Challenge #11 - Favourites of 2009

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are recovering! Many thanks for your entries for our previous sketch challenge, such beautiful works! Its been a busy hectic time for everyone so I thank you for taking the time to join us! Also a big thank you to Debbie Dolphin for being our special guest and to Donna's Den of Crafts for the £10 voucher!

As we had a very quiet week as did most of blogland I'd like to award the Top 3 to ALL entrants because I know how hectic it was and as a thank you for taking time out to join us so that is...

Vicky, Cheryl, Kazabing, Caro, Beverley, Susan & Sue! Well Done ladies x

Donna's also shown me a new toy so I'm using it for the first time now :D

The winner of Donna's Den voucher is....CHERYL!

Please email me so I can arrange your voucher x

There were 7 items in your list. Here they are in random order:
cheryl
sue
vicky
susan
beverley
kazabing
caro
Timestamp: 2009-12-30 00:24:17 UTC

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CHALLENGE 11 - FAVOURITES OF 2009

This challenge is to think about what you've used this year, what has been your favourite products and/or techniques and more importantly why so please create something using products or techniques new to you this year. You can use one favourite or several the choice is yours but please do tell us which it is and why you think its the bees knees :)

Now if you're anything like me you may not have bought the item this year, it may have been in stash for a while until rediscovered and its become a new best friend!

Please post links to your entries in the comments box below by Monday 11th January 2010 at 12pm GMT.

We are sponsored again by Joanna Sheen who has such a huge assortment of craft items to suit all tastes in her online shop. Her newest items are more colours of memento inkpads, essential if santa brought you promarkers or copics! Meltdust powders and papers which is a fabulous new product for embossing computer printed images, I soooooo want some of these! There are lots of new CD's, the new promarker starter sets and the sought after Martha Stewart punches, go check them out!

Our ladies have been busy bees over christmas but have squeezed in some time to produce some creations for you for this challenge so thank you ladies for your time and wonderful creations x

Jack

This simple card uses a new stamp I've got which came in a set from Kodomo called Birds. I love these stamps they are so detailed (and cheap, Lol). I have stamped it with Brilliance Black, mounted it on silver and then layered it onto a piece of white card I ran through my faithful Cuttlebug with the Birds and Swirls folder. All is then mounted on a white card blank. The sentiment is a peel-off stuck onto a piece of silver card. As that cute little lemur says - simples!

Joy

I used a pale cream coloured card which had a wavy side which is narrower on the front than the back, I added a silver Oval shape which had a similar wavy edge using double sided tape, and having used two of the circular flower stamps which I had bought from Studio24 and coloured them using watercolour pencils I stuck them onto the card using foam pads, finally I added some yellow stars on the inside of the card.

Judie

Well, this challenge was a good one, use your fav thing of 2009, mine without a doubt is my rippy ruler - I have used this so so much - so i have used two different baking papers which have been ripped with my faithful friend, A tilda image used, and some birthday ribbon, i have added some beads to give it a bit of bling as this is my sons girlfriends 18th birthday card. Thanks for looking everyone. Enjoy yourself xx

Julie

I decided to make this challenge using the promarkers I got for Christmas this year, I have also used the gorgeous brads and jewels I received from secret Santa!! The main technique of the card is matting and layering which is my favourite and the image is stamped and coloured using the promarkers (need a bit of practice !!) I added the brads and jewels for extra effect.

Lisa

I've had lots of favourites this year - as I only started stamping earlier on in the year a lot of things have been 'new favourites' for me too, so it took me a while to decide what I'd use for this card! I've been quite hooked on Digistamp Boutique images so I chose one of their new ones, coloured with my favourite promarkers. The papers are Doodlebug, with DCWV cardstock. I've used some Green Tara flowers with a little button centre, and added a little butterfly sticker (mounted onto acetate and cut out) in the opposite corner. The fancy frame is made with Nellie Snellen circle dies, which have been a bit of an obsession for me for the last couple of months!

