Summer or Winter - Which One Are You ???

I'm very much in the autumn/winter camp myself. I have nothing against sunshine and the spring of course but I love to see the beautiful colours of autumn, nature going out in a blaze of glory and all that. Winter for me means cosy nights in with the heating on and the curtains drawn nice and early, making sure the cats are all in before it gets too dark (two of them are black and white and in the dark they seem to be invisible!!), evenings spent crafting or just going to bed nice and early and of course, our old favourite, Christmas.

I hate shopping up the town so the internet is absolutley brilliant for people like me, I barely buy anything these days that isn't purchased electronically! My faith in Norton is unconditional i'm afraid. In all the years i've shopped over the web I have only had one problem and that was with I-Tunes!!

Anyhoo, on to the card this week. The I Love ProMarkers challenge this week is #94 Snowmen/Snowflakes, so I combined both. I was a little confused though because one of our upcoming challenges is for a shaped card so I made this one round because I had confused two challenges into one! However, once it was made I felt it lent itself to the snowglobe shape perfectly. The backing paper was bought at a craft fair from one of those stalls that promises to sell you a tonne of paper - as long as you can fit it all into one box! The blue and white checked paper was a lucky scrap I found and the big snowflake is made from a Nestie (the beautiful Ironworks ones). Finally the image is from Robyn's Fetish, a great site for some lovely Digi images. So there it is, hope you like it and I'll be with you again real soon

Andy

x

Entered into: Cooking It Up With Katie #86 - Anything Goes

Digi Stamps 4 Joy #33 - Merry Christmas (but no animals!)

Divas By Design #16 - Anything Goes

Fab 'n Funky #101 - Anything Goes

The Paper Shelter #42 - Anything Goes

Scrapbook Sisters #62 - Anything Goes

7 Kids College Fund #35 - Non-Traditional Christmas Colours

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

365 Cards Day 274 - Winter Theme
Creative Craft Challenges - Free For All
Going Grey with Scrap-Creations - Christmas
Jens Digi Stamps - Merry & Bright (Non-Traditional Christmas Colours)
Party Time Tuesdays #44 - Anything Goes
Sassy Cheryl's Challenge Blog #92 - Winter
Craft Your Passions Challenge #86 - 'tis The Season
Craft Boots Challenges - Anything Goes

Daisy Doodles Creative Challenges #47 - Must use a Digi + Be Christmassy

Hooked On Craft Challenges #13 - Winter Wonderland

"I Believe In A Thing Called Love......."

So in case you didn't guess, I went to see The Darkness at Rock City in Nottingham last night. Newly reformed and with their original line-up it was an amazing night out. Support band Foxy Shazam were a bit of a mixed bag, the lead singer came on stage and was really aggressive with the crowd, he then went on to tell a story about killing a dog and going to prison for said dog murder! After the audience turned quite ugly they began to perform and they were awesome, really great performers with a quite unique sound. One particular bloke in the audience kept giving them abuse so they brought him on stage and walked off!! this resulted in the crowd turning against one man and the band came back on stage to cheers - utter genius.

But I digress. This week's card was a REAL challenge for me. I had to use an image from Digi Doodle Shop and while their images are very cute, they aren't really in my style. I originally did a carousel horse but I didn't like the way I coloured it and I struggled to think of a colour scheme I could live with. In the end, I spit the dummy out and found a different image, which I have to say I loved doing. I even did an insert which is highly unusual for me, so it all worked out okay in the end!

The papers are (of course!) Basic Grey - they are from the latest Christmas range and the letters are from a Sizzix Strip Die which I got rather cheaply from Sir Stampalot who recently had a bit of a sale on. They are one of my favourite shops on-line, they always have the newest Magnolia stamps and their service is excellent, very friendly and helpful if you have a problem.

So, there's the card, hope you like it. I'm really happy with it for a change!

See you again soon,

Andy

x

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends x

Entered into: Crafting For All Seasons #14 - Thanksgiving, Thank You or Sketch

Crafty Creations #145 - Thanks/Gratitude

Creative Belli #131 - Thanksgiving

Little Darlings Challenge #12 - Thank You

My Mums Craft Shop Challenges # 33 - Things With Wings

Papercraft Star Challenge #72 - Anything Goes

Creative Craft Challenges - Free For All

Going Grey with Scrap Creations - Thank You!

