Going outside...

... in a manner of speaking... Our lovely Adele gave us a great challenge on Dottie's World today "The Great Outdoors", these were the specs:

Please make a card, project with an outdoor theme. That's the only requirement apart from obviously using one or more of the fabby Charmed Downloads

I went to town on this one, it's quite an extravagant card in terms of expense so it would be for someone very special. It's an easel card so get ready for lots of pictures as that's not too easy to photograph.

Stray leaf on some of the pictures, ignore that LOL

The paper used here are from the new Prima Fairy Floral pad - both the main paper plus the blue paper. Flowers are Prima Flutter Vine Pacific Blue plus a Prima Medicci Citrus flower (both sadly no longer available). I roughed the edges of my main Prima paper with a Tim Holtz paper distresser.

These show the side of the card. For an easy to follow tutorial on how to make these go HERE:

I used a pixie from our Pixie collection, available both in digi form and as a clear stamp. I coloured her in with Copics, cut her out and sat her on the branch:

The blue panel is likewise from the Prima Fairy Floral pad. I cut it with a Martha Stewart Deep Edge punch. For the middle I folded a little remnant of the paper concertina style. Small pearls were added, as well as a Girls Paperie charm (I LOVE these). Finally a little Prima lace adorns the bottom of the punched panel:

Blue flowers from the Prima vine plus a Prima Medicci Citrus flower (both no longer available). The sentiment is a Basic Grey rub-on rubbed onto shaped cut with a Nestabilities (virtually blow that stray leaf away please). Pearls are Prima.



The very base of my card is just plain cardstock. I have inked all edges with brown Tim Holtz
distress ink.
Thanks for visiting.

Life's a Beach!

It can be that's for sure. Love this little phrase, it can be taken as life is tough so play and have fun, but it can of course also be taken as life is a beach, all summery and fun :-) Anyhow this is the phrase I used as the basis for my card for this weeks challenge on the Charmed digi blog. Lou set the challenge before she flew off to sunny Turkey and this is what she asked for:

"As this challenge goes live I will actually be sunning myself in Turkey! So I think it would be a fitting plan to make a beach/vacation themed card - make it sunny please! Don't forget your Charmed download!"

I must confess that originally I had remembered the challenge incorrectly and though it was merely "summery" so my first attempt was not suited! Here is my second attempt:

I used an image from the Boy oh Boy collection and coloured him with Copics. First time I have used this one, he just EXUDE all the joys of life, don't you think? You can't help but smile when you look at him.



My base card was Aqua coloured cardstock. I created a little beach scene and added my image onto it using 3D foam pads for a 3D effect.
Tickets are Tim Holtz and edges are inked with distress inks
Beach clip holding the tickets is Lil' Davis.
Wave in left-hand corner, Star fish top right-hand corner and the wording "Beach" and "Splash" are all from K&Co Sea Glass Beach Chipboard.
I punched the edges of the frame using Martha Stewart punches and sprayed it with glimmer mist for a discreet sparkle.
Prima pearls were added to the bottom.

Pop over and join the challenge, we sure would love to see you!

Have a great Bank Holiday. Thanks for visiting the Charmed corner of the web ♥

Inspirational...

Our weekly challenge on the Charmed digi blog this week is Inspiration. Lou posted a beautiful picture from which to draw inspiration, be that the feel of it, the colours, or whatever other inspiration you may get from it. The only stipulation is that you must use one of our hundreds of downloads - and that's not difficult as there are so many utterly gorgeous ones to choose from :-)

I love the colours on the photo and regretfully I didn't quite capture the richness. But I went for the dark reds, whites and blue colours as my inspiration. I added a little green to mine also. This is the first Christmas card of the year for me but I'm determined to get many done before December so expect to see more...

My Holly Pixie from the Pixie Downloads (also available as a clear stamp) has blue/green holly and wings. Each holly leaf is green but tipped with blue. I used a variety of K&Co and Basic Grey papers, the base of my card is Doodlebug Ladybug Sugar Coated Cardstock, which means the back of the card is nice and glittery too. I also used gold lace - K&Co Evergreen snowflake stickers - Warm wishes greeting is from an Imaginice Polar Expressions paper - K&Co Layered Poinsettia flowers - Clear pebbles forms a frame around the card. I used a Martha Stewart Border punch for the border running across the middle. The red has been highlighted with red Stickles.

After printing out my Pixie I drew a large bauble around her then coloured everything in with Copic markers. I used Polar White Flowersoft for the trim on her dress and a little Stickles to highlight here and there on the holly as well, as the gold dots on the bauble..

