Tuesday 5 March 2024

Passion for Markers - Colours of Spring...

 Hey there, crafty friends! Another Tuesday rolls around and it's time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Markers. The lovely Marlene is in the hostess chair with a seasonal theme of 'Colours of Spring'....

We're being sponsored by Polkadoodles who are offering one lucky winner 3 digital images from their online store... 

I picked out an image that I had used previously called 'Scruff Gardening'....I love this little pooch watering the flowers...


Living in Wales, the epitome of Spring has to be the swaths of green and yellow daffodils that adorn the hedgerows, towns and villages - so this is where I took inspiration. I coloured Scruff with my alcohol markers -

Fur - Champagne, Sandstone, Cappuccino, Umber (SN)
Bandana - Tulip Yellow, Gold, Pumpkin
Watering Can - Apple, Forest Green

I picked out some papers from my stash and played around until I was happy with the layout, then added a couple of die cut clouds...firstly, because I don't need much encouragement to use clouds in my crafting and secondly, because I thought that they went with the outdoor theme of the image (see, there is method in the madness at times!?!) I decoupaged Scruff with two extra layers and gave him some rosy cheeks using Distress Ink on a cotton bud (the easiest way to create blush, I think). I stamped the birthday sentiment using my stamp platform and added the die cut sentiment using foam pads before finishing with some sequins and pearls...

I hope you can find the time to play along with our seasonal challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your Spring inspired makes...

Crafty hugs,



Wednesday 21 February 2024

Passion for Markers - Dies and/or Punches...

 Good evening, crafty friends! I am a little late to the party with this week's challenge over at Passion for Markers - life is pretty hectic at the moment and I am trying to get my house sorted after emptying Mum's. It is definitely a case of cluttered house, cluttered mind and I have been busy building flat pack furniture and decorating to store the multitude of stuff that I brought home. I cannot even get into my craft room properly, so this card was created mainly on a board on my knee?!...

The lovely Marie is in the hostess chair this week and she always gives us a nice, easy theme - this week being 'Use Dies and/or Punches'...

We are being sponsored by Dr Digis House of Stamps who are offering one lucky winner 2 digital images from their online store...


We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out Bob's Balloons...

I just used a portion of the image and created a CAS card with some paper piecing and doodling. I coloured Bob with my Pro/Flexmarkers -

Skin - Blush, Dusky Pink, Rose Peach
Shirt - Pebble Blue, Blender
Jumper - Marine, Surf Blue, Blender
Hat - Wild Orchid, Purple, Red Violet
Balloon - Meadow Green, Apple, Forest Green

I added a strip of polka dot paper to the bottom third of the card and freehand drew some doodling around the white area before mounting Bob using foam pads for a bit of dimension, I also paper pieced his jumper with a striped paper. I die cut some balloons in a gold and blue glitter and drew the strings using a fine line pen. I used my favourite Yana Smakula Birthday sentiments die and stamped 'wishes' underneath, then finished with some sprinkles of gems and pearls...

I hope that you can find the time to play along with our fun challenge this week (and as for me, better late than never?!)...

Crafty hugs,



Tuesday 6 February 2024

Passion for Markers - Use Red and/or Hearts...

 Good morning, crafty friends! So we're into February and the days are slowly starting to get longer (yay!) but Spring still seems a long way off....my crafty mojo is still nowhere to be seen, but I think that's because of the fact that the house is in complete disarray after having to empty Mum's and not being able to resist bringing a lot of stuff home! I need to be ruthless and then to get organised, but it's a slow process and one that requires motivation (something which I am very much lacking at the minute!)...

Anyway, it's Tuesday! So that means it's time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Markers and I did force myself to sit at my crafty desk and create something?! We have the lovely Lorraine in the hostess chair this week and she has given us a topical but easy theme of 'Use Red and/or Hearts'...

We're being sponsored by Dies to Die For who are offering one lucky winner a £15.00 voucher to their online store...awesome right?!...

I decided to take the opportunity to make hubby's card for next week and was inspired by a card that the lovely Deborah Hellman created with a fabulous and relevant sentiment!...


With everything that has happened over the last few months, I can't imagine that I have been the best of company at times, so I thought that this sentiment was the perfect way to say thank you for being there...

I used a heart stencil which I dry embossed first and then used my Versamark pad to heat emboss with white embossing powder to create a resist. I inked with Festive Berries Distress Oxide and then added my fussy cut cactus image on foam pads -

Plant - Apple, Forest Green, Ivy (SN)
Pot - Soft Peach, Honeycomb, Spice

I added the sentiment which I created in PS and a couple of red, heart gems to follow on with the theme...

I hope you can find the time to play along with our fun challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your wonderful makes...

Crafty hugs,



Tuesday 23 January 2024

Passion for Markers - Birthdays...

 Good morning, crafty friends! It's time for another brand new challenge over at Passion for Markers and this week I am playing hostess. As it's my birthday this weekend, I decided to choose a super simple theme of 'Birthdays'!...

