Shadow Box Card and Some Cake

It was, of course, craft night, yesterday, and, after tea and home baked milk chocolate and pistachio squares, we all made shadow box cards.  I decided to go down the Christmas route again, and used another of Janet's lovely Ginger images, this one's called Ginger With Garland and you'll find her in the Pink Gem shop here.

 To make the card base, I cut two pieces of mint green card to 6x9 inches and placed them, one at a time, landscape on my Hougie board and scored at 1, 1.5, 7.5 and 8 inches.  I then die cut a circle in the middle of one of the pieces to make the aperture that the image is viewed through.

 I coloured the cute image with Promarkers to match these rather appropriate papers, which were mag freebies many moons ago, they couldn't be more perfect for this image.
I used a Martha Stewart cupcake border punch to continue the sweet treats theme and finished my card with buttons, pearls and a big bow made from ribbon and floss.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges -
Kaboodle Doodles - Stripes and/or Circles
Passion for Promarkers - #199 - Anything Goes
Hobbycutz - #6 - More Than One Fold
52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Sweet Treats
Crafty Hazelnut - #125 - Festive Food/Drink
My Time To Craft - #222 - Christmas in May
Speedy Fox and Friends - #160 - Window
Card Crafter's Circle - #75 - Construction Cards
Crafts 4 Eternity - #124 - Sweet Tooth
Christmas Cards all Year Round - Gingerbread Person, Ribbon, At Least 3 Buttons

Orange Poppies

Here's something bright for a Monday morning!  I decided to make a card using my favourite colour, orange, just to bring a little bit of sunshine into an otherwise grey day.

 The lovely digi image I've used is from A Passion For Stamps, I really love Ruth's botanical images, this beautiful poppy is one of my favourites, but this is the first time I've coloured it in orange, which I've done with Promarkers.  I used Wild Honey Distress Ink round the edges of the topper to add warmth and to tie it in with the background which was created with Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks, applied direct to the scalloped blank, then spritzed with water and dried.  I then stamped a poppy design with a Sheena Douglass stamp in Spiced Marmalade in the top right corner.
The gorgeous papers are new (I know, more new papers, but I won them so they don't count!) and are My Mind's Eye, All Spice.  I added a bit of interest with a punched border done with a Martha Stewart punch, an orange ribbon, a matching bow, to which I also added some variegated floss, some flowers made with Nellie Snellen punches,a leaf made with a Cuttlebug die and some pearls and gems.

 I'm entering this card in the following challenges -
Crafty Calendar - Blooms and Blossoms
My Sheri Crafts - #110 - Flower Power
Stamping With the Dragon - A Flower for Mum
My Heart Pieces - Anything Goes
ABC - #29 - Stamped Background
Digi Darla - #63 - 3D Element, handmade flowers and bow
Whoopsi Daisy - May Flowers

Pastel Colours and a Bit of Doodling

I noticed that a few of my favourite challenge blogs have doodling as their current theme, so Micron pen in hand, I got my doodle on!  I even doodled a pattern on the girl's dress with Sakura Souffle pens.

 The cute image is from Di's Digis, and has been coloured with my ever faithful Promarkers, with Sakura pen for the pattern on the dress.
I'm trying to be good and at least attempt to make a tiny dent in my humungous paper stash (it helps assuage my guilt when I buy even more!), so I dug out these oh, so pretty Honey and Hugs papers which I haven't used in ages, I'm really pleased I did, the colours and ditzy prints are gorgeous.  I added some soft, lemon, pearl cardstock to my pastel papers.
The blue rickrack and paper flower have also been lurking in my stash forever and a day (yay, more using up!), I decided to layer the rickrack over some pink grosgrain ribbon for even more pastel goodness!
To finish my girly creation, I stuck on some Papermania Spots and Strips buttons, a Papermania Tulip sentiment, and some weeny seed beads for the girl's eyes.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges -

Joanna Sheen - Girls, Girls, Girls 

Passion for Promarkers - #198 - Doodleicious 

Sweet Stampin' - Oodles of Doodles 

Polka Doodles - #20 - Spring Colours/Pastels 

Simon Says Stamp - Flower Power 

Bearly Mine - #86 - Lucky Dip - Flowers, Ribbon, Faux Stitching 

The Squirrel and the Fox - #44 - here Come the Girls

Sweet Sketch - #206 - Sketch

Sophie

Yep, it's another one!  This is the fifth card I've made with these beautiful, vintage, Pink Gem digis.  This one's called Sophie and you'll find her in the the shop here.

