Missing you!

Hubby and I are rarely apart, but next time we are, I'm going to send him this card that uses the wonderful 50's Lilith from Tickled Pink Stamps. I made it today for the following challenges:
Lil Lolita Boutique - sketch for challenge 12
Fashionist Friday - pale blue, mid green and dark green
Pile It On - Goodbye/missing you card
Crazy 4 Challenges - lattice
Bee Crafty - anything goes
Cute Card Thursday - no die cuts or punches. I know digital cards don't actually use any bladed instrusments anyway, but I made sure that there were no fancy shapes in this one that would have had to be cut with a die cut or punch, it's all stright edges and right angles :)
Corrosive Challenges - For the guys
Stampin' Royalty - Mostly monochrome
Etsy Inspired Challenges - be inspired by something from The Caged Fairy I was spoiled for choice, as I love the funky bits in here, but in the end I narrowed it down to using the colours and flowers from this piece, the fleur de lis (fleur de lisses?) from here and here, and the skulls from this piece, this piece, this piece, and this piece.

Cute, in a creepy kind of way

I think this is possibly my favourite type of card at the moment, creepy cute is such a fab term for it, I think; stuff that's fun and cute, but also just a little bit dark ;)
It's Monday again, and you know what that means, right? It's time for another Macabre Monday challenge over at Haunted Design House, and this week's theme is Creepy Cute. And, as if the challenge itself wasn't enough, we're also sponsored by Tiddly Inks this week, so you have the chance to win some fab images. I used the beautifully sweet and cute Home Sweet Home image and the moon from the Twisted Tree and Silver Moon set from Tiddly Inks, the paper is one I made a while ago but haven't put in a set yet, and the cat and the sentiment are both by me.
These are the other challenges that I'm entering with this card:
The Burtonesque Dolls - Vincent. Vincent is a poem and film by Tim Burton, you can read the poem HERE and see the film HERE
And, just because I could, I wrote a short parody or addition to the poem, on which my card is based:

When Sir Spiffington Fitch, his sister's cat,
Began to see what Vincent was at,
The purrs all stopped; Sir Spiff was suspicious.
He ended his daydream of catnip and fishes.
He said "Vincent is messing with darkness and zombies.
Just look what he did to the mutt Abercrombie."
But kitties are wise, much smarter than dogs,
And the pond in the garden was teeming with frogs.
So Sir Spffington Fitch, a wily sort,
Snuck out in the moonlight, and look what he caught!
A bucket of tadpoles, a whole slimy nation
So Vincent wouldn't need cats for experimentation!

Riley and Co. - create a scene. I wasn't really sure whether this would count, since I ended up giving each of the images their own background, but the house the moon and the cat and the bats are all meant to be a scene together.
For Fun challenges - ribbon and lace. I started with white lace, coloured it pink and then layered it on top of a black ribbon.
Pixie Cottage Challenge #33 - I used the sketch
WildFlower Wednesday - black and white. Most of my card is monochrome, but I have used splashes of pink and green as well.
Off the Wall Challenge #22 - be inspired by the colours in this photo:

Aud Sentiments - anything goes
Raise the Bar - any type of home, dwelling, house, any type of living area
Tuesday Taggers - be inspired by a poem
DezinaWorld - black and white with a splash of colour

I went cute! :P

This is my last DT project for the OSAAT challenge blog; while it's been fab, and everyone there is lovely, it's all gotten a little too big for me, so it's time to move on. Please continue to lavish love and praise on all the other DT lovelies over there, and keep a lookout for all sorts of fun things they have planned.
The theme this week is "Girly" and I got to work with Angela's (Toucan Scraps) lovely set called It's a New Day, which you can buy in the Stitchy Bear store HERE. The image is one that I won a few weeks ago from Soft Pencil and I coloured it to match the set.

These are the other challenges that I had in mind when making it:
Sew Many Challenges - Happy birthday
Simon Says Stamp - paper piecing. The mother kitty's dress is the same as the pink backing paper.
Your Next Stamp - bright summery colours
Make Up for the Weekend Challenge 40 - birthday card
Stampin' for the Weekend - anything goes
Penny's Challenge - pink and green
What If Wednesday - sketch A2510
Stamp with Fun - card for a girl
Kah-Wink-E-Dink - birthday card
Party Time Tuesday - birthday card for a child
Flutterby Wednesday - open, must have fairy butterfly or angel
Oh Alice! - card for a little gitl
Challenge Up Your Life - birthday celebrations
Bee Crafty - anything goes

The children are our future . . .so beware!

