Home For Christmas

Have you seen there's a new fab and rather lush collection from Polkadoodles? It's called Home for Christmas.  Well the rather talented Nikky Hall has given us DT permission to start sharing some of our projects with you all using this new collection. 

So over the next few days expect to see glorious creations of fab-tastic design! 

So today I'm going to share a card I've made with one of my footy friends in mind. I've literally only used a few digi stamps & a sentiment from the collection.

So I took the Santa and coloured him with markers choosing the appropriate shades of blues! 

Then I printed off some of the other digi images and only added a slight shade to them. I wanted Santa to be the bold image, but wanted to create a collage-type effect. I did also add sparkle to the house windows (Oh my you should see the houses in this collection!) and flower centres before touching Santa's Glasses with Glossy Accents.

Once I had layered everything and stuck it to the shaped card I added sets of 3 dots in the gaps. This is a great tip I picked up it means the white spaces are no longer too obvious and they help to finish off the card.

There hope you like this first of many projects and I've only used a minuscule amount of what is in the collection so you will see lots more if you check out the other DT blogs over the next week or so!

Take care Zo xx

WOYWW 222

Well hello - I missed my WOYWW friends last week, but I just didn't have time to join in. I was getting my head around a lot of new information and preparing for working on a new DT! Yes the fab Nikky from Polkadoodles asked me to join her DT and I said yes! Sorry for the self-praising but I'm so pleased and excited about crafting with such fab goodies!!

Anyway today sees me back to share my desk - 

The right side is looking a bit messy, need to put those stamps and pens away.

Window side sees some colouring that needs finishing and cutting out and my Project 2013 smash book.

I've been created a page for every week of 2013 and these 2 pages cover the last 2 weeks of August. Lots of football!

Anyway dap over the Julia's Stamping Ground to join in and get desk dashing.

Today I'm a bag of nerves - tonight will see my beloved Bristol Rovers play away at Bristol C**y in the JPT cup. The first competitive match between the 2 local rivals since 2007! I'm not going to the game, I won't go to the C**y ground, but it is live on Sky sports 2. So me and the boy will be shouting and cheering at the TV.  Or more likely I will be hid behind my cushion for most of the game!!!

Take care Zo xx

Last days of Summer

Hello - I'm back to share my latest Crafty Boots Challenges DT project. The theme this time is 'last days of Summer' chosen by Freya. This theme can be interpreted in so many ways, but for me, the end of Summer means schools go back! 

So for my DT project I have made a bookmark -

I literally used a small off cut of Centura pearl card, I always have lots in similar sizes to this as I make my own card bases. I coloured a Some Odd Girl (School Mae) image with a mix of markers.  I stamped the sentiment and added washi tape to the top and bottom before gluing my coloured image into place.

Nice and simple.

So why not join in and show us what sums up the last days of Summer for you.

Take care Zo x

My 1st DT project for Polkadoodles.

Good morning - well there's a new challenge launching over at Polkadoodles and there's a super give away and an amazing prize if you win the challenge too. The theme is 2 different Fairies (or Angels), and I'm very proud to be sharing with you all my first DT project.

Those of you who have followed me for a while will know there are a few things I love - colouring and Smash books are amongst the top few so I decided to jump straight in with a double page in my craft Smash book.

To create this double page I used papers, embellishments and characters from the Bonbon Belles CD. One of the characters is pre-coloured and the other I coloured myself using a mix of markers.

Here's a close up of the pages - 

This side shows the pre-coloured character, isn't she lush?! 

This character I coloured myself. I love how all the papers and flowers work together. The sentiments are actually from Picknix CD - Welcome Home. You will find so many fab sentiment across the Polkadoodles CD's and they all easily work together.

I like to create layouts like this in my craft journal, it helps me get a feel for the products, but also gives me inspiration as I often look back through to see what I've created before.

Well I'd love to hear what you think of my 1st Polkadoodles DT project so tell me!!

Take care Zo xx

A Witch warning!

Over the last few days I've been colouring and enjoying the new spooky Halloween range from Polkadoodles.

In particular, the new witch who I love. She is fun and funky and I can see her coloured in so many colour combos. I decided to colour her up and make a door hanging that I can put on my front door at Halloween - 

I used a mix of markers to colour the witch and chose purple-pink & gold combination. I used Dylusions alphabet stamps to stamp out the words and coloured over them in the same colours. I matted the images onto coordinating card and then onto board. I added black webbing and black and white twine to hang the project.

The main image is blown up to 7 & half inches by 5 & half inches so it took me a while to colour her but I enjoyed every minute as the image is perfect for colouring no matter your abilities.

Least the Trick or Treat-ers will know how the land lies when they come knocking!!!!! 

Take care Zo xx

Times Flies makes with a showcase

Well I've been in a bit of a whirlwind here over the weekend, football Saturday (Bristol Rovers won!) where I caught up with friends, then I spent time colouring and making (can't share yet) and then today I met my fab friend Debs to enjoy a few hours of eating cheesecake (me) and carrot cake (Debs) and chatting away. All to celebrate Deb's birthday tomorrow. This leads me to my projects I want to finally share with you. I made them a while ago and one part has already been showcased! But I couldn't share that or the makes until Debs had received them, which she did today.

So this 3-part-present included a decorated letter 'D', a card and a board of interest. Here they are - 

So the letter - covered with the script paper from the 8 x 8 Time Flies collection paper pad. Then the flowers are from the die cut embellishments. I used Card Candi to centre the flowers however in one I used a white clay embellishment made using the Stampin'Up molds.

I added a butterfly to the top and added a Tim Holtz nib. I used Pearl paint on the edges of the letter and where the paper met.

Close up of the flowers.

Now for the card - 

I covered an elegant edged stepper card again from Craftwork cards. I used embellishments from the kit and added Candi, clay embellishments and pearls.

The board of interest was inspired by all things Debs loves, from writing to photography.

I used the Tim holts die cut film strip plus the instant photo to add film and photography. The Tim Holtz typewriter represents writing as does the script paper and the nib on the butterfly. 

Now this is the exciting bit - a few weeks ago this board was shared on the Craftwork Cards Blog as part of the FOCUS ON YOU showcase. I was so honoured and thank my fab crafty friend Emma Williams for suggesting I enter my work.

Here's a few close ups - 

Phew, lots of photos but I wanted to really share the details on these projects. Thankfully Debs loved them all and saw the thought that had gone into each piece.

Right I'm off to do some colouring while listening to the footy this evening. I'll be back soon with some Polkadoodles projects as I start sharing my DT work with you all.

Take care Zo xx

Some Exciting News!

Hello everyone - I've some exciting news to share along with a card.

So the card is a little clue really as to my news, here it is - 

My friend's daughter is moving so I wanted to make a her a card to wish her good luck in her new home. I used elements from the Bonbon Belles CD Rom from Polkadoodles. I took the PNG images into Serif Craft Artist to make the card topper. I layered the backgrounds which I also used as materials so I could digitally fray the edges. Adding shadows to make each of the images pop and look 3D even though everything is actually flat. I love doing that!

So my news - Nikky has asked me to be on the Polkadoodles design team and I've accepted.  I've been a fan of Polkadoodles CD's and products for a while so I was thrilled to be asked.  I'm finding my way with the challenges etc so look out for posts linking up my projects to Polkadoodles soon. Exciting times. And lots of exciting products to come I know! 

Take care Zo xx