Catch The Bug GDT: Photo Challenge

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

I actually thought this was going to be my last post for the Catch The Bug team, but they have asked me to join their team full-time - yay!! 

Details tbc, as I am traveling from Monday for 2 weeks, but YAY!!

Today I am still with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

This week we have a photo inspiration -

But as the CTB team have been doing Christmas in July this week, I decided to use the Santa from yesterday's challenge and stick with the Christmas theme, along side the photo..

The image is Tropical Santa Buried - isn't he awesome?

I went all out here and used a background paper that I had created using an embossing folder and a diffuser plate - see the plain circle in the middle - that's one of the handy things you can do with a diffuser plate.

I die-cut the palm trees using my Silhouette Portrait and added the fun sentiment by Newton's Nook.

I LOVE this card, I might actually cut a bunch of palm trees and make a few of these for my actual Christmas cards.

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see which image you choose to use.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Christmas in July - baby it's cold outside..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

This is my penultimate post with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 4 months of GDT has flown by and it has been SO much fun, I am very sad that last week will be my last one.

This week we are kicking off the CTB team's - Christmas in July - a week of fun Christmas related challenges.

Today we are starting with -

Make a Christmas / Holiday card and use the theme 'Baby It's cold Outside'.

I love the Winter Birds and have all of them (oops) and so I chose Winter Bird Skate for my card - the cool bird wrapped in his scarf sums up 'Baby It's Cold Outside' for me! 

I coloured the image, using Promarkers. I dug out a fave snowflake embossing folder and embossed a piece of shimmery sparkly silver paper, to use as my background. To anchor my image, I added two little strips of paper, one is super glittery and sheds everywhere!

Hope you will be playing along all week!

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes and the rules for this special week.

Cx

p.s Today is also Hubby's birthday..more on that tomorrow or Monday!

Catch The Bug GDT: Use Patriotic Colours..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

I'm a teeny bit sad today, as last night was the last Craftgang craft class together for a while, as Ava is moving to Florida..

I'm still with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

This week we have a fun theme - Use Your Countries Colours.

I am English, so I could do two things - use English colours of red and white or go with United Kingdom colours of red, white and blue. I chose the latter, as the blue gave me a bit more range with my colouring.

I decided to use a favourite stamp of mine - Teacup Flowers 1 - I have totally overused this stamp since I've had it.

I coloured the flowers in red, with blue and white centres, I used blue for the teacup and I went with a bit of creative license and coloured the leaves in a different shade of blue.

I die-cut the whole panel using a stitched square die and added a red and white spotty background paper to make my image pop.

The sentiment is a freebie and I stamped it with blue ink.

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see which image you choose to use.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Anything Goes..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

My time as Guest Designer with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge is nearly over. I have had so much fun, but it's not quite over yet, I'll be here all the way through July.

This week we have everyone's fave - Anything Goes.

I love the beautiful Flower Butterfly Vase stamp, I thought it would look lovely when coloured and I wasn't wrong!

Because the stamp is so beautiful, I kept the card really simple and just added a fave Concord & 9th sentiment.

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see which image you choose to use.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Recipe Challenge Kraft + Colour Pop

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

Hubby and I will mainly be recovering today from our crazy night out last night..long overdue a night of dancing.

I'm still with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

This week we have a fun recipe challenge for you - Make it Bright - use Kraft and a pop of colour.

I love the Valentine Jar image by Bugaboo, I overuse it for Anniversary cards.

For this challenge, I coloured it in hot pinks!! Using promarkers and a spectrum noir sparkle pen, then I fussy cut it..I hate fussy cutting but I do it a lot!

I added black ink splatters to a white card blank, die-cut the pink embossed tag and added that to my card blank. The kraft tag is shop bought..because I love tags. I mounted the kraft one using foam tape and did the same for my fussy cut image.

I think I nailed the brief as the colour certainly does pop!

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see which image and colour you choose to use.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Colour Challenge..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

I'm with the Catch The Bug team again for their Saturday challenge. 

This week we have an awesome colour challenge for you -

I loved this colour palette and thought it would be perfect for the 4 block tulip square stamp - a firm fave of mine. I often make x4 card sets using it.

I kept my card super simple and just coloured it and mounted it onto a kraft card blank. Because there are Lady Birds (Lady Bugs to the American's) I added a teeny bit of red.

There is no sentiment, as I think I want to send it to my Aunt and so the sentiment might need to be very personal.

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see which Bugaboo image you choose to use.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Bugaboo Bingo...

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

I had a great week off with my Ma, back to reality sadly on Monday.

I'm still with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

This week we have bingo for you..I love a bingo challenge.

I chose to use the last vertical row - Button / Bugaboo Image / Sentiment.