Well, it's Monday and that means it's time for some more Macabre Mayhem over at the Haunted Design House blog. This week's Macabre Monday challenge is called "Pink on the Brink" and we want to see some pink on your cards.

You are to create a dark, Gothic, or Halloween page, project or card using pink in an edgy and dark way. Edgy & pink... what puts you on the brink? The brink of insanity... the brink of catastrophe... the brink of death?

AND we have a sponsor this week; you could win some Tickled Pink goodies!
My card uses the fabulous Willow from the Lil Lolita range at Tickled Pink, and the sentiment is by Crafty Chaos Designs (me :P) The roses around the edge actually started as one of the papers from my Halloween Bride set, but then I got rid of all the colour and added extra black. Anywhooo, these are the challenges that I'm entering with this card:
Lil Lolita Boutique - A rose is a rose . . .
Tickled Pink Monthly Challenge - followed the sketch
Wildflower Wednesdays - polka dots
Pixie Dust Studio - lots of dots
Aud Sentiments - anything goes
Crafty Sentiments - Monochrome with a hint of one colour. Now, in this case, I took Monochrome to mean "black grey white", rather than "all the same shade". I'm not entirely sure that's correct, but I had fun and I love the end result, so all is good :)

Wanna play?

Lol, I've been having fun today, here's what I came up with when I combined a whole bunch of challenges. The image is a Kenny K digi called Lady Raven, the lace is from DezinaWorld, and the sentiment is by Crafty Chaos Designs (that's me :P)
Think Ink - Bling it on baby!
My Time to Craft - glitter and glitz
Penny's Challenge - pink and green
Craft Your Passion - anything goes
Kenny K's challenge - followed the sketch
Just Us Girls - lime, hot pink and teal
Drunken Stampers - Diva!
Oh Alice! - Bling + photo inspiration. The photo is of a fab necklace in shades of pink blue and green with multiple chains, hence the colours on mine and all the chains too. I also dip-dyed the bottom of her hair into a reddish shade, same way as the ribbon in the photo :P
Stamp It Crazy - girl with attitude
Creative Card Crew - sparkle and shine
A Crafty Little Place - blue pink green
My Time to Craft - glitter and glitz
Paperplay - pink
Stampin' for the Weekend - anything goes
Stamp Something - use something digi
Paper Cutz - anything goes
Craftalicious - pearls and swirls
ResQ challenges - What's therapeutic for you? Colouring in digitally, making my own papers, making something that's just a little bit dark but also funny, and combining lots of challenges.

At the beach

This card uses an image and several seashells from the new Beach Set available at DezinaWorld, and, lol, although I live by the coast, with the recent weather, our beach is pretty much damp and grey rather than sunny and yellow, so the sentiment seemed appropriate :P
These are the challenges I'm entering:
Corrosive Challenges - faux technique. Hmmm, I don't really know if this counts as a technique as such, but the blue bp is my version of alcohol ink, done digitally. What do you think?
Die Cut Dreams - use a tag and no stamping
ABC Challenge - B is for blue. I'm not quite sure that I've got the full 80% blue, but it must be close I think :)
Wildflower Wednesday - polka dots
Verona's Saturday Challenge - polka dots
Ellephantastic Challenge - shabby chic
Cards and Things - followed sketch 45
Sentimental Sundays - sentiment plus ribbon or lace

Break the rules!