Mandy

The favourite products I have used for this card are Clare Curd papers from Papermania and the Cuttlebug Butterflies dies. I have wanted those forever and have used them loads. The dotty texture used here is my favourite and looks great when used with sanded cardstock to distress it. Of course bling in any guise is a must too :). The central panel on this card was made by scoring a grid pattern and sewing a small bead at each intersection. It took ages to do but the results were amazing and worth the effort for a special card.

Vix

My favourite things for 2009 and also new to me were copics (May) and promarkers (August) and digital stamps (about the same time) and also the large bead caps used as flower centres, K&Co papers, beads and charms.
Image is Summer Fairy by The Greetings Farm coloured with copics and promarkers. I love the pastel green shades. Papers are K&Co sweet stack and My Minds Eye. The swirly stamp I've had for at least 3 years but its only got a run out this year and I used cut n dry foam to colour round the image with heritage shimmer inks, again I've had these years but only come out to play this year. The mulberry flowers and the beady strand I've also had at least 5 years or more but have had a new lease of life thanks to Tab Robinsons beautiful use of them on her blog. Sticky gems are my personal favourite and I use them on most cards! The big flowers I got from port sunlight show in October :)

Now may I have the pleasure of introducing our special guest designer for this challenge which is Vicky from Kip's Cards!

Vicky is a regular player on our challenges and keeps catching my eye not only for her beautifully creative work but also the photography surrounding the creation too, that is as much of a pleasure to look at as the card itself! Hop over to her blog and see more of her stunning creations, you wont be disappointed! Vicky also posts up tutorials from time to time so well worth checking back to see whats new! Thank You Vicky for being our special guest!

SPECIAL GUEST DESIGNER - VICKY - KIP'S CARDS

I started card making about three year's ago... I learned all my technique's from watching Create and Craft, I am a addict stamper and love all the programmes that involved stamping,and this challenge is about our favourite product's for this year and that for me is Copic Pen's... They have given me so many more option's...and make matching my project's so much easier... They take some practice, but since finding blogland, I have learned so much more...

EMAIL ENTRIES

By Rachel H

Thank You for entering this sweet card Rachel and I love the 3d flowers!

Challenge 10 - A sketch

Gosh thank you for all your fabulous entries for our previous challenge, what a wonderful array of colours and stamps and many many thanks to Jo Capper-Sandon for being our special guest designer, do pop over to her blog as its always packed with fantastic creations & great ideas.

Also thank you once again to the delightful Joanna Sheen for sponsoring us again!

A bit later than expected as I've had FLU! OMG I havent had a flu in years just bad colds so I've been behind on visiting everyones blogs and posting winners. All done now so without further ado here's the winners....
We had 70 entries to our Alternative Xmas challenge and the voucher winner is...

18 - CraftyC (Claire)

Well Done Claire, please email me your details to have the voucher sent to you x

Winners of the Top 3 blinkies chosen by the team go to.....

Chelsea - Crafting Life's Pieces

Dawn - Craft Addiction

Cheryl - Ch3rrie's Creations

Well Done ladies, such a varied choice this time too! Please grab yourself a Top 3 blinkie from the sidebar, lovely work x

Just a quick note about entry comments. I've had to change the settings to blog owner approval because of spam being posted on the last challenge twice and I can't approve comments until I'm on my lappy usually after the kids go to bed (late!) at night! So don't worry if it doesnt appear straight away, just check the next day as it should be there then.

We're sponsored for this challenge by Donna's Den of Crafts and have a £10 gift voucher to spend in her online shop. Donna's Den stocks a range of items including brand names like Smirk, DCWV, Dovecraft and My Craft Studio, with lots of little treasures and goodies to be found. Pop over to have a look!

Donna also runs a challenge blog exclusively for Mens/Boys cards. We all have to do them sometime and she has a fabulous design team with tons of inspiration. Cards for Men challenge blog is here.

