how much I love Chester? ;)

I'd like to enter this card at:
Sweet Stampin - clean and simple
Incy Wincy - animal antics
I love Promakers - simply does it
Crafty Creations - KISS
The Paper Shelter - anything goes

For Nan

It's not my mom's birthday until the end of August, but as I was making some family birthday cards for my son anyway, I thought i'd make an easel card for Jake to give to her later in the year...

This lovely image is by Bugaboo and is called Rose Can. I coloured using my usual promarkers. I added the happy birthday sentiment (SU's fun and fast notes stamp set) and also added the little tag too.
The spotty paper is by Dovecraft (back to basics) and the green floral strip is by SU (tea party dsp).
I used a xcut border punch (sparkle) and a butterfly die which was free in a craft mag.

I'd like to enter this card at:
Kaboodle Doodles - any shade of pink
Lexi's Creations - use punches or dies
The Pink Elephant - use spring colours
Bearly Mine - anything goes
Sweet Stampin - scallops
Cute Card Thursday - butterfly kisses
Fab n Funky - spring colours

Thanks for looking xx