CHALLENGE 25 - A PHOTO INSPIRATION CHALLENGE

Wow! Thank You for your awesome entries for the Inky Fingers challenge! Lots of folk milling around with various coloured hands lol! A quick thank you to The Stampman for sponsoring us and to Pauline for being our GDT and Kim Reygate for being our special guest. We will announce the winners on or around 25th July. A quick note also that The Stampman have a brand new challenge blog starting soon you'll find here.

Before we move onto the challenge I'd like to explain the huge changes taking place as of today. We have doubled the team size and will now be WEEKLY! Well as we're Crafty Cardmakers and tend to be a bit off road sometimes that will be weekly with a difference!

Here's how it will work!

We will post our regular challenge every other Monday as normal, you will still have 2 weeks to enter. Some of the team will show examples of their work for the challenge.

The following Monday the team will be doing a SPOTLIGHT. We may cover a style, technique, product, something specific. Now we will also be following the challenge previously posted but you may choose to do that too or have a go at just the spotlight.

For example next weeks spotlight will be on easel cards, the team have based their easels on the photo inspiraton challenge. You may choose to do this too in which case you can enter your easel into both weeks or you can enter any other easel into the spotlight only. You will also have 2 weeks to enter this until the next spotlight.

**************************************************************

CHALLENGE 25 - PHOTO INSPIRATION

We can squarely blame Judie for this one!! I sent her off on a mission to find or photograph something to use for this challenge and this is what her crazy mind came up with lol!

If you've never done a photo inspiraton challenge before have a look through the DT examples. You can choose to have the colours as inspiration or perhaps the hearts or all of it. Choose one or two colours to focus on or all of them.

We are sponsored once again by the lovely Joanna Sheen who is offering a £10 voucher to use in her onlne shop which is full to the brim of lots of lovely stash including all the promarkers for us addicts! Thank You Joanna x

Lets have a look how the team have interpreted the photo! Some of the girls are having their first run out so lots of loves for them!

GUEST DESIGNER - LAURA

When I saw the photo I loved the colours and knew I wanted to include actual Love Hearts somehow. It’s my 21st in about a week and I’ve been given a Craft Robo as an early birthday present so thought it would be the perfect opportunity to put it through its paces. I did a quick sketch of what I wanted to create then drew the shapes in Inkscape and cut them on the Robo. After assembling the pieces using a Treat Cup from Stampin’ Up I decorated with glitter,ribbon and tiny sequin hearts.

Cath

The text (US Artquest) was stamped on glossy card with Versamark ink to get a resist effect, then heat set, followed by sponging Adirondack Meadow and Pool inks all over, then stamping the text randomly with each colour. The flourish and flowers are part of the stamp, so the little girl (Lost Coast Designs) was stamped in Permanent ink, then again on white matte card, cut out, coloured with Promarkers and the two inks, then glued her over the top of the stamped image. The flowers were coloured with Gel pens and embossed, the wings glitter glazed. The words (Paper Inspirations) were stamped on white card, cut out, layered onto black card, then attached randomly, with heart brads and gems to complete the theme.

Ei

Following instructions, I've taken my inspiration from Judie's photo and used all the duck-egg Love-Hearts from five packs (...someone ate all the others...!), a piece of Laura Ashley drawer-liner punched with a Martha Stewart border punch, topped with some Victorian wallpaper (the design, not the actual wallpaper...!) and Nestabilities Pendant die-cut. I finished it off with a MS Filigree heart punchie over a scrap of darker duck-egg paper and a small ribbon bow and silvertone heart charm.
Smells divine...!

JOY

I used a white square card and using foam pads I fixed a coloured heart in each corner, adding another four smaller hearts under each one, I then added a circle in the centre on which I had fixed another for smaller hearts and then put a red flowery shape in the centre of it. All of the hearts are all either textured or have patterns on them which I like as I decided that it gave a bit of extra interest to the whole design. Although in fact it didn't work out the way I had thought about doing in the first place I do like the way that it's turned out.

Judie

I took the whole gazibo !!! The colours, the Hearts and the words, cus im greedy !!! My is a Photo frame not a card this time. I have used Olive and Blueberry Autumn inks and Vintage inks mixed with micra powders to get the effect I wanted. Stamped on the hearts with the same inks but not mixed. Sprayed the flowers as well and added some beads.