I started doing the inside but didn't have enough time to complete. It's ready for when I have the time..



Just the blue paper atm, but will add everything else when I need it...


I do hope you can join us on DW this week, it's a fab challenge.

Thanks for visiting x

Favourites...

This week on our digi blog our lovely Gunn set a fab challenge: to showcase your favourite Charmed download. Tough one this one as I love so many of them. One of my favourite collections are the "Girls about town" and I love the Pixie collections for their sheer versatility, I also love the new Once Upon a Time collection and and and... the list goes on. The image I used on my card this week has to be one of my favourites from the Pixie collection but not THE favourite as I love them all!! I am giving one of these collections to one lucky person so pop back tomorrow.

I used papers from the Fancy Pants Daily Grind paper pad for both my background and two corners.

I drew a circle with large dots on the background with a marker then swirled in each with a white Inkssentials pen. With the same pen a whimsical doodled border was created The two flowers are one K&Co Blossomwood die-cut cardstock flower cut in half. They are actually delicately glittered , although that doesn't show well here.

I created a frame using Flower Soft. I mixed the colours myself and glued them onto a green frame. After inserting my image, which I coloured with Copics, I stuck it onto brown cardstock distressed with a paper distresser to roughen edges, then onto my card.

The floral swirl below uses a K&Co Blossomwood die-cut as the base, then a Prima crystal swirl and blue Prima pearls.

The corners were Prima The Goods cardboard shapes onto which I stuck the Fancy Pants paper and inked with brown distress ink.

The "dream" ticket is Tim Holtz.

When my daughter (aged 13) saw this card she said that I always use muted earthy colours, and it's true. I get out all my pads of papers and always end up choosing the same type of colours. I love the vintage look and most of my cards unintentionally seem to veer towards that these days.

Thanks for visiting. Have a lovely day ♥

Frame it!

It's my turn to set the challenge on Dottie's World this week and I chose "Frame it" plus a few dots. I framed my card inside and out with hydrangea petals, plus I created a frame made from gold liquid beadz.

I cut a frame out of cardboard and adhered the liquid beadz to it. Once it had dried I stuck it onto my card and added another frame with the petals. This is quite a large card, measuring 18cm x 18cm from petal to petal.

The sentiment is from our new Once Upon a Time collection. I printed it out, cut it with Nestabilities and stuck it onto a larger scalloped circle cut from Tim Holtz Shabby Vintage paper. I then enamelled this centrepiece with clear enamel.

You can see the enamel better in this picture. The girl is from our Holly & Madison collection. I wanted her to hide surprise flowers so drew a bouquet behind her after printing her out. I then coloured the image with Copic markers.
The Blue Prima Mini Roses are mounted onto wooden buttons. Lace is Prima and the pearls and crystals are K&Co Sweet Talk.

I decorated the inside too. I used Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby papers - Prima Fairytale roses (Pink) and a Blue Prima Mini Rose, plus three blue Prima pearls. The edges were inked with brown distress ink and a dotted border drawn with a Copic marker.


Please pop over and join the challenge - we are giving away a voucher to one lucky participant this week :-)

CJ Time!

I can't believe it is CJ5 on the Charmed forum - five circles, five years - where did that time go? I love doing these circles with my lovely Charmed friends, they are a fantastic bunch of people.

So last weekend I created my journal, and yesterday I tearfully waved it bon voyage. In almost one years time it will be returned to me filled with wonderful pages; I can't wait!

Can't show you my journal in case the girls are watching, but here are some sneaky peeks. My theme this time was "Self Portrait":

Crikey it's bucketing it down out there! We haven't had much rain later, and God knows the lawn needs a little moisture, but it looks like the big guy upstairs has decided to give us the whole lot in one go! Are you seeing any lasting sunshine where you are? I don't just mean a little teaser now and again, I mean golden rays all day, no interruptions! If you live in the UK I bet your answer will be a resounding no! It's been warm yes, but most days have been overcast and grey with no wind, quite opressive really, especially here in London where I live. Oh well, perhaps it'll get better :-)

Bye for now. Thanks for visiting the Charmed corner of the WWW :-)

Manly with a twist

Tis sunday again, where did that week go?? Adele has provided us with a fun challenge on Dottie's World, this is what she wants:

Whilst looking through my stock box I noticed I am incredibly short of cards for men so I thought it would be a good idea to get a few in there rather than keep putting myself under the pressure of having to make them at the last minute - cards for men can be tricky enough as it is! You have loads of images to choose from the Charmed Download collections so lets see what you can come up with........Now for a little twist, I want to see some ribbon on your manly cards!!