 Once again, she's been coloured with Promarkers, this time to match these pretty My Mind's Eye, In Bloom papers, which I think have a beautiful and rather unusual combination of colours.
The lacy circle was cut with a grand Spellbinders die and the corner elements were cut with a Marianne die.  Next, I added some buttercup yellow lace, then I went wild with the bling to create a border round the image, using dew drops, assorted pearls and assorted clear and pink gems.

 I'm entering this card in the following challenges -
Delicious Doodles - #36 - Lace
Happy Campers - #16 - Use Lace
Creative Moments - #17 - Circles
Whimsy Inspiration - #59 - Anything Goes
One Stop Craft - #229 - Anything Goes

Ginger With Lollipop

I'm still trying to get ahead with my Christmas cards so I don't have a mad rush at the end of the year, I've used a Pink Gem digi called Ginger with Lollipop for this one, you'll find it here.  Can you tell how much I'm enjoying being on the Pink gem DT?!!

 I've used my usual Promarkers to colour this cutie, just look at her sweet face (no pun intended!).
The red and white papers are Papermania, Home for Christmas, and the kraft one is Krafty Christmas from Lili of the Valley, I think they work rather well together as they both have a homespun look, as does the stitched, grosgrain ribbon.  Three red, heart shaped buttons finish my festive card.

 I'm entering this card in the following challenges -
Christmas Cards All Year Round - Gingerbread Person, Ribbon, 3+ Buttons
Sparkles Christmas - Favourite Christmas Colours, I love kraft
Little Miss Muffet - #61 - Red, White, Kraft
Oldie But a Goodie - Inspired by a Song - Run, Run, as Fast as You Can, You Can't Catch Me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!  My old stash is the paper, buttons and ribbon
Crafty Catz - 3-2-1 Recipe - 3 Buttons, 2 Different Paper Packs,  1 Ribbon
Crafts 4 Eternity - #124 - Sweet Tooth

Ruby Love Birds

I was asked to make a card for a Ruby Wedding Anniversary, and here's what I came up with.

The adorable image was a Valentine's freebie from Nutcrafter's on their Facebook page back in February, I've been waiting for an excuse to play with it, and I have to say that it was such fun to colour, which I've done with Promarkers.
The shaped blank is from Craftwork Cards, and I stamped a border with See Dees stamps using Barn Door Distress Ink.  I've resurrected my See Dee collection lately and have been thoroughly enjoying using them again.
The papers are Papermania Tatty Teddy, to which I've added plain white cardstock and a touch of red mirri, along with some faux stitching for a bit of interest.  I used a Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page set to make the heart frame and Spellbinders dies to make the hearts.  The sentiment was computer generated.
Some bright red organza ribbon, a bow and some ruby gems finish off my loved up card.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges -
Anything Goes - #92 - Anything But Square
Oldie But a Goodie - Inspired by a Song - Ruby by the Kaiser Chiefs.  My old stash is the See Dees stamps, ribbon and gems
ABC - #28 - Wedding or Anniversary
Ooh, La, La - Seeing Red
The Corrosive Challenge - #174 - My Sentiments Exactly
Polka Doodles - #19 - Anniversary
Art Impressions - #110 - Bows
Delightful Challenges - Bingo - stitching, ribbon, patterned paper

Mollie

Here's yet another card made with one of the stunning new Pink Gem vintage girls.  Did I mention how much I love them?!  This one's called Mollie and you'll find her here.

 One again, I've used Promarkers to colour her, this time to match these pretty, Papermania Aqua Capsule Collection papers that I picked up cheap at the SECC last October.
I created a stamped border using See Dees stamps and Shaded Lilac Distress Ink, round the edges of the Craftwork Cards shaped blank.
I used an EK Success punch to make the central panel and Nellie Snellen and Xcut punches to make the flowers, which were coloured with more Distress Ink.
A baker's twine threaded button and some organza ribbon finish my oh so girly card.

I' entering this card in the following challenges -
Crafts and Me - #133 - Use a Digi
Anything Goes - #92 - Anything But Square
Kaboodle Doodles - #171 - Use Ribbon and at least One Button
Lacy Sunshine - #8 - Anything But Square
Divas by Design - Shape it Up
The Paper Shelter - #112 - Anything Goes
Stamp 'n' Doodle - Anything Goes