This is my DT piece for Haunted Design House's 52nd Macabre Monday challenge, and the lovely Barb at Stamp It Crazy has privided some fab prizes, so pop along and see what it's all about ;)
The challenge this week is to use a minimum of 3 stamps on your piece. I've used Wonda the Witch and 3 Big Cats by Stamp It Crazy. (I shrunk the cats, I LOVE being able to re-size digi stamps) and the sentiment is one of a brand new set by me, which should be available in my shop very soon. (ETA - they're in there now, click here to see)
AND there's a little bit of a treasure-hunt thing going on, you have to collect some random factoids, so here's mine: Hubby and I got married to "It's the End of the World As We Know It" by REM.
These are the other challenges that I was aiming for when I made this (and, despite the title, I think I've followed the rules on all of them :P)
Tuesday Throwdown - spotlighting. I haven't used this technique before, but I'm really pleased with the way the cats and the witch's head are "show-cased" :)
Delightful Sketches - animals or insects, and dots and stripes
My Partner in Crafting Crime - teenage, breaking rules seems to fit this perfectly. And, a story about my teenage years *grimaces* Umm, I just can't, sorry, but here's a teenage story that made me smile:

A mother passing by her son's bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then she saw an envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to 'Mom' . With the worst premonition, she opened the envelope with trembling hands and read the letter.

Dear Mom,
It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with you and Dad.
I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice. But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercing, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is much older than I am. But it's not only the passion...... Mom she's pregnant. Stacy said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children.
Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone. We'll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people that live nearby for cocaine and ecstasy. In the meantime, we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better. She deserves it. Don't worry Mom. I'm 15 and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure that we will be back to visit so that you can get to know your grandchildren.

Love,
Your son, Jonathan

P. S. Mom, none of the above is true. I'm over at Tommy's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the report card that's in my center desk drawer.
I love you.

Call me when it's safe to come home.

When I originally read this, it was a letter from a daughter, not a son, but the gist is the same :)

Crafty Catz - Animals
Stamp Something - fairy tales. What's a fairy tale without a wicked witch? :P
Craft Your Days away - favourite things. The favourite's I've included with this piece are: cats, crafting digitally, making ad hoc backing paper, darker stuff with a twist of humour, and combining lots of challenges :D
Drunken Stampers - cats
Whimsical Ink Soroity - polka dots
By the Cute and Girly - animal antics
Smeared and Smudged Rock n Rolla challenge - be inspired by Kerli's Tea Party video. I went for tut's, attitude, and the gorgeous black and red colour scheme featured in parts of the video.
And, two new challenge blogs for,
Unscrpited Sketches - I followed sketch 68
Etsy Inspired - be inspired by an item in Lover Dovers Etsy shop. I immediately loved her little black and red polka dot tutu, just fabulous!

Insects? Oh dear! :P

I noticed that there are a few bug/insect-themed challenges around at the moment, and I recently won this fab digi from Limited Runs, isn't he cute? I love the shabby patched-look of him. And I thought to myself, hmmmm, those button eyes look quite insect-y, how about if I draw some bug antennae on? And then I couldn't think of a sentiment, but when "Bugs and Hisses" instead of "Hugs and Kisses" popped into my mind, I knew he had to have a forked tongue as well :P The bp is from my Velvet Descent set and the sentiment is computer-generated.
These are the challenges:
Corrosive Challenges - sketch 76 (I used paint splats instead of the stars :P)
Sentimental Sundays - anything goes (must have sentiment)
Incy Wincy Designs - It's a bug's life
PearTree Designs - Male theme. I think this would be perfectfor boys at that age where they're still so cute that you want to pick them up and plant a big lipsticky smooch on their cheeks, but old enough that they'll get embarrassed by any show of affection. :D
A Crafty Little Place card challenge - use a tag
Color Throwdown - always artichoke, elegant eggplant, soft suede
Penny's Challenges - anything goes
Crafts and Me - purple and green
C.R.A.F.T. - insects
Crafty Sentiments - distressing

Vintage child

This piece uses one of the new collage sheets at DezinaWorld, called Children Roundies, and the frame and bgs are also from DezinaWorld sheets as well. And don't forget that June has a new challenge over on the blog, this week's theme is Bronze, so pop along and enter and you could win some fab new images to play with :)
I made this one for the following challenges:
Sweet Sketch Wednesday - followed sketch 62
Crazy Amigos - free theme

Another card in shades of teal

I think I've fallen in love with a new colour for me, lol, can you tell?
This time the female and the wings came from Outlaw by Design and I've used my Broken Dreams paper set again.
The theme this week over at Haunted Design House's Macabre Monday challenge is Netherworld Nymphs, so we want to see all your fabulously wicked and dark diva creatures. As Barb put it:

feminine nature spirits from the darkside. Goddess, sprite, mermaid, pixie, fairie or fay.