So, a manly card with ribbon, and here is mine:

I decorated the inside too, as the saying I created has a second part inside. I used Gramps from Meet the Martians, I adore him, he's so funny and fab for so many occasions. He is perfect for the sentiment I think and I'm going to include this sentiment within the bundle for you.

Paper used is mainly from the Tim Holtz Shabby Vintage pad. Presents inside and candle on the front are K&Co Happy Birthday 2 U chipboard. Tickets inside are Tim Holtz. Swirls and Crystals inside and out are Prima. Blue glazed brads on the front are Basic Grey Sultry. I used distress ink for edges and a paper distresser to roughen them. Middle bands on front and inside are cut with a Martha Stewart punch, all other paper shapes are cut with Nestabilities. That ribbon is perfect for the card as it matches Gramps "buzzin'" antenna's, it's K&Co's Life's Journey but has now been discontinued so no longer available.

..and finally I used some silver Stickles for this silver fox :-) Gramps were coloured in Copics and I used distress inks for the background. Again I only used part of the image and it shows how versatile they are. Don't be afraid to use a little bling for manly cards, the guys are not adverse to a little sparkle - don't put them in the corner with the boring cards :-)

Pop over to DW to see what the other DT members have created for your inspiration. If you have any of our downloads (and we have HEAPS) then please join in :-)

Thanks for visiting. Have a great Sunday ♥

Candy Winner

Sorry I'm a little late with this. Here is the winner of the last candy:

That is PAT. Congratulations Pat. Please email your address to me HERE.

Thanks to all who entered. There'll be another candy very soon :-)


Have a super day ♥

Lets Go to the Movies

Well, not literally you understand, although I really want to go and watch the new one with Leonardo DiCaprio "Inception". I noticed it's on at the local cinema so might take the girls to watch it in the week. If you've seen it and found it to be a pile of poo then please let me know asap!

Our challenge this week was set by Sheila, please pop over and join us and check out the other design team members fabby work. This is what Sheila wanted:

I love going to the cinema with my grandsons.. gives me the perfect excuse for seeing all the latest kids Disney/Cartoon movies so with this in mind my theme for the challenge this weeks is....

LETS GO TO THE MOVIES!!

So find your favourite Charmed Crafts download and turn it into a movie/movie character or relate it to a movie/character - simples no? :-).

DD1 is going to a party next week; her friend is really into pretty princess type of things, and she really really wanted me to make her a special card. So I decided that my "Movie character" would be Belle from Beauty and the Beast. The Beast had a beautiful rose garden and Belle here is scattering rose petals as she wanders through :-) A sentiment similar to the one I used is contained within the Once Upon a Time bundle and as that was my creation I quickly personalised it with the recipients name - I used the princess from our Once Upon a Time bundle and coloured her in to look like the recipient of the card, with brown hair and brown eyes, which of course also related to Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

That big corner is really sparkling and gorgeous. You can see that much better in this picture:

It's a Prima The Goods chipboard corner that I coloured pink first then smothered in large Martha Stewart glitter shards (from the Vintage Leaf Chunky Glitter pack) and topped with three pink heart crystals.

Image: Princess from Once Upon a Time coloured with Copic markers.
Sentiment: From Once Upon a Time but I modified the original to personalise.
Papers: Fancy Pants Daily Grind Paper Pad (Blue) and Basic Grey (Brown Dotted)
Swirls and FairyTale Rose: Prima
Crystals: K&Co Sweet Talk Adhesive Gems
Nestabilities die for the circle on the front.
Distress ink and paper distressing tool for some of the edges.

There's a little hand sewing on there too, using pink metallic thread. It's in stock but not on site.

I only used part of the princess image but cut around the bouquet to hang out of the circle. I actually wrote down the Copic colours I used to colour in the image (wayhey!!!):
E00, E02, R20, RV21, G07, G14, B00, B01, B12, E21, E35, E37, E29, V12, V15, V17, R8, R30, R81, R83, R85, W3, W5

Thanks for visiting; have a great Sunday.

Psst...Candy is drawn tomorrow so you have until midnight if you want to enter.

Pixie Blog Candy

This post will stay on top, please scroll down for new posts.

A little blog candy for you, this time one of our own in-house stamps, namely the hugely popular and totally lovely Dreaming Pixie clear stamp.

Just enter your name and blog in Mr Linky below to be included in the draw.

It would be great if you could mention it on your blog too :-)

Candy closes 25th July. Good luck ♥

xx