Cute and Cuddly at Ruby's Rainbow!

It's time for another new challenge at Ruby's Rainbow, and this fortnight we want to see your Cute and Cuddly projects. Now, regular visitors here may be aware that I sometimes have a slightly skewed vision of what counts as cute, but I think everyone has to agree that this little monster deinitely is, right? There's just no doubt about it, he's absolutelt adorable! He's from the Monster Mash set at Squiggle Stamps.
Here are the challenges I'd like to enter:

Some Odd Girl - sketch
Sparkles Forum Challenges - Halloween
Everybody Art - Halloween
Cupcake Craft Challenges - Halloween
Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Halloween
KB Cutie Monday - food or beverages (I'm hoping the lollipops count)
Fussy and Fancy Challenges - Halloween
C.R.A.F.T. Challenges - bright colours
The Play Date Cafe - Slime Green, Frightful Fuschia,
Putrid Purple, Black as Night (see pic on the right)
Sweet Stampin' - stitching
Drunken Stampers - Halloween
Challenge Up Your Life - Halloween

It's real, it's real!

Ok, I messed up in the post below, as I entered a challenge that doesn't accept digital creations. :( So I've spent the evening making an ATC. The papers are by Crafty Chaos Designs, and the image is by Designed 2 Delight, and it's one of the freebies available at the Progressive Challenge at CDAC.
These are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Sweet Sunday Sketches - sketch 138
CDAC Progressive Challenge 4 - Halloween or mystical using one of the free images
Sparkles Forum Challenge - Halloween
Quirky Crafts - spooky or Halloween
Cutie Sunday - Halloween
Cupcake Craft Challenges - Halloween
Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Halloween
Hooked on Crafts - anything but a card
Victorine Originals - Halloween
Crafting For All Seasons - Fall flowers or pumpkins

Thank you, with dragons!

I've just joined in the CDAC Progressive Freebie Challenge, and this is one of this month's beautiful freebies, Dragonlets and Me by Delicious Doodles.
These are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Fetch-A-Sketch - sketch
One Stitch At A Time - anything goes
CDAC Progressive Challenge - Halloween or mystical using one of the freebie images (I'm hoping the dragons make it count as mystical)
Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge - no designer paper
Squiggle Stamps - Thanks
Do You Stack Up - brown
Crafts and Me - use a digi
Little Red Wagon - thanks
Flutterby Wednesday - use a fairy butterfly or angel
Lollipop Crafts - critters
Incy Wincy Designs - being thankful
Picture Perfect Creations - wisteria, crumb cake, espresso
Totally Stampalicious - Thanksgiving or Thank you card

Terry Gilliam!

For our second challenge at Beyond the Burtonesque Dolls, we'd like you to be inspired by Terry Gilliam. There are so many of his wonderful creations to be inspired by, you'll be spoiled for choice. I immediately thought of The Fisher King, which I haven't seen for several years, but which I did watch many many times. I just love that film! So, my creation portrays the Red Dragon that chases Parry, and a quote that Parry says to Jack, and of course, some golden orbs, because it made me giggle (If you've seen the film, you'll know why, and if you haven't, go watch it :P) My dragon is by Outlaw by Design (I recoloured it and added the flames), and the paper is from Crafty Chaos Designs.
These are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Card Positioning Systems - sketch 239
Quirky Crafts - black gold and glitter
Sentimental Sundays - anything goes
Pile It On - just because
Simon Says Stamp and Show - things with wings
Crafty Boots - zoo or animal themed
My Mum's Craft Shop - all creatures great and small
Crafty Emma's Store Challenge - seeing red (literally and figuratively in my case)
Totally Papercrafts - animals

Gods and Monsters!

