Challenge #26 - Last minute Christmas!

 ***UpDate** (Sunday 30th) Hello Quirky Fans!! (Lyn here) I know some of you were expecting the winners here today of the last challenge and a new challenge but we've having a bit of a Holiday break. So this Challenge below has now closed. We'll be back next week with my first Challenge of 2013! (And the winners of this challenge) So Look out for it! In the Meantime...

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Welcome to another Quirky Crafts challenge.  If you want to find out who won the previous challenge then please scroll down to the previous post.  It is my (Caro's) turn to set the challenge and as I am still in a bit of a rush running around finishing off the last bits and pieces before Christmas (I can't believe it is only 9 days away) I chose LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS as the challenge theme.

As it is the last challenge of the year we are sadly saying goodbye to Diane as this is her last challenge with us. We wish her all the best in her new ventures and look forward to welcoming Doris and Daire in the first challenge of the New Year.

We would also like to wish all of our followers, entrants, guest designers, and wonderful sponsors a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

For this weeks challenge we have three great sponsors:

Crafty Ribbons

who are giving our first prize winner the gorgeous Cherry collection of ribbons.

Doodle Dragon Studios

 who are giving the second prize winner $10 of images of their choice,

The Stamping Boutique

who are giving the third prize winner 3 digi images of their choice. 

We are sad to say this is the last time The Stamping Boutique will be sponsoring us, and we would like to thank them for sponsoring many of our challenges over the past two year.
The store is closing at the end of December, so the prize winner must contact us promptly to be able to collect the prize!

As usual you are welcome to link any Christmas related make that you want, it doesn't have to be a card (if you are super organised you may have already finished your cards!). 

Here's some fabulous makes from our design team and guest designers using some fantastic images from Dustin Pike at Doodle Dragon Studios to inspire your creativity.

Guest Designer Chana

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Chana used Doodle Dragon Studio's List Machine to make this cute little house with drawers for a secret gift. You can find a tutorial on how to make this right here.

Guest Designer Julia

Julia used the Reindeer Ride image to make this great pillow box with hidden message and two hot chocolate sachets for a sweet last minute gift which she says is perfect for a stocking stuffer or teacher gift.

Diane,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!
For the my last challenge I decided to work with Doodle Dragon's List Machine image. This time of year for me is all about lists, I cant function without them. By now I have bought and wrapped everything so my attention turns to food shopping etc, and for that I have to have lists so a nice little notebook that goes everywhere with me is just the ticket.

Lyn (late again lol)

O.M.Goodness, yes, I'm late again! Unlike Caro who's so organised, I'm waaaay behind! so everything I'm doing at the moment is Last Minute Christmas, but I thought you'd like to see these, some Christmas Shortbread cookies, covered with icing and chocolate using some of Dustin's fabulous digi's as the tie-on tags, nice and easy to make, just print them out the size they come, very small, already coloured, die cut them and add to anything!! 

Cazzy

I am missing Di already and she hasn't gone yet! So I decided to make a tri-shutter card in Di's honour and I used three images from the Doodle Dragon Wolfie set, they are so cute! Instead of patterned papers I used my new ribbons from Crafty Ribbons (and some from last year), I won the Bev's Bag, whoopee. I coloured all images with Promarkers.There are some pieces of embossed card too. Photo below shows the images all in focus, and the photo above shows the ribbons and ribbon words in focus.

I am definitely not ready for Christmas and being ill with a virus all week hasn't helped! I have presents to buy, presents to wrap, cards to make and send or address, and food shopping to do and I am running out of time fast! So this is one more card towards the family and friends cards.

Caro

For once I am organised with cards all made, written and sent, presents all bought and wrapped, the housework all done and the decorations are up so I actually have time for a little fun crafting.  I have been wanting to make a 'run up to Christmas' mini scrapbook for a  number of years now but have never got round to it.  This challenge was the perfect excuse to actually make a start so I made a page using the Doodle Dragons Wolfie Ice skating image and photos of Alex 'ice skating' (sliding on his shoes) in the park last weekend.  The papers, embellishments & sentiment are from Bo Bunny.