I love the new Beach Duck image - not available until the 22nd of June, so this is a sneak peek for you :)

As usual, I coloured the image, using Promarkers and I used a spectrum noir sparkle pen for the darker blue stripes, so IRL you can see some shimmer.

I used a scrap of yellow paper that I thought co-ordinated well here and for some extra sparkle I added a glittery blue strip.

The button is from my VAST button collection..

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see which row you decide to use.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: June Anything Goes

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

This is my last weekend without Hubby, he'll be back on Tuesday and then my Momma arrives for two weeks on Thursday, super exciting week for me!

This is the start of my third month with the  Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

This week we have everyone's fave - Anything Goes.

One of my fave things about Bugaboo stamps is the humor in some of them, like the stamp I chose for today - Chickz - Holy Cluck :)

As always I coloured the image, using Promarkers. I used a new to me die to die-cut the image, I'm a little bit in love with this die, I bought it second-hand and I knew it would get overused. I added a sparkly strip for a bit of interest and used Nuvo glitter drops here and there on the image.

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see your makes.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Wednesday Tutorial..Lipgloss Holder

Hey,

So part of my GDT stint with the Catch The Bug team means I get to create a tutorial!

I thought it would be fun to show you a project that I make all the time and I've even made them with my non-crafty Mother!

I seriously make these little lip balm / gloss holders A LOT. They are a super easy and inexpensive little gift to give and I like to have a stash on hand.

You will need the following supplies: image, white or coloured card, colouring medium, scoring board, single hole punch, glue dots, ribbon and a lip balm / gloss (I get mine in bulk from Amazon)

Step 1 - I chose to use 'I will accept' colouring page by Bugaboo. Print it out at letter size and it should look like this -

Step 2 - Cut your 'panel's' to size. 7cm deep by 17.5cm wide.

You will also need a piece of white or coloured card (not shown) and you will need to cut that to size - 8cm deep by 17.5cm wide.

Step 3 - Colour your panels. I use Promarkers, they are my fave markers. I always choose 4 colours, no idea why, I just do and I don't colour the entire image, I like to leave some parts white. This is the fun part :) Colour your panel however you like.

Step 4 - Affix the coloured panels to your plain panel, leaving a small border either side (not shown, but you will see what this looks like in the step 5 photo).

Step 5 - Place your panel on your scoreboard. Sadly we now have to work in inches! Your panel should be 6.5inches long. You need to score at 3 inches and 3.5inches, this will leave enough space for your lip balm.

Crease at the scorelines. And it should look like this -

Step 6 - Now open up your folded panel and add two glue dots to the central panel -

and then add your lip balm / gloss.

Step 7 - Fold the 'card' so the edges meet and then using your single hole punch, punch a hole for your ribbon. It is important that you DO NOT do this step until after you have added the lip balm / gloss.

Final step - add the ribbon, tie into a bow and voila! you are finished..

Aren't they cute?

Super easy to make, but feel free to leave me a comment here or on the Catch The Bug blog if you have any questions.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: May Photo Challenge

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

Yay! It's Memorial Day weekend here and I will be hanging with my friend Lisette all weekend, as Hubby abandoned me and has gone to the UK for 2 weeks!

I'm still with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

This week we have a photo challenge for you.

I thought it would be fun to use the Knobby Knees Fairy stamp, which is one of the newer releases and I liked the 'woodland' aspect of it, matching the photo nicely.

I coloured the image, using Promarkers, in tones that match the image. It worked out really well. But then I realised, where would I add my sentiment. Then I remembered the great vertical greetings set by Stampin' Up - a perfect fit for this card.

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see how you interpret the photo.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: May Bingo Challenge..

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

Hope you are all excited for the Royal Wedding today ;)

I'm back with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

This week we have another fave challenge - Bingo

I chose the Sparkle - 2 images merged - embossing line. I really wanted to have a go at merging two images :)

I think it turned out pretty well. I merged 2 faves of mine coffee time - expresso yourself and coffee time perk up. I have an ancient version of Photoshop, so I was able to layer the 3 cups from expresso yourself behind the perk it up image..looks like 1 stamp right!

I don't think my embossing is showing so well in my photo! But I used a fave Sizzix large spots embossing folder for the blue background and the sparkle part is pretty clear!

The sentiment is from a fun set by Simon Says Stamp.

I love this card, it came out exactly as I had planned, which is always fun when it happens.

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see what line you go with.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Say it with flowers...

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

I'm back with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

This week we have a great theme.. Say it with flowers. Use flowers on your card.

The Sunbonnet Girls collection by Bugaboo is one of my fave digital stamp sets ever.. I have totally overused these stamps and saw no reason to stop now!

