FREEBIE FRIDAY AT BUGABOO STAMPS!

If you hop (get it) on over to Bugaboo's "CATCH THE BUG" blog you'll be able to catch this cute lil bunny cos it's a freebie for the week!

I coloured the image using my alcohol markers, and highlighted with a white gel pen.  The sentiment is printed directly on the base card and "birthday" is coloured using alcohol markers.  A white satin ribbon and a big bow are underneath the lil bunny.

Isn't it just the cutest little image! ... just perfect for a CAS card that makes a BIG statement in its simplicity.

luv'n huugz

Jen Leeflang

DURBAN

SOUTH AFRICA

I would like to add this card to the following challenges:
 

AUD SENTIMENTS, #55, “ANY SENTIMENT”

CHARISMA CARDZ, #20, “NO FLOWERS ALLOWED”

PAPER CRAFTING JOURNEY, #PCJ10, “ANYTHING GOES FOR KIDS”

JUST KEEP ON CREATING, #2, “ANYTHING GOES”

PAPER PRETTIES WEDNESDAY CHALLENGE, PWC207, “BRIGHT BOLD COLOURS”

Hear ye, hear ye ...  It’s Jen Leeflang, your DT Lead for the week.

Are you ready for another challenge?!

I'm sure you are, but first I have some TERRIFICALLY THRILLING news to share with you!

Every now and again we will have a SPECIAL INVITED GUEST DESIGNER joining us to showcase the image of the week on our Terrifically Thrilling Thursday posts,  and inspire you for the week's challenge.  It will be someone whose creative talent we admire and would like to share with you.  

And even MORE THRILLING will be the special GIFT CERTIFICATES that can be won by a lucky commenter on the blog of the Shelly's Images Design Team Lead for the week and the blog of the Special Invited Guest Designer! A certificate to be won at each of the two blogs ... WOW!

 Today I have the privilege of introducing Desire Fourie, a fellow South African whose work I admire enormously!  Desire puts so much work into a creative project, and each one is a masterpiece!  She has joined the Shelly’s Images Design Team as our first Special Guest to showcase our image of the week, and to introduce our new challenge to you all. 

This is how Desire describes herself : “Doing Life in beautiful sunny South Africa. Loving wife for 27+ years. Keen Photographer. Avid Gardener. Energetic Hiker. Ad hoc Race Walker. Addicted to Spinning. Scrapaholic. Committed Scrapbook Teacher. Founder/Manager Doing Life Online Shoppe. Bedazzled Beader. Card creator. Mosaic Enthusiast. PA/Secretary/Bookkeeper. Chocoholic. Right now I would love to be outdoors blending with nature.”   

And I thought I was a busy bee!!!

 

 You can visit Desire’s blog and you will see just how busy and talented she really is!  If you leave a comment on her post featuring her fabulous card using the Shelly's Images "King's Proclamation" you are in the random draw to win a GC from Shelly's images.

As I said, today is a really TERRIFICALLY THRILLING THURSDAY indeed!

You’re here for lots of fun, creating, for a new challenge and some more chances to WIN!!

Our theme, this week, is

"It's in the #'s -!"

… use a NUMBER somewhere on your project

Today, our  FEATURED image today is "Kings Proclamation” You can get this awesome image, TODAY ONLY at a REDUCED PRICE!!  Click on the image name below the watermarked photo to go directly to its location in our new store!  (If you haven't registered for the new store, yet, be sure you do so you get the special perks!)

 KING'S PROCLAMATION

 Here is the card I created using the tutorial on Shelly's Images for the Scrabble Tile background.

Here's a close up of that image :

 

If you leave a comment on my card to stand a chance of winning a Shelly's Images GC too!  

  How's that for inspiration?! Are you inspired yet?!

Sure you are! 

Now get busy creating, so you can play along with us for your chance to win!

Please remember our Challenge Rules:

1. Link directly to your blog post entry,NOT your entire blog.
2. Shelly's Images are NOT required (but we'd LOVE to see them).
3. New projects ONLY ... NO back linking.
4. Your entry must follow the theme.  The entry can be any type of project so long as it follows the theme.
5. Only FIVE entries per challenge PLEASE. Any additional entries will be deleted in an effort to keep our challenge fair for all participants.
6. Challenge entry ends at 12:00 Noon (CST) on Wednesday.
 