We look forward to seeing what you all make for your Last Minute Christmas creations.

Please add a link to your blog post or online photo album using the blue button below Please comment after you have linked.

Have Fun and have a very Happy Christmas- The Quirky Crafts Challenge Design Team.

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Challenge #24 Come to the Dark Side - no cute images!

Welcome to another Quirky Challenge. If you want to find out who won the last challenge please click here. (insert link when winners posted).

It is my turn to set the Quirky Challenge and I am in a very Quirky mood (or maybe a dark mood) as you will see.

We get such a lot of cute images, well not this time! I want to see lots of none cute images, or no images at all, but dark colours or subjects (or both) are the theme of this challenge.

We have two great sponsors therefore two prizes, and the sponsors are:

Doodle Dragon Studios

Who are giving our first prize winner $10 of images of their choice.

The Stamping Boutique

Who are giving our second prize winner 3 digi images of their choice. The Stamping Boutique have their own very dark alternative art challenge blog called Poisoned Peas which sort of inspired this challenge.

Using images provided by our sponsors the team have created some examples to inspire you.

Guest Designer Doris

Doris used Medusa from The Stamping Boutique with some purple and black embellishments. She also added pearls to the dress.

Diane

Now this is a challenge for me as I don't usually use a lot of dark colours or non cute images, so I had to run this one by my Daughter first, just to make sure I was on the right track. I used the Goth Girl Digital Stamp from Stamping Boutique. I had a lot of fun colouring this actually, I wish I was young enough and brave enough to have purple hair streaks! Coloured, as always with Promarkers, layered with various papers and hand made flowers, with a swirl and a butterfly and bow just to make it a bit more feminine.

Lyn

I've used Zombie Girl from The Stamp Boutique... I wrote the sentiment, and who can spot my mistake? ... Maybe you won't notice! Will change it later (excuses on blog!) And for my second card....

 I've used Dustin's cat! I love this cat..  (he is cute...Cazzy said he wasn't!)Because I was sooo out of time I've used the coloured digi and Dovecraft papers. Again I had to write the sentiment...here's the inside too...

Caro

For mine I chose to make a tag using 'Medusa' from The Stamping Boutique, with the snakes in her hair coloured in red with sakura stardust added on top to make them 'pop' a little (it doesn't show up too well in the photo sadly).  I used Hot off the press papers for the background, layered up to frame medusa.  I then heat embossed red round the edge. I then added a black gem to the bottom left, and a tiny one on her sash and in the centre of the flower at the bottom. Finally I added the two 3D mulberry flowers and the ribbon.

Cazzy

I used Grave Dolly and Rotten Apples from Doodle Dragon Studios on this card, and I found some great paper that says "nothing is crazier than family" which I thought was perfect! Images coloured with Promarkers, though if you are in a hurry the images come coloured and plain.

This is Zombie Girl from The Stamping Boutique coloured with Promarkers, and matted on to a Spellbinders die cut and DCWV papers, with a bit of Crafty Ribbon added, can't think of a sentiment, I was going to add Time for Tea or Lets Have Tea, what else could I put?

Medusa from The Stamping Boutique is coloured with Promarkers and Trias, and die cut with Nesties lables 8 my favorites, and matted onto DCWV Rockstar paper, Crafty Ribbon added. Again no sentiment yet, I thought Bad Hair Day? what do you think?

I too love the Scaredy Cat from Doodle Dragon Studios and let me make one thing clear - he is not cute!. Somehow I think he should be attached to a car window! I coloured him with Promarkers, and cut out a panel of pattered card with Nesties to mount him on, I think the card was from Payperbox, the papers are DCWV, ribbon by Crafty Ribbons, sentiments by Papermania and Hero Arts.

I will be adding another card later, I had an accident and decapitated the character and now the printer won't play nice!

Now let's see what you can do, any craft project is acceptable as usual. You have two weeks (almost) to add your project, this challenge ends on 1st December at midday UK time.