I chose Sunbonnet Flowers, she is actually one of my fave stamps in the set, so very versatile.

I coloured the image, using Promarkers and added some stickles to the flower centers.

I got a bit brave and die-cut my card blank using the biggest die in the oval window set by Xcut. I'm really glad I did, it worked out really well.

The sentiment is by Penny Black and I masked it off and stamped it twice, so I could create two little banners.

Hope you will be playing along too.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Anything Goes...

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

May already?! Hubby and I are celebrating 5 years in NYC this weekend in Atlantic City.

I'm still with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

This week we have everyone's fave - Anything Goes.

I thought it would be fun to use the Frog Hi stamp, it's one of the newer releases and I really like it.

I coloured the image, using Promarkers. I decided to stencil some clouds into the background and it worked out well. The cloud stencil is my fave by Dutchdoobadoo. I love their stencils.

Hope you will be playing along too. Can't wait to see which image you choose to use.

Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Catch the Bug GDT: Photo Challenge

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

I'm back with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge. 

Can't believe my April GDT stint is over, but don't worry I'll be here for another 3 months :)

This week we have a photo inspiration / colour challenge for you..

I love the Rose Flower Can stamp..infact ALL the flower can stamps are faves of mine.

I coloured the image, using the bulk of the colours, but added a grey for the watering can. I use Promarkers to colour and despite being exposed to Copics, these are still my fave alcohol markers.

I thought it would be fun to die-cut the panel that my image was on using a tag die. I love tags...

I couldn't believe my luck when I stumbled across the pretty background paper, that just so happened to have all the colours from the inspiration photo on it!

I stamped the sentiment in dark green ink onto a pink panel.

This came out far more elegantly than I had expected and as usual has already left my desk!

Hope you will be playing along too. How will you be using the colours? Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Saturday Challenge - Bingo

Hey,

Happy Saturday to you!

I'm back with the Catch The Bug team for their Saturday challenge.

This week we have a great Bingo grid for you..

I chose the first vertical line - Die/Punch / Bugaboo Image / Ribbon.

The new Flower Garden images are a lot of fun to work with and I especially liked the sentiment that comes with the set.

For my die element, I used two different sized stitched rectangle dies (MFT) for my panels - I love stitched dies, so very versatile.

The ribbon was a gift from a friend and I thought it coordinated quite well here with colours in my image and the background paper.

A lovely, elegant card, that I used to thank a friend for inviting me to an event.

Hope you will be playing along too. Which row will you choose? Upload your makes at the Catch The Bug blog and check out the rest of the DT makes.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Saturday Challenge - Rainbows and Unicorns..

Hey,

Happy Saturday!

I am back again with the Catch The Bug team for the Saturday Challenge.

This week we have a Rainbow and Unicorn theme...

I mean this is SO me.

I love the Birthday Unicorn set and had a lot of fun creating my card with it.

I printed the cupcake/cloud image onto white card and then die-cut it to shape, I liked the idea of it hanging off the edge.

I coloured and fussy cut the Unicorn holding a balloon and popped him up, so he looks like he is sitting in the clouds.

I couldn't believe my luck with the amazingly appropriate sentiment (after an extensive root through my stamp collection!).

The final touch was to mount it all on the pretty Lawn Fawn card blank.

As always this card has already left my desk and is making someone else's day magical!

Can't wait to see what you do with the theme. Be sure and check out the store and look at all the fun things the rest of the DT have made.

Please post your project to Catch the Bug, by Sat Apr 21st at  6:00 AM EST to be entered a random drawing for three digi prize packs (yay). 10 free images (using a Bugaboo image only),  seven  (7), or four (4) using any image!
 
New projects only please.

Cx

Catch The Bug GDT: Saturday Challenge Anything Goes..

Hey,

Happy Saturday everyone.

There will be two posts from me today, as I am April Guest Designer over at Bugaboo challenge blog - Catch The Bug.

Super exciting for me, as I LOVE Bugaboo Digital stamps and I am really honored to be in such talented company.

This week's challenge is Anything Goes - everyone's fave right?

I loved the new BugAKVBFlies image and it was perfectly suited to creating a square card.

I coloured the image using Promarkers and then die-cut it using a stitched square die. I die-cut a piece of purple patterned paper (that was one of the first papers I ever bought as a cardmaker!!) using the same die and arranged them jauntily!

I decided that the girl looked like she was having a fun adventure chasing butterflies and chose the sentiment stickers by Tim Holtz as my finishing touch.

Hope you are inspired to play along, go to Catch The Bug blog and upload your make.

I'll be back later with my Sketch Saturday Challenge post and back next week with the Catch The Bug team for another great challenge.

Cx