These are the other challenges that I'm entering:
Truly Scrumptious - Ch.38, sketch + golden oldie. I've had the Outlaw by Design CD for years now, and I don't use it enough, so that's my golden oldie stash.
Tuesday Throwdown - Monochrome. This is my second entry, feel free to ignore if I should only enter once :)
Simon Says Stamp - sing it baby. I was really having trouble thinking what type of sentiment would suit this image, and then the song came into my head and I knew :)
Flutterby Wednesday - your favourite colour with a fairy butterfly or angel. Now my favourite colour is purple, which is probably blindingly obvious if you look at my posts, but I have allowed this shade of deep teal to sneak up alongside purple in my "favourite colours" list. I can't say how long it will be at the top of the list, lol, purple has a tendency to sneak back into my affections whenever I use something else for a while, but for now, I'm loving teal :)
So Artful - proud as a peacock. Can you tell she's wearing peacock feathers. When I work on cards, I'm nearly always zoomed in, so I think I sometimes add details that aren't immediately obvious when you look at the card as a whole. But they are there :P
And I'm too late for both the Monochrome and the fluutterby challenge, I'm going to have to change something about the way I enter/choose challenges I think.

I keep being late . . .

Recently it seems that lots of the cards I make are too late to enter all the challenges I had planned, and this is no exception :P
I got the image to make a card for Kenny K's (On the Dark Side" challenge, but that's closed, and I'm nearly late for the sketch challenge as well, but just in time I think :P
The image is by Kenny K, one of the new Gothik Angelz set called Lady Raven, and the papers are a new set in my shop, Crafty Chaos Designs, called Broken Dreams.
So, as long as they're still open, these are the challenges that I had in mind when making this card:
Pear Tree Designs - challenge 11 sketch
Tuesday Throwdown - Monochromatic
Pixie Cottage - feeling blue
Dutch Dare - anything goes
Delightful Challenges - distressing
Alphabet Challenge - O is for ovals
Smeared and Smudged, Oh, the Horror! - Be inspired by Pan's Labyrinth. I used the colours and feel of the poster as my inspiration.

Get those sunglasses out :P

It's time for another challenge at OSAAT, and this week we'd like to see your mystical/fantasy creations. I got to work with the delicious Butterscotch Cupcake Fairy and Fairy Dust Butterfly images by Lexi's Creations, both available, along with hundreds of other fab digi downloads at Stitchy Bear Stamps store
These are the other challenges that I'm entering:
Colour Create - hot pink, warm orange and saffron
Creative Card Crew - cute and girly
Fab n Funky - spotty dotty and stretchy stripes
Penny's Challenges - anything goes
Little red wagon - circles
Creative Friday - things with wings
I Did It Creations - cute
Your Next Stamp - birthdays
Prairie Fairy Fridays - frame it in a circle
Crazy 4 Challenges - cupcake
Wee Memories - butterflies

Vintage Adventurer

The new collage set over at DezinaWorld is called Men of the World, and I decided to make a postcard with a few of the pngs included in the set. The quote is by Lloyd Alexander, and these are the challenges I made it for:
Lots to Do - the scenic route
Cards for Men - off on an adventure
Just for Fun Fridays - orange, green and brown
Sunday Postcard - patchwork. Now the maps background is a patchwork of maps, but by the time I finished adding bits and bobs on top of it I wasn't really sure that the patchwork effect was still visible, so I created the border as well :)

A film poster, sort of :P

This uses one of the limited release digis from Tickled Pink, I'm so so happy they made some digis available, as you know I am the world's worst rubber stamper. And there's some speedy blog candy to win THREE of the new digis, go see Stephanie's blog. It's only open for 24 hours, and I don't know when it was posted, so hurry :P
Here's what I've been workingon today, inspired by the following challenges:
Mojo Monday - sketch 150
Burtonesque Dolls - create a Victorian-style Burtonesque girl. This is a poster for Burton's (not actually made) wonderfully twisted version of Oliver Twist :P
Crafts and Me - purple and green. I knew I liked purple and green together, but when I had a look in my Colour Palettes folder, I realised I have about 35 different palettes saved and 11 of them are purple green combos :P