This week's Macabre Monday challenge at the Haunted Design House blog is "Gods and Monsters" You are to create a dark, Gothic, or Halloween-based art piece
that uses, includes or is inspired by a God and/or a Monster. I did a little bit of research and decided to portray Echidna. She was a figure in Greek mythology and became known as the Mother of Monsters, because nearly all the famous monsters in Greek mythology are her offspring. After she and her partner, Typhon, attacked Zeus in Olympia, Zeus sealed Typhon underneathe Mount Etna but allowed Echidna and her offspring to remain free, as a challenge to future heroes. Neat, huh?
Echidna herself was half-woman, half-serpent, but many of her children were either part-lion or part-dog, hence the heraldry-type image in the corner. Her choldren include Ladon, Cerberus, the Nemean Lion, the Gorgon, the Chimera, the Sphynx, the Hydra and Orthros.
I've used Medusa's Daughter by Delicious Doodles as my image and the backing paper is from the Poison Punch set at Crafty Chaos Designs.
These are the challenges I'd like to enter:
The Pixie Cottage - sketch 90
One Stitch At A Time - anything goes
Paper Sundaes - your favourite colour combo. Mine is purple and green, I love them together.
Crafts and Me - use a digi
Mami Doodles - Mother Nature. Echidna is definitely a mother and with all the various creatures in her family, plus the fact that she was the offspring of Gaia (the Earth spirit) I think she counts.
Delicious Doodles - tales of the unexpected. I'm hoping that thinking of a serpent-monster as a mother-figure is unexpected enough.
Lothian Crafts Online - anything goes
Just Tracy's Crafts - anything goes

Kitties, kitties everywhere, and one of them's bright green!

Here's a fun card I was inspired to make today by the wonderful freebie set that Ike is giving out HERE. The papers are from the Shades of Halloween set at Crafty Chaos Designs.
Here are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Smeared & Smudged Very Sketchy - October card sketch
Victorine Originals - Halloween
Crafty Boots - zoo or animal-themed
Come and Get It Challenges - Halloween
Tuesday Throwdown - Halloween
Crazy Amigos - animals
Clear It Out Tuesday - Halloween (the image is brand new but I've had the papers since last year)
Lollipop Crafts - Halloween
Stamp with Fun - Halloween
Fussy and Fancy - Fall or Halloween
Totally Papercrafts - animals
Making Halloween Cards - stripes and/or a haunted house
Meljen's Designs - Halloween
C.R.A.F.T. Challenges - bright colours
Little Miss Muffett - animals or monsters
Crafts and Me - use a digi
Repeat Impressions DCC928 Designer’s Choice Challenge - animals
Little Darlings Challenge - Fall or Halloween
2 Sisters Challenge - Halloween
Drunken Stampers - Halloween
Challenge Up Your Life - Halloween
Lothian Crafts Online - anything goes
The Queen's Royal Digi Challenge - Halloween
Creative Craft World - Halloween

Killer Pumpkin Apocalypse!

Here's a silly pumpkin card I made today. The scientist guy is from Smeared Ink and the pumpkin is a freebie from Birds Cards.
These are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Repeat Impressions - Sketch O511
Sentimental Sundays - sewing or stitching
Pile It On - make it fun (well, it makes me laugh :P)
Gingerloft - orange
Scrappy Frogs - fruit
Freshly Brewed Designs - pumpkins
Crafts and Me - use a digi
Crafting 4 All Seasons - fall flowers or pumpkins
Craft Your Passion - anything goes with ribbon
Crafty Cardmakers - anything goes
Paper Creations Inks - black and/or orange
Smudgy Antics - pivk a pumpkin or two
The Stamp Man - circles

From the Xander Zone Blog Hop and Auction

Welcome to the Xander Zone!! You are in for quite a trip through todays Blog Hop and Auction. Our dear friend Betty Roberts, owner of Simply Betty Stamps has just found out this week that her 17 year old son Christian has Stage 1 Throat Cancer. He will be having surgery next week and many months of Therapy to follow. (To read more from Betty on what’s going on please go HERE)

Betty’s DT and the Crafty Sprouts DT along with a few friends have come together today for the From the Xander Zone Blog Hop and Auction! If you are stumbling into this hop please head to Crafty Sprouts to catch the beginning of the hop!