Please add a link to your blog post (not your blog) using the biggest blue froggy at the top of the collection, the other one (at the bottom) doesn't do anything that we can tell, and please comment after you have linked. Don't forget to mention Quirky and add a link back to here (please read the rules and if you realised you haven't followed the rules and won't be included in the top three, and you want your entry removed to try again - please email us using the link in the side bar).
Have Fun - The Quirky Crafts Challenge Design Team.

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Challenge #19 Let's See Numbers!

Evening Quirky peoples! It's my turn (Spyder) to set the theme of our next challenge and I thought I'd do something nice and easy...

Numbers!

We want to see any amount of numbers, 1, 2, 3.. or loads of numbers on your crafty project or on the papers you use, or both, in any way you see fit! And don't forget, you can make anything, it doesn't have to be a card! We have some exciting news, (Lyn does a jig!) yes (did anyone spot a dragon in the sidebar?) our Sponsors this week are....

first of all we are excited to introduce a new sponsor:

Doodle Dragon Studios

who are generously giving our first prize winner $10 to spend in the store! and....

The Stamping Boutique

Our second place winner will receive 3 Digi Stamps of their choice from their store!

This is what the team came up with using images from our sponsors ...first the GDT...

Kimberly

Kimberly used Frankenstein on her spooky card with the date for Halloween as her number.

Maya

Maya used Turtle on her great pencil box, what a good idea. Her numbers on are on the ruler.

Deanne (helping out again - thanks Deanne)

Deanne used AJ Race Car Driver from The Stamping Boutique for her AJ Racing driver, Way 2 Go car. Love the sparkles.

Caro

I also used AJ Race Car Driver from the Stamping Boutique for a quick layered birthday card for one of my son's school friends. I coloured him in with Promarker pens and then used lots of layers with a plastic corner in the top left. I put the number 6 (it was his 6th birthday) onto the front of the car with a gold peel off.

Cazzy

I used Paisley Peacock from The Stamping Boutique, this is a very detailed and beautiful image, and I coloured it with Sakura Metallic gelly roll pens, painted the background with mica paints and cut it out withNestabilities. My numbers are on the embossed background, and in the Bel8ted which is die cut with Sizzlets.

Then in the early hours of Tuesday morning....

.... I made another one with The Stamping Boutique Turtle image, I think this is so cute! I used Embosslits to cut the numbers and letters, heat embossed the Happy Birthday with the Stampabilities stamp, paper was free with a magazine and ribbon is by Crafty Ribbons.

...and yet another one, this time with the latest freebie from Doodle Dragon Studios, the giraffe's banner was blank and I added some text. Papers free with a magazine, a very quick card as I used the ready coloured image for this one.

Diane -
Ha Ha...so sorry I am late with mine. We were away on a late Summer Holiday.

I have chosen the Chemistry Set from The Stamping Boutique for my example. I have backed the stamp with a blurred image of lots of chemical equations and mat and layered the image. Unusually for me....not a promarker in sight. I decided I liked the image best just the way it was.

Lyn

Here's my card. (For once, not a square!) I've used Frankenstein from The Stamping Boutique. 3D-ed him, coloured him and the background with ProMarkers, and used Back to School Chemistry Set which I've placed just behind him. The number and wording were done on my computer. (Links to the fonts on blog) The little skull and spider were from a packet of Halloween party sequins.

Lyn

Dustin's lovely offer of a sponsorship was such a surprise, we hadn't received his fab new dragon number digi's, so I've quickly whizzed up this card using his fabulous Friday Freebie! Hurry it might not be there for long! (card added Monday 10th September)

That's it! Your turn now! Hope to see lots of numbers!! Ooo better go and check my Lottery ticket! Thanks for stopping by!

Please add a link to your blog post (not your blog) using the biggest blue froggy at the top of the collection, the other one (at the bottom) doesn't do anything that we can tell, and please comment after you have linked.Don't forget to mention Quirky and add a link back to here (please read the rules and if you realised you haven't followed the rules and won't be included in the top three, and you want your entry removed to try again - please email us using the link in the side bar).