Pretty as a princess

I love this Tiddly Inks image, she just makes me smile so much :)
there were a few challenges that I wanted to combine, and then I gave myself an extra challenge of making three different cards to fit all the challenges.
So, here's the first, I followed the sketch at Dare You To Digi Stamp for challenge 43:

For this second one I followed the current sketch over at One Stitch At A Time (I'm on the DT, so just entering for fun, not for prizes)


And for my third one, I used the sketch over at Friday Sketchers, No. 113


Now (hopefully) all three cards should be eligible for the following challenges, so just pick your favourite :P
Stamp Insanity - Pink and black for a cure
Fussy and Fancy - pink and black for a cure
These two blogs are teaming up for this challenge, and they have a very important message, please go read and do what you can to help. :)
Allsorts - Dressing Up
Tuesday Taggers - lots of lovely black
Pollycraft - fit for a princess
Tiddly Inks - fit for a princess
Daring Cardmakers - it's a girl thing (These will be one each for my sister, my sister-in-law, and a dear friend)
Cupcake Craft Challenge - distressing
Timeless Flourishes - no embellishments
Creative Card Crew - cute and girly. Well, they may be a bit shabby/grunged/distressed, but there's lots of pink for girly and the image is definitely cute ;)
Simon Says Stamp - going dotty
One Stop Crafts - Patterns. They all have patterns in somewhere, but I think the last one is probably the best for this one, as I went a bit mad colouring all the dots in :P Actually, I just checked and they all have the same polka dot pattern in, that changes colour depending on the background, just at different sizes.

Kitties are a girl's best friend :P

I've had fun playing around with this today. There were a few challenges I wanted to combine, and between them they led to this card. Here are the challenges:
Simply Betty - Teenage Best Friend
The Pixie Cottage - sketch 28 and/or two different stamps. I did both this week - Lola (the girl) comes with her own pet rat but I wanted a kitty for this one, so I used Lili the cat as my second stamp
Crazy Challenges - olive fuschia teal. Now when I first read these colours, I have to admit that I pulled a face, it sounded like a dreadful mix. And then I saw how beautifully the DT had combined those colours to make their own creations, so thanks very much for your inspirational work ladies :D
Die Cut Dreams - gingham
Creative Inspirations Wednesday - animals
Charisma Cardz - something with a tail
Crafty Sentiments - two embellishments or two types of embellishment. One flower and some brads are mine, lol, this was tough for me. And although the flower is layered, each layer is the same shape just coloured and sized differently, and the centre of the flower is the same as the brads, lol, I know it doesn't make any difference but it pleased me :P

Winged Monsta

I'm rushing to write this as I think the Scrappin' With I Did It Creations challenge is closing in a matter of minutes, and I wanted to get this piece in. The kitty is one of my crew, she's called Monsta, and it suits her :P The papers are from my Gothic Bruise set, and I gave her a turquise tint and created the wings from her fur in PSP.
I created this LO for the following challenges:
Haunted Design House Macabre Mondays - Foul Flutterings (something with wings)
Scrappin' With I Did It Creations - Fantasy
The Pink Elephant - Scrap challenge 18, use the sketch LO and colour scheme aqua black and white.
Mission to Create - Challenge 22, my concepts are: beads, wings and hand-drawn journalling lines. How can I call the lines hand-drawn when I did the LO digitally? Well, I loaded up the paintbrush with the colour I wanted and then turned off all the tools and actions that would have measured the lines and made them all symmetrical and parallel and straight and just smooshed my mouse across where I wanted the lines to be :P
Inspiration Avenue - out of this world/fantasy/sci-fi
Three Muses - odd bird. Im not sure if this qualifies because a cat with wings would indeed be an odd "bird" or just because, even for a cat, Monsta is odd. She will open all the doors she can overnight. We leave all the actual doors open anyway, but she will go around and nose further open any that she feels are too narrow, but she also opens cupboard doors, especially in the kitchen. We've had to put child locks on the fridge, freezer and food cupboards to stop her leaving those wide open and/or raiding the contents. She will also meow on command and falls asleep on top of doors or thin radiators or windows.
Kah-Wink-E-Dink - anything goes, as long as it's cool
Creative Inspirations - animals
Charisma Cardz - something with a tail
Creative Friday - things with wings