We are being sponsored by Colour of Love Stamps who are offering one lucky winner a choice of 3 digital images from their online store...

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out the sweet 'Sitting Pretty' cat...

I coloured the cute kitty with my Pro/Flexmarkers :

Fur - Soft Peach, Honeycomb, Spice, Cinnamon, Auburn, Champagne, Vanilla, Sandstone
Bow - Cool Aqua, Duck Egg, Surf Blue, Petrol Blue
Flowers - Pastel Pink, Cocktail Pink, Sorbet, Antique Pink
Grass and leaf - Apple, Forest Green, Camo Green (SN)

I went for a CAS design with a stenciled background using Peacock Feathers DI and fussy cut the cat leaving a white border, before mounting using foam tape. I stamped a two part sentiment, one directly onto the card and the birthday on a strip mounted onto a turquoise blue cardstock. I added a touch of glitter to the sentiment, a tiny die cut butterfly for a bit of dimension and finished with a couple of self adhesive pearls...

I hope you can find the time to play along with my Birthday challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations!

Crafty hugs,



Tuesday 9 January 2024

Passion for Markers - Use a stencil...

Good morning, crafty friends and a Happy New Year to you all! I have been absent from crafting for a little while as my lovely Mum passed away at the end of November and I have been spending my time sorting out her affairs and house (no mean feat when she was a maker and crafter like me!) But now it is a new year and she would want us to move forwards and live life, which I'm hoping will continue to include crafting...

It is the start of a brand new challenge over at Passion for Markers and our newbie DT member Sarah (check out her fabulous creations!) has given us a super challenge theme of 'Use a stencil'...

We're being sponsored by Di's Digi Stamps who are offering one lucky winner a £6.00 voucher to their online store...

I must admit that I never really used stencils in crafting until a couple of years ago and am slowly building my stash (as you do?!), but one of my favourite things to do is find uses for the tools that I already have...so I made my own stencil from a piece of plastic packaging and my cloud border dies...(if you know me well enough, then what else was it going to be?!)...


 I used a sweet Clearly Besotted stamp set that I picked up from a destash page some time ago and coloured the elements with my alcohol markers before fussy cutting out, leaving a border...

I inked the clouds with Broken China, Cracked Pistachio and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxides and added a polka dot paper to the bottom third. I die cut some clouds from scrap and inked the edges with Broken China before adding with foam pads. I finished with some simple sentiments that I found in various sets and a few sequin sprinkles, just because...

I hope that you can play along with our fun challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations. I hope to continue to share my inspiration with you and wish you all the very best for 2024!

Crafty hugs,




Tuesday 14 November 2023

Passion for Markers - Occasions other than Birthdays...

 Good morning, crafty buddies! Gosh these Tuesdays are rolling around quickly! But you know what that means...yep, it's time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Markers...

The lovely Marlene is in the hostess chair with a super easy theme of 'Occasions other than Birthdays'... We're being sponsored by Dr Digi's House of Stamps who are offering one lucky winner a choice of 2 digital images from their online store...

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out this fun Christmas Angel image... 


I went with a super simple design, with an inked background in Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide and a die cut cloud for my fussy cut Angel to sit on. She was so easy to colour with a limited colour palette of Blush, Dusky Pink, Sunkissed Pink, Pastel Yellow, Champagne, Sandstone, Cappuccino, Cool Aqua, Duck Egg and Surf Blue. I added some glitter to the wings and a few tiny, gold die cut stars, then stamped a sentiment and wrapped some string around the panel with a small tied bow...

I hope you can find the time to play along with our challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations...

Crafty hugs, 



Tuesday 31 October 2023

Passion for Markers - Embellish it!...

 Good morning, crafty friends! It's time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Markers with the lovely Marie in the hostess chair, giving us a super easy theme of 'Embellish it'...so whether it's ribbons, gems, glitter, buttons and more, we would like you to add them to your creations....


We're being sponsored y All Dressed Up Stamps who are offering one lucky winner a choice of 2 digital images from their online store...


 We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked out 'Perfect Walk' as I thought it was quite topical for the time of year with the weather here in the UK unsure if it's Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter?!...


I coloured the sweet image with my Pro/Flexmarkers -

Skin - Blush, Dusky Pink, Sunkissed Pink
Hair - Pastel Yellow, Champagne, Cappuccino
Dress - Duck Egg, Surf Blue, Marine Blue, Red, Poppy, Burgundy
Umbrella - Pale Pink, Baby Pink, Antique Pink, Storm Cloud

I wanted to cover up the writing that is on the image, so cut out a fence die cut, adding some details with my markers and some small peel off waste dots, then printed off the new sentiment words using Photoshop. I also die cut some clouds (of course?!), added some diamante raindrops and a couple of small buttons to finish...

I hope you can find the time to play along with our fun challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations...

Crafty hugs,