Your link to the challenge is HERE 

 

luv'n huggz

Jen Leeflang

Durban, South Africa

 

DIGISTAMPS 4 JOY CHALLENGE #42 : CUTE AS A BUTTON

Did you enjoy the new releases on Sunday?  Weren't they cute ... Margy has been hard at work getting them all ready for the store, and to celebrate those cute images, we have called our new challenge ..

CUTE AS A BUTTON

and we are challenging you to add a button or two, or more if you like, to your project.

The Design Team have been playing with Sunday's new releases, and here's the twisted easel card I made with one called "Leggy Lilly":

Here's a better look at the image:

 Leggy Lilly is one of my latest scribblings and is available as a digistamp in the Digistamps 4 Joy store here.

Here are some close-ups:
I coloured the image using alcohol markers and added white gel pen doodling to create highlights and dimension.  The other elements of my card are:

• die cut border on rhs
• gems on rhs
• fabric lace
• sequins and beads sewn onto the lace
• satin ribbon bow
• big crystal gem
• lots of pretty roses
• a button holding on the sentiment tag
• button and gem as 'stop' for the easel tag

Are you ready to create something fabulous?

Remember to link your post, not your blog, to the linky tool on the Digistamps 4 Joy Challenge blog.

I can hardly wait to see your 'cute as a button' creation!

luv'n huggz

Jen Leeflang

Durban

South Africa

I would like to add this card to the following challenges:
Bearly Mine Challenges, #36, "Anything Goes"
City Crafter, #110, "A rose is a rose"
Craft Room Challenge "Add Fabric" - I have lace
Creative Card Crew, #11, "Dimension" (I have lots of layers and a dimensional flower bouquet)
Die Cutting Diva's, ##66, Buttons,banners and/or birthdays"
The Ribbon Carousel, RCC54, "Fancy Flowers"
Sweet Stamps, #66, "Anything Goes"

Top Tip Tuesday, #77, "Dig out the Old" (okay so I am a hoarder - roses - a few YEARS old; big gem - at least 5 YEARS old;   lace - at least 3 years old ...  need  I go on...)
Use it Tuesday, #32, "Use at least two hoarded items" (LOL - this is no challenge for the SUPER-HOARDER!  roses - a few YEARS old; big gem - at least 5 YEARS old;   lace - at least 3 years old ...  need  I go on...)
CRAFT Challenge, #155, 'Easel card'

A NEW CHALLENGE AT INKY IMPRESSIONS

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Inky Impressions, where the theme is ...

TEACHER APPRECIATION

Here is my inspiration for you ...

 

 Here is a close-up of that cute little critter : 

I used alcohol markers to colour, and a white gel pen for some detailing.  Then I cut out a circle using a doiley die.  The gift bag is made from a sheet of double sided A4 160 gsm cardstock and holes punched through the top to add the ribbon. Unfortunately I don't have a template to share for the gift bag as it was made from my own imagination.  An offcut of a strip of stick-on lace is under the die cut and runs all the way around the gift bag.  The sentiment is a stick-on.   And in case you were wondering .... the delicious confectionery displayed with the bag is NOT real - it is a scrumptious FAKE (actually it's a fridge magnet!)

Nitwit Collections is going to be giving away a $10 Gift Certificate to one lucky winner!

 We would be thrilled if you played along with us this week and simply ecstatic if we saw you use an Inky image too! If you decide to play along be sure to use the keyword IIC60 and link your creation below so we can all enjoy your work as well. Who knows, you may even be selected as a winner or one of our weekly Top 3!

 Click HERE to add your Teacher Appreciation creation to the linky tool.

I would like to enter this project into the following challenges:

 

LEJ DESIGNS, #4, ‘ANYTHING BUT A CARD’

MAKE IT MONDAY, #90, ‘ANYTHING GOES’

 BEARLY MINE, #36, “ANYTHING GOES”

TOP TIP TUESDAY, #77, ‘DIG OUT THE OLD” – that Green CS is the last piece of the pad I bought in 2007!