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge Blog #91 - Anything Goes
The Stamping Boutique Challenge #20 - Thanksgiving

Make It Monday Challenge #64 - Anything Goes

Tiddly Inks Challenge #74 - Anything Goes

Nettie G's Digital Gems Challenge - Gratitude Is My Attitude

The Pink Elephant Challenge #126 - Giving Thanks

Victorine Original Stamps Challenge #21 - Thanks

The Corrosive Challenge #137 - Give Thanks

Sorry i'm a bit late!!

I'm not really sure how I feel about this weeks card! It took me ages to put together but you can't really see what it was that I was trying to do. I cut a load of octagons out with my cuttlebug and then wanted to make a sort of quilt pattern with it but you can't really see it can you? The I had to put the little snowmen squares in which was a bit of a nightmare to do. I made the big flower using a Chocolate Baroque stamp (Glenda Waterworth is really such a classy designer) and then used a Lily of the Valley stamp to finish it off. So there you have it and I hope you like it too, see you again soon x

I won something !!!!!!

Well I know it might not be a lot to some people, but I won one of the many challenges I usually enter. I get a really sweet acrylic stamp (chosen by me) and the enormous sense of self fulfillment that comes with winning something. So thank you very much to all the ladies on the DT at Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge Blog, you have no idea how much this has meant to me.
Cheers
Andy
x

Following a sketch.

So this weeks challenge was to follow a sketch. I'm not ignorant to what they are but I never really follow anything, I'm more of a go with the flow type of guy! I always start with my stamped image, then I colour to what sort of mood I'm in (at this point I am usually surround by ProMarkers all over the sofa - which Jasmine absolutely detests (it deprives her of 'lap-time')). Once the image is coloured I then start to think about papers that will go with it. I'm very lucky because, like many crafters, I have an enormous pile of 12 x 12, 8 x 8 and my favourite 6 x 6 papers. I buy loads of the Basic Grey pads because I think they are just so classy, but I also have lots of other designers too.

For this particular card I have used some really old Papermania 12 x 12 paper which was for a christmas about 3 or 4 years ago!, I can't believe I still have so much of it to use. I am really loving blue this Christmas though; I have absolutely no idea what the latest trends are! The image is a Lily of the Valley (obviously!) and I have used quite a few of my Dies (of which I say you can never have too many!!). So, that's this weeks card. Keep an eye out for a Kenny K on the way, a non-Christmas one too!

Take Care

Andy x

Entered into: My Mums Craft Shop Challenge #31 - Sugar and Spice

Stampavie and More Challenge #155 - Anything Goes

My Time To Craft Challenge #165 - Sun, Moon and Stars

Tiddly Inks Challenge #72 - Anything Goes

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge #59 - Anything Christmas Goes

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #74 - Your Favourite Colour Combo

Heart Song Inspirations Challenge #23 - Anything Goes

Make It Monday Challenge #62 - Anything Goes

Make My Monday Challenge #23 - Christmas

Stamps & Fun = Creativity Challenge #72 - Winter

Creative Inspirations Paint Challenge - Anything Goes

Dream Valley Challenges #19 - Anything Goes

A new week begins!

So it seems that my week now begins on a wednesday, Why? you ask, well i'll tell you why, because I am now a fully fledged member of the I Love ProMarkers Design Team and our new cards go up on a wednesday. I intended to do a new entry every sunday but that has all changed now (not that I'm complaining though).

This weeks entry had me filled with dread and fear - Glitter and Glitz. Not that i'm averse to a bit of Glitz you understand, it's the glitter that fills my heart with dread! I hate the stuff and so very, very rarely use it; it goes everywhere, it sticks to everything, it taints everything you use, it's not a particularly masculine thing to use, etc etc. So to HAVE to use it was a real challenge for me but I think I have managed to pull it off. I bought myself another Make It Crafty background, they really are amongst the very best in the world at the moment, and used one of the latest Kenny K creations - Toy Soldier, who was an absolute joy to colour. I used the glitter to just highlight where the snow was on the background, so rather subtle for me I thought!

Anyhoo, I hope you like it as much as I did creating it (LOL), and I will see you again real soon

Andy x

Entered into The Paper Shelter - Challenge #38 Christmas Fun

The Pixie Cottge - Challenge #94 Get Started, Make A Christmas Card

Scrapbook Sisters - Challenge #58 Anything Goes

Stampavie and More - Challenge #155 Anything Goes

The Paper Variety - Challenge #58 Humorous

Anita Be Stampin' - Challenge #26 Anything Goes

Craft Room Challenge - For A Man

Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT - Challenge #44 Non Traditional or Distressed Christmas

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes (Plus a bit of bling if you like!)

By the Cute & Girly Challenge - Christmas Girls