Mandy

I immediately knew I wanted to use some mega cute Quickutz dies I have had for a VERY long time and I am ashamed to admit I have until now NEVER USED THEM!!
Papers are the new Papermania Summer Blooms. I used my ever faithful Martha Stewart Doily punch to cut the 'ribbon' and used a small magenta ink pad to distress the edges of all the papers and elements. The Forever Friends bear is a clear sticker. Last but not least I added some FF message stickers from Papermania which I coloured with a pink Promarker to the inside of the card.

Lin

I took my inspiration from both the colours and the theme of the photo. The image is a combination of Stampavie's A kiss for Chloé which I stamped first, masked and then stamped Magnolia's Love Hearts and Banner. Coloured with my prismas and OMS, apart from the skin which I did with promarkers. Background papers - Nitwit's Joyful Hearts Digikit, and Basic Grey's Kioshi, and the borders are made with a MS punch. Little bit of ribbon, and a heart embellishment for the middle and two decorative filigree metal corners to finish it off. No flowers again. I must be cured, lol.

Melly

I was really stuck with what to do with the colours from the pic, but after seeing the new papers from docrafts I was all set! I used the new Summer Bloom range of papers adding ink to the edges to bring through the lime and blue colours. I made a tent card from A4 card and covered in the paper, cut out centre with my nesties. Layered the centre and added wee rings bits so it can swing. Finished with "MUM" and lilies as its for my Mother-in-Law. some gloss and glitter to finish.

Fiona

I took inspiration from both the colours and the hearts from the photo. The image is a stamp from Victoria Case,I have coloured it with ProMarkers.I have used digital paper from Pink Petticoat for my background.To make sure it matched perfectly I opened the Inspiration photo in Paint and used the colour picker tool and picked the colour from the photo.I then used this colour to paint my Paper.The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards and the pearls,ribbon and charm are from my stash.

Josephine

I used the colours from the photo inspiration and added some hearts too. I used 'Red Hearts' by Ching Chou Kuik/Sweet Pea Stamps, and coloured her with Promarkers. The background papers were designed in Photoshop Elements to match the Promarker colours. I also used a Martha Stewart border punch, and finished the card with some flowers - either a gift from a crafty friend or in the case of the rose, made from scratch - punched leaves, a little Stickles and a butterfly!

Jack

I loved the photo inspiration and decided to go with the colour theme for my card. The stamp is from PaperArtsy Asian Plate 2 on a background made with Brilliance Inks (and an extra bit of blue brushed on the flowers). The larger bg is brayered (Big & Juicy Waterfall) with a leaf from Elusive Images Tall Trees plate embossed in white. Found a bit of ribbon and this curly thing when I tidied my Craft room and thought they went perfectly.

Corry

If you are anything like me, I never know what exactly to take away from photo/color inspiration challenges, but I try my darndest anyways! Image is from Prairie Fairy Designs & is called Daisy Fairy. I printed her twice & cut her out with my craft knife for a layered effect (thus the shadow). Hearts & tag are from pre-cut cardstock papers..... a little bit of embossing, a couple flowers, bling & lace & voila....

Jane

From the Photo Inspiration I have taken the colours & Love theme. The digi is from Bugaboo, coloured with Pastel Green & Blue ProMarkers with Sakura Glitter highlights. Their hair is coloured with silver glitter-glue & the dress has green gem spots. The backing paper & punched hearts are from the Basic Grey Kioshi collection. Sentiment is computer generated.

SPECIAL GUEST DESIGNER - LORI ARAGON - MY COMFORT COTTAGE

I spotted Lori's work through her entering challenges here and thought I'd ask her to be a special guest because her work is simply stunning. It has such a beautful feel to it, well planned, well coloured and with helpful write ups and ingredients lists. She is on several design teams including CLP which have some of the best designers on the planet. Pop over to Lori's blog for a real treat of such beautiful designs and pick up some helpful tips on how she makes them along the way :) Thank You Lori x

Remember you still have 2 weeks to enter but pop back to join in the spotlight next week too!