If you hopped here from Pam then you are right on track!

As you hop along today you will see cards created with Xander, the first in a new series to be released called “From the Xander Zone”. He is available with a donation to Betty’s family. Christian will be undergoing Surgery next week to remove his tonsils and then the thrice weekly Therapy will begin on the tumor. His therapy could last for many months.

There is also a contest running through October 16^th and Christian will pick a random winner who will receive the whole collection! The details on the contest are at the SBS blog.

As you hop today you will also see many cards and projects up for Auction. In order to make a bid on an item leave a comment on that person’s blog with your offer AND your name and email address. Please remember that it might not be you who gets the winning bid, so check back if you really want it!

At the end of the Hop (Tuesday night October 11^th at 9pm EST the auction will come to a close. Winners will be sent a paypal invoice and the Winners will be announced on the Simply Betty Stamps blog. Please note that we are asking for timely payment, with 48 hours of the announcement on Tuesday morning or the runner up will be chosen. This is for the simple fact that Betty’s family needs this money as quickly as possible for all of these unexpected and out-of-pocket needs.

I've made a card featuring two of the Xander Zone characters, Xander and Cece. Cece is originally holding a lollipop but I covered that with a sign saying "Christian roolz" The papers are from the Secret Forest set at Crafty Chaos Designs.And up for auction today to help raise money for Betty and her family, I'm auctioning off my ENTIRE SHOP CONTENTS!!!!!!! This includes every single item that's in the shop today (6th October) but not anything that isn't actually released yet, sorry. The auction for this is open to international bidders, as no physical items will need to be shipped. You'll get 69 PAPER SETS, plus a few digital stamps and several packs of sentiments to download. Worth a buck or two? I sure hope so! All the money will go straight to Betty and I'll send you a link to download your products as soon as I've heard that you've paid. Please make any bids in USD, to avoid me having to try and convert different currencies to work out which is the highest bid. If two people make the same highest bid, the winner will be the one who posted first. If you'd like to make a bid for this, please leave a comment with your name, email and bid amount. The auction will end Tuesday October 11th at 9pm EST, I'll get in touch with the winning bidder, then Betty will send you a Paypal invoice and as soon as I know that's been paid, I'll make your downloads available. There is NO minimum bid, so, whatever the amount, the highest bid will win the entire shop contents. You can have a look at what's in store, to see what you're bidding for, HERE, or by clicking the badge in my sidebar.

From here please hop over to the last stop on the hop, which is Simply Betty Stamps.

If you get lost along the way, here’s the hop order!

Crafty Sprouts

Cyndi

Kristi

Suzi

Zeni

Wendy

Rebecca

Vicki

Alison

Raven

Lea

Lelia

Sandra

Aeryn

Nicole

Elsa

Cheri

Carley

Linda

Pam

Susan (you're here:P)

Simply Betty Stamps

These are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Pollycraft - sketch
Crafts and Me - use a digi
Penny's Challenges - anything goes
Cooking It Up with Katie - Fabulous, Fun and at least one other F word (friendship, in this case)
Divas by Design - buttons
Digital Tuesday - celebrate something (Christian's attitude, and the fact that he'll beat this nasty disease)
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Make It Monday - linky party
The Crafty Pad - one for the boys
One Stitch At A Time - use a digi
Catch the Bug with Bugaboo Stamps - anything goes
One Stop Crafts - one for the boys
Drunken Stampers - get well or thinking of you
Craft Your Days Away - tag it (you can barely see the hole, beacause I stuck a button over it, but the circle sentiment is on a tag)
Crafts 4 Eternity - anything goes
The Poodle's Parlour - birthdays or buttons or brads
Southern Girls - create a project for boys or men
CRAFT Challenges - bright colours
Pile It On - do it with fun (I hope the fun image counts, even though the card is for a serious reason)
Lothian Crafts Online - anything goes
The ABC Challenge - A is for Anything Goes
Creatalicious - anything goes
Desert Island Craftsers - I've used 1, no white, 5, circles and 9, a tag
Creative Friday - circles


And don't forget to leave a bid if you'd like to help Betty out and get my store contents into the bargain!

