I've added  a couple fo Christmas images to my digi collection at A Passion for Stamps and thought I'd point you to them from here..
There are more Christmas digis to come and I hope you like them.....

Poinsettia; £1.50

Holly; £1.50

Sarah; £1.70

Don't forget to have a look at my digi giveaway HERE

Changes to the dates of Sir Stampalot Challenge

Oops! I was meant to post this a week ago but better late than never!! 

 

 This is a copy from Brenda at the Sir Stampalot challenge blog

"Hello peeps, I'm popping in mid month to give you a heads up about a change to our challenge.

As from November the starting date of challenges will be the first Sunday of the month which means that most months, our challenge will run until the end of the month................unless the first Sunday falls on the first of the month...............but rather than complicate things here I will be putting a list of exact dates on the sidebar to make life easier for us all.

Apart from that everything remains the same, fun themes, great prizes from Sir Stampalot, our monthly Top 3 and of course inspiration from the Design Team.

This months challenge will run until midnight GMT on 31st October and the next challenge will start on Sunday 6th November."

Tonic Studios butterfly punches

I've had another idea for using the Tonic Studios Butterfly Strip punch ....actually I've used the same idea to create doilies etc with some of the other new border punches and I'll show you those soon too.

The image used on the card is Butterfly 1 from my digi collection at A Passion for Stamps.

This "strip" punch creates such a beautiful delicate pattern that I thought it would be lovely used as the centrepiece so I have chosen contrasting colours for the card and matted the butterfly circle on white for impact.

The butterfly border strip looks great used as a straight border but I wanted to share this circle idea with you.

1. You'll need a circle of cardstock measuring 11.5cm diameter

2. Place the circle into the punch as shown in the photo above.

3. Turn the punch and card over together and line up the punch with the edge of the last punched shape on the top left corner leaving about 1mm of card showing.
IT'S IMPORTANT TO TURN THE CARD AND PAPER TOGETHER TO KEEP THE PATTERN CORRECT!!

4. Continue right round the circle in this way

5. The last piece to be punched will have a "space" at the top on both sides -  this is correct for lining up.

6. This is the shape you'll be left with and you can use it like this or snip the butterfly circle from the scallops as I have done for my card.

7. I then added the Accent corner wings to my Accents Butterfly punch to decorate the corners of my background.

8. I added some contrasting cardstock behind the butterflies .

 

DON'T FORGET TO SEE THIS POST FOR DETAILS OF MY DIGI GIVEAWAY.

Challenges

My Time to Craft ...punches and dies

Top Tip Tuesday ...layers

Horsechestnut leaf

Things are more than a little upside down here at the moment with my mother being in hospital ....so, not surprisingly, this card took a while to make!
It has been sitting in bits and pieces in a box for days and I've finally got it together.

Actually the first thing I did was make the bottom layer as I wanted to use my new Tonic Studios Celtic border punch. It's so easy to use and cuts through card up to 400gsm because of the gears so I used it here on canvas texture  pearlescent "Gemstones" card. I haven't added lots of clutter round the card because the punch pattern is too striking to take away from.

The image is Horsechestnut and Leaf - one of my Autumn drawings - and you can find it at A Passion for Stamps. As usual I've coloured it with Promarkers and have also added a 3D foam pad to raise the Chestnut after using Glossy Accents on it.

The little butterfly at the top is from another Tonic Studios punch - Butterfly Folder

Challenges
Pals Paper Art  ...Fall
Fab n Funky ...Autumn colours
I love Promarkers ...Autumn colours
ForFun Challenge ...Autumn has arrived
Kaboodles Doodles ...Autumn leaves

Promarker winner.........

It's getting a bit late.....I've been at hospital all day with my mother as she was very unsettled. Thankfully she's more settled this evening - we could do with a good sleep!
Anyhow the winner of the Promarkers is Roma !! Please email me at hamiltonarch@btinternet.com with your full name and address and I 'll post them as soon as possible. Congratulations!!!