Have Fun - The Quirky Crafts Challenge Design Team.

Challenge 5 The First Signs Of Spring- Double Z card

My (Diane) challenge this time. I have been feeling really low lately with one thing and another, and all this cold weather is doing nothing to help matters. I find myself constantly scanning the garden for the first signs of things coming back to life. I love Spring and can't wait for it to come around every year, it cheers me up no end. So my theme is First signs of Spring.

For the card makers out there I want to see a double Z fold card (here is a link to show you how if you don't already know.. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/doublezfold/ ) with what shows the first signs of spring for you hidden inside. For the non card makers your indication of spring can be hidden inside your project.( perhaps an exploding box, or something like that?)
So there you have it.....can't wait to see what you come up with..
The challenge this time is sponsored by The Stamping Boutique

Here's what Tracey says about her Stamping Boutique.
Tracey Malnofski's resume reads like a who’s who of the Stamping Industry. Besides being the owner and a designer for The Stamping Boutique, she's also a stamp artist for Unity Stamp Company and has also worked for In Style Stamps, Squigglefly, and The Digi Shack. Her "Boutique"has it all - fairytale, whimsy, sentimental . . . and Candy! I do not envy the winner who has to choose digi stamps from all those delicious choices. Yep! A winner will be randomly selected to win 5 digital stamps of their choice from Tracey's Boutique!
"The Stamping Boutique" is dedicated to quality products and original artwork. We not only provide wonderful digital images in our store, but also several lines of red rubber images. Our designers are chosen for their character and personality, as well as, their beautiful designs. We work hard to give you our very best. Thank you so much for having us as your sponsor this week.

Store: http://thestampingboutique.com/
Challenge Blog: http://thestampingboutiquechallengeblog.blogspot.com/
Monthly Challenge: http://thestampingboutiquechallengeblog.blogspot.com/p/monthly-contest.html

The Stamping Boutique have very kindly offered the winner of this challenge the choice of 5 Digi Stamps of their choice. Here is how the team have interpreted this challenge using The Stamping Boutique Images.

Guest Designer Sheree used the Daffodil image for her lovely sunny card. It is Sheree's first time using Digis and (due to email problems) she only got the digis yesterday and the challenge brief, so a big WELL DONE for a lovely card.

Cazzy: I used Spring as a feature on the front of my card and Cynthia Fairy and the Carrot Thief inside to make this card fun. I haven't decided what this card is for yet and will add a further sentiment when I do. The papers are English Paper Company.

Caro: I chose to work with the Daffodil stamp and as my Mother grows, sells and gives lectures about daffodils I decided to make a Mother's Day card. The papers I used are scraps from K&Co and Hot off the Press. I left the inside of my card blank (apart from the patterned paper) to leave room for the message.

Diane

I chose the Tulip Stamp to work with. I love to see the tulips bloom in the spring. The Spring stamp is also available from The Stamping Boutique. My papers were from K and Company and my images, as always coloured by promarkers and then decoupaged for dimension.

Lyn

I made a square card and also used both the 'Tulip' and the 'Spring' digi stamps, from our sponsors but put the 'Tulips' on the front of the card and the 'Spring' inside. I nearly also chose the same K & Co papers too! But ended using these Spring papers by Kate Knight. I've coloured with ProMarkers and added Stickles Glitter to add a bit of spring sparkle, gems, die-cuts and a few peel-offs too. I've made a Quickie (no measurements) Quirky Tutorial here.

Don't forget to check the challenge rules in the sidebar.

Please add a link to your blog post (not your blog) using the biggest blue froggy at the top of the collection, the other one (at the bottom) doesn't do anything that we can tell, and please comment after you have linked. Don't forget to mention Quirky and add a link back to here (please read the rules and if you realised you haven't followed the rules and won't be included in the top three, and you want your entry removed to try again - please email us using the link in the side bar).

Have Fun - The Quirky Crafts Challenge Design Team.