CHALLENGE 10 SKETCH

Onto Challenge 10 which is a delightful sketch by our DT member Jenny. Remember sketches are open to interpretation so I'd also like to see some spins on it! If you've never done a sketch before then there is a tutorial here. Debbie our special guest had never done one either and has aced it so have a go with nothing to fear :)

I hope you have a lot of fun with this sketch as we have and thank you to our Design Team for all the hard work, time and effort they put into making this blog and to our special guests who willingly share their time and skills with us. Have a very Merry Christmas everyone and we'll be back on Dec 28th (Also my birthday yay!) with our next challenge.

Here's what our Design Team have created for this challenge. Thanks very much ladies and have a lovely Christmas x


Judie

I have used different coloured pink squares, attached some acetate for the middle square and two different sized circles, i have added the letters to spell girl around the card. I have used my distress ruler to add a bit of depth to the card. Enjoy everyone

Julie

I started with a blank square card, cut the mirror card to size and stuck onto the card added the strips of messages. I then used some snow effect 3D card which I have had for a while the 3d effect does not show very well. Not having a circle cutter I cheated a little and drew around a roll of double sided tape to cut out the larger of the two circles, I then mounted the circle picture that I had chosen. I finished off with the sentiment and some gems.

Lisa

Mandy

I used the sketch as a layout inspiration for an A5 card. The base was made from an A4 sheet chocolate coloured cardstock with papers from Basic Grey Cupcake pack.
The matted layers were cut using Nestabilities dies. The stamped image is from Lili of the Valley and is the perfect image for my car game mad hubbie's birthday card. I have coloured the image with Promarkers and Sakura pens
The gift parcel in the top corner is a cardstock sticker from the paperpack. The sentiment in the bottom corner is a Letraset rub on and I have added Stickles glue to add some highlights to the patterned paper.

Rose

I used Prickley Pear Rubber stamps for my images and Melissa Frances paper. I glittered up the image the Poinsetta image after I colored it with Prismacolor Markers. I sprayed the entire card lightly with Gold Glimmer Mist.

Vix

For this sketch I've used an image by The Greetings Farm called Summer Fairy. I coloured with promarkers and much use of the blender for lighter shades and a copic spica glitter pen on the wings then used heritage shimmer ink in light and mid blue around the image and edges then very gently with a black brilliance blending in towards the centre. This was mounted on silver paper and like Julie I don't own nesties etc so used a CD as a stencil instead :) The image itself holds a flower so I've added a flora doodles one with a large bead cap, a spacer and a crystal gem brad through the centre to add more dimension with 2 small chains and a glass heart bead and made with love charm. (Tip: If you struggle to get the brad through the bead caps give it a nip with a cropodile or very gently twist the brad till it goes through)

The 4 squares backing paper is a printout from designer extreme vol 3 and I added a square of blue card beneath the circle that matches the base card and stamped around the corners with a star stamp from Tracey Coates' butterfly beauties sheet. The sentiment is from Tracey's Starburst Fairies.


Now may I have the pleasure of introducing our special guest for this challenge, Debbie Dolphin! Debbie has a project in the current issue of craft stamper magazine which is also a great idea for those last minute gifts. She is lucky enough to work at The Stampman and has produced some beautiful designs using their stamps, hop over to her blog and check them out!

SPECIAL GUEST DESIGNER - DEBBIE DOLPHIN

My name is Debbie Dolphin. I am married with two kids, a boy of 13 and a girl 10. I have from a very early age been interested in crafts, being the daughter of a Brownie Leader! I just love things that are handmade. It was probably about 10 years ago now that I walked into The Stampman in Skipton where I saw a man demonstrating with Gold powder and a heatgun and was just gobsmacked with the results and have been hooked ever since. I just couldn't keep away from the place and have worked for them for the last 7 years. I love it though unfortunately I tend to spend my wages there most weeks. No wonder they offered me a job!! hee hee

Recently I have featured in the latest copy of Craft Stamper which has been something I have always wanted to do.