Challenge 13 - Hearts & Romance and our new teamie!

Wow wow wow! Thank you for all your entries for our last challenge What's New? Seems like we all had a visit from santa or have (many!) things we've never opened before as we had a record number of entries - 101!

Also a huge thank you to the delightful Tracey Coates for beong our special guest. I'm sure we'll be seeing lots more of Tracey and her designs this year and I can't wait to see what she's got up her sleeve!

Thank You also to The Stampman for sponsoring our last challenge and I hope some of you managed to catch Jill on C&C last week!

The winner of The Stampman voucher is.....

BEVERLEY - GOTT HEART ART

And the winners of the Top 3 blinkie in no particular order are...

Caroline - Stampings & Inklings

Desire - Doing Life

Marianne - Marianne's Craftroom

Well done ladies! Please grab your Top 3 blinkie from the sidebar :)

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CHALLENGE 13 - HEARTS & ROMANCE

Our challenge for you is Hearts & Romance. It doesnt have to be Valentines, it could be a thinking of you, with love etc Nice and easy this one! There is a heart shaped easel card tutorial here if you fancy having a go at that, its simples, promise!

We're sponsored once again by the ever delightful Joanna Sheen who is currently across the pond at the CHA. Can't wait to see what new goodies she brings back! What's new at Joanna Sheens?

"We have a new, beautiful CD called "In Other Words". The illustrations have all been done by Lois Miles and together with a bit of JS Magic there are amazing backing papers and toppers, word cards and stationery sets - everything to make some really fun projects.

There's a video in our video section showing you what's inside the CD and some beautiful samples in a separate video too. This is one of those CDs that you will turn to time and time again for something a bit different and oh so pretty!


We also have fantastic new Country Life rubber stamps - a new format with a very long thin sheet so lots of value and some wonderful scenic stamps! There is a samples video for those too!"



Just a quick reminder - Please follow the challenge and rules. We can only accept up to 3 entries per challenge to make it fair to newer crafters or those who are a bit slower at crafting. Any entries in excess of 3 will be deleted and it does take time checking them all and I know some of you are ever so keen but I have to draw the line somewhere to make it fair to all.

Please leave a link to your entry in the comments box below Chelsea's questions and answers below. This challenge closes at 12pm GMT on Monday 8th February.


We are joined today with a new teamie who some of you might be familiar with :)
Let me introduce you to our latest design team member - Vicky from Kip's Cards! Vicky has kindly agreed to join our merry bunch and we're thrilled to have her! I'll let her start the ball rolling with some examples to inspire you!
Welcome to the team Vicky!

Vicky
First of all can I just thank Vix and the team for asking me to join...I am really excited though a bit nervous, but here goes...This week's challenge is " Heart's and Romance " so I decided to make an Engagement/Anniversary card.I have kept it pretty simple...I think these occassion card's look very elegant in a white theme and not over embelished.I used a decoupage sheet from craft creation's, after cutting and assembling with silicone I sprayed the image with a gloss varnish.Nestie's, Martha Stewart punch, ribbon and a Jewel flourish to finish...oh and a bit of antique linen distressing ink that I added sparkle to with ultrafine glitter.

Jack

I had a plain cream card blank and I matted dark brown card on to this. I then mounted a piece of background paper I had made myself by sponging distress inks onto copier paper (antique linen, weathered wood and vintage photo). I then crumpled the paper up, opened it out and swiped lightly over the top with vintage photo distress ink. It gives a lovely marbled look. The main image is from the Elusive Images set Paris Postcard which was stamped in Distress Ink onto parchment coloured paper with Vintage Photo. I tore the edges and then rubbed them with Weathered Wood, then rolled one corner. This image was mounted onto dark brown card with a piece from a french novel underneath. The Paris ticket and Ooh la la! also came fro Elusive Images, again stamped with Vintage Photo and dabbed with weathered wood. The ribbon was once white but, again (lol), coloured with Vintage Photo. The flower was made by stamping flowers in two sizes in Vintage Photo (stamps by Artistic Stamper - Flower Power) onto to paper from the Paper Cellar (Victorian Classics Pad), dabbing with weathered wood and antique linen, curling the edges and sticking them together