Burton and Beyond!

Whee, I've been dying to tell you all about this, but have had to keep quiet. I'm on the Design Team for a new challenge blog, set to take over where The Burtonesque Dolls left off. Beyond the Burtonesque Dolls goes live with its very first challenge today. If you love the work of Tim Burton, and enjoyed the challenges over at The Burtonesque Dolls then you'll like it here. All the forthcoming challenges will have a 'Burtonesque' feel to them, although they may have no direct link to the works of Tim Burton. The whole idea of this blog is to widen the challenges, maybe introduce you to films, books and directors that you've not heard of before. It's all about fun, maybe a little quirky and twisted fun, but still fun.
Our first challenge is to create something that commemorates a favourite Halloween book, film, or memory. Easy-peasy and open to lots of interpretation, so we'd LOVE to see all sorts of creations by you.



I had a REALLY tough time narrowing down my inspiration, but in the end I decided to create a piece inspired by The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. The background text is all taken from the original story, and I hope that the tree, the skulls, and the scheming female standing over the grave capture the feel of the story. The images are Spiderella by Simply Betty, and Bah, Humbug Tree by Delicious Doodles, and I created the rest of it in PSP.
These are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Deconstructing Jen - sketch 21
One Stitch At A Time - use a digi
Paper Creations Ink - black and/or orange
Craft Your Passion - anything goes with ribbon
Irish Teddy's - trees
Pixie Dust Studios - be inspired by a book or film (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving)

Inner Workings at HDH!

It's time for another Macabre Monday challenge at the Haunted Design House, and now that Halloween is in sight, you can practically taste the excitement in the air in the Minions' Dungeon :D Which is way better than the makodorous stench that usually emanates from that dank hole :P
This week the challenge is Inner Workings, and it's up to you how to interpret that. You can use the inner workings of a clock or machine, or feature some guts and organs, or decorate the inside of your project. I've used a brand new stamp for me, Open Torso from the Gross Anatomy set at Smeared Ink. They have a great range of stamps that look like illustrations from vintage text books, and this is one of them.
These are the challenges I'd like to enter:
Paper Minutes - sketch
Desert Island Crafts - Itinerary 17. I used 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 (no white, torn edge, dry embossing, circle and beads)

Cards and More - red, beige, brown
Meljen's Designs - use a square and a circle
Forever Night Freaky Friday - anything goes
The Play Date Cafe - be inspired by the colours to the right.
Critter Sketch Challenge - anything goes
Totally Stampalicious - embossing

Trick or Tweet!

It's time for a new challenge over at the Corrosive Challenges blog, and this fortnight the theme is "Purple Passion". We want to see your creations that use purple with just one other colour, and this month's sponsors are Doodle Pantry and Karen's Doodles, so play along for your chance to win some goodies and be the GDT on the blog for a month. I created an ATC, I've used an image called Trick or Tweet by Karen's Doodles, and I went for purple and green, because that's one of my favourite colour combinations. I created the paper specifically for this piece, but I like it so much that's it's probably going to appear in my shop at some point soon, although I think I'll do it in different colours.
These are the challenges I'd like to enter:
KB Cutie Monday - Halloween
The Secret Crafter - Halloween
Stampin' For the Weekend - what a cutie
Making Halloween Cards - stripes and/or haunted houses
Moving Along with the Times - Halloween
Deconstructing Jen - sketch 21
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Little Darlings Challenges - Fall or Halloween
Stamps & Fun = Creativity - anything goes
Come and Get It Challenges - Halloween