Lavender and Lace

I'm sponsoring the Allsorts challenge with a prize of 4 of my digi images this week and this is my Guest DT card. The theme is "Lavender and Lace"
I've just got some of the new Tonic Studios Simplicity Geared punches and couldn't wait to try them out. This one is Daisy Border. The digi I've used is Pincushion and Thread from A Passion for Stamps and I coloured it with Promarkers. I added some gems to the pin heads.I used the Argyle Cuttlebug embossing folder because I thought it matched well with the stitching effect.
For an extra little lacy effect I cut a little "corner" from the same border punch and added some glitter glue.

As usual, when I get new punches, I have punched out lots of each shape tp play around with and I have a folder for keeping the ideas in. I'll be using some of these in my next cards.

Today is the final day for entering my Promarker giveaway as I'm picking a winner tonight.
Also, as this is a scheduled post I can only hope that I manage to get to the Craft Fair in the King's Hall in Belfast today. My mother has been ill again and is in hospital (in Belfast) so I have other priorities but I still hope I can fit a short visit in as I have already bought my ticket.

Challenges

 Craft your Passion ...card for any occasion

Autumn leaves

With the arrival of Autumn here in Country Antrim the colours all around are amazing!

I've been gathering leaves,berries,acorns,beech nut,chestnuts etc and enjoying drawing them as and when I get time.

I've also been having a look at my Tonic Studios tools and punches to make an Autumn card.

The image I chose to work with this time is Maple Leaf which I drew a few days ago and you can find it with lots of others on my digi site A Passion for Stamps.

This is a little tutorial of how I made the card using the Tonic Studios Mini Trimmer  and Furled Leaf Punch

1.   Print out digi image, colour and then cut out with Tonic Studios scissors

2. Mark the paper you have chosen to use for the basket weave at 1cm intervals

3. Cut into strips with the Tonic Studios Mini Trimmer

4. Put double-sided sticky tape along one edge.

5. Stick down the strips vertically as close to each other as possible leaving an overlap at the top

6. Now create the basketweave effect by inserting the horizontal strips as shown in the photo above.

7. When all the strips have been added, turn it over and add DST to all edges of the back. Then fold all the edges over and stick down to create a neat square on the right side.

8. Finished basket weave panel.

9. Adhere some raffia to the panel (sticking down in one point only) and then add the coloured digi image on 3D foam pads for dimension.

10. Using the Furled Leaf Simplicity Geared Punch punch out several shapes

11. Draw veins with a fineliner and colour the leaves with the same colours of pens as used for the main image

12. Tuck these little leaves randomly into the basket weave to give the effect of falling leaves .Then stick this panel down onto a base card which has had a square of matching paper added.

Aqua, lime and white

I suppose it's no secret that aqua and turquoise are my favourite colours...they do make regular appearances on my cards!
When I saw the theme on the current Colour Create  challenge I just had to make a card.
The image is 2 Roses from A Passion for Stamps and is one that I use a lot for all sorts of cards. Actually I ususllay keep several of them coloured in various hues at the ready.
Again I've used Promarkers, the paper is Papermania, the ovan is by Nellie Snellen and the border punch is Martha Stewart string lace.
I've added the texture with the ribbon.

Challenges

Colour Create   lime, aqua and white (with texture..ribbon)
Allsorts  ..flowers

Crafty Cardmakers..anything goes

I'm now a member of the Sir Stampalot Design Team!!

Great news today! I've been invited to become a member of the Sir Stampalot  Design Team!! Thank you so much, Brenda!
The rest of the team have made me feel very welcome and I feel privileged to have asked to join this very talented bunch of crafters.
The theme for this month's challenge is Food, Glorious Food and there is,of course, a great prize on offer!

I paid a visit to the store in July when I was on holiday visiting family nearby and treated myself to some lovely goodies...though I have to say there was so much to choose from I really didn't know how to decide.
My first DT card uses some of the items I bought on  my visit... the Sunray embossing folder which I used as a background and also as a "wafer" behind my Banana Split  digi image from A Passion for Stamps.
The beautiful punched corners were made by another of my purchases..they are part of a Martha Stewart String Lace punch set; and I also bought the pink cardstock there too.
Looking forward to seeing your creations for the challenge