Joy

I used a pale green card and then in the centre of it added a square of silver textured paper and added a circle of bronze coloured paper and arranged 4 different coloured hearts so that the points at the bottom of each of them was on the circle and the top of the hearts were in each corner of the square paper, next I added two small strips of double sided tape to the circle and added the top layer of heart shaped pieces so that they are in line with the first layer, next I added four larger heart shapes to each corner of the card & finished it with a "With Love" sentiment & a circle of silver glitter glue to the centre of my Heart Flower.

Judie

Hi guys, this weeks challenge is hearts & flowers, now as everyone knows im not to good with the colour Pink and Red, so i have gone the opposite way "BLACK" - I have tried to create a classy card - I used a white card with black and silver hearts backing papers, distressed the edges with black soot. Made my on sentiment as it means more to me, done with black card and silver pen, added some silver corner pieces that i have been harbouring for far to long !!! I used a couple of red flowers and made some black leaves and added some keys attached with a red brad. Hope you like it, thanks for looking xx

Julie

I have made a simple card for this challenge, with simply matting papers and using stickers. I think it just shows that a simple technique still makes a nice card.

Lisa


Mandy

I used sketch # 150 from CPS for the layout and was initially inspired to incorporate the packaging from some Papermania spotty buttons that I had bought to make a shaker card.
The heart paper is an old HOTP one. The red paper and letters are from a freebie paper pack from a magazine. The Forever Friends bear is a sticker and the flowers are various Primas layered together with a silver beadcap and a spotty brad on a Sizzix diecut corner.

Vix

Mine is a heart shaped easel card which I did freehand. Part the way through I thought hmmm I could write a tutorial on this so thats what I've done HERE! The image is from My sentiments exactly and I've had it a loooong time. Its stamped and embossed on distress ink background (tutorial for that is here) To make the colours more vibrant I rubbed essential oil over the ink (so it smells nice too!) Image is coloured with promarkers and papers are DCWV and HOTP. The writing in the heart is done with Moonshadow Ink and a fountain pen :)

Now let me have the pleasure of introducing our special guest for you for this challenge who is Chelsea from Crafting Life's Pieces.

Chelsea first came to my attention when she entered our challenge 9 with some jaw dropping work. I had a good look round her amazing blog and saw she was uniquely talented, she doesn't make cards, she makes masterpieces, each one a work of art. I asked her there and then if she'd like to special guest for us. Pop over to her blog, you wont be disappointed!

Chelsea also has her own range of stamps - Gurlee Girl which she has used one of them on her design for us. Thank you Chelsea!

SPECIAL GUEST DESIGNER - CHELSEA - CRAFTING LIFE'S PIECES

Our questions for Chelsea....


1. How long have you been crafting and what kind of things do you make?

I have been crafting since my high school days. I enjoy making cards and scrapbook pages.

2. What are your favourite materials to work with?

I have a couple of those! First would have to be papers, flowers, lace, and charms. Other favorites includes paper punches, chalk ink, ribbons, and my sewing machine.

3. What do you most love about your craft(s)?

I love the fact that I'm able to bring my ideas on to paper. It's one thing to see it in your head, but it's another when the completed project in front of you.

4. What are your achievements and future plans?

My biggest achievement was launching my Gurlee Girl stamp line back in July 2009. I look forward to adding more cute images to my collection and expanding my online shop.

5. Your top 3 tips

1 - store your ink pads and pens with the tip down

2 - add chalk to the back of the sticker where you don't want it to stick...did you get that one? :)

3 - to keep your scissors sharp, cut through a piece of foil

EMAIL ENTRIES

By Carol G (25th Jan @ 20:43 - Entry No.4)