USE IT TUESDAY, #32, “USE TWO” - that Green CS is the last piece of the pad I bought in 2007, and the lace is a piece that I got in a Christmas Goodie Bag from our Card Guild in December 2011.

luv'n huggz

Jen Leeflang

Durban

South Africa

CREATE YOUR OWN SCRABBLE TILE SENTIMENTS USING MS WORD

A tutorial by Jen Leeflang for Shelly’s Images.com

You will need:

Computer

Printer

MS Word

Stick-on Alphabet individual letters

Here’s what you do:

Decide on the sentiment (words) you want to use and count the number of Scrabble tiles you will need. Remember to include a ‘blank’ tile for the space between each word.

Measure the size of your stick-on letters as this will determine the size of your Scrabble tile.

Open a new document in MS Word

Click on “Insert”

Click on “Shapes” 

Select this shape from the "Basic Shapes"

                 

Click and drag the shape to the size you require to fit your stick-on letter (you use the ruler on your MS Word document to help you)

Once you have your first tile, click on tile, then right-click and select “Copy”.

Now you can right-click and “Paste” the number of tiles you will need, eg

The last step is to click and drag the tiles into line, horizontally, or vertically according to the design of your sentiment, eg

Now you can print your sentiment directly onto your cardbase, or you can cut out each individual tile to add to your creation.

A little tip: If you right-click on your shape/tile, you can select “Format AutoShape” and then use the drop-down arrow to select a new colour or texture for your tile.

I hope you found that simple enough to do and enjoyed learning something new.Pop back here on Thursday to see how I used this technique on my Terrifically Thrilling Thursday inspiration card I have to share with you.

  

luv'n huggz

Jen Leeflang

Durban

South Africa

A NEW RELEASE OF MERMAIDS AT BUGABOO STAMPS

As it's Tuesday today, I get to share with you the card I made with one of the new mermaids being released at Bugaboo Stamps today. Her name is AKV Mermaid 7 and she is in the Bugaboo store HERE.

I printed the image onto sugar paper (in the US it is called construction paper) and the colouring is watercolour pencils.  I added some gems as embellishments, a stick on sentiment "Celebrate" and a Cuttlebug diecut of a pretty shell.  I have matted the sugar paper in white CS and then red CS, so in effect, here are 4 layers on this card, and 5 if you count the shell and the sentiment as another layer.  I know this is somewhat of a different style of card for me, but I started out using coloured pencils for colouring my images, and still love the effect of the light coloured pencils on a dark background.  I think it works for this image, and it looks like it is a 'night shot' and as if the mermaid is glowing in the moonlight.  What do you think?

I would like to add this card to the following challenges:

 

MAKE IT MONDAY, #90, ‘ANYTHING GOES’

GINGERLOFT, #GL40, ‘UNDER THE SEA’ (well part of the image is…)

ONE STITCH AT A TIME, #114, ‘ANYTHING GOES’

PAN PASTEL UK, #19, ‘PASTEL COLORS’

ROBIN’S FETISH, ‘ANYTHING GOES’,

STAMPIN’ SISTERS IN CHRIST,  #140, ‘ADD LAYERS’

luv'n huggz

Jen Leeflang

Durban

South Africa

YOU'RE SO BERRY SWEET, BUGABOO!

I love strawberries - I think I have said it before, but I'll say it again!

I LOVE STRAWBERRIES!!!

So when Monday's Greeting Card Challenge at The Outlawz called for strawberries to be included, I jumped at the opportunity to create another card with this gorgeous Bugaboo image:

The image, called Berry Fairy Cupcake is available in the Bugaboo Stamps Store here.  I coloured the image using alcohol markers and added some glossy accents to the fruit.  The cupcake cake colouring is my attempt at making it look like one of those wafer cupcake cases - yum - I love those!

  The sentiment is a freebie from Tiddly Inks and the card is arranged according to a sketch from Challenge #111 at Craft Your Passion.  I added an embossed white card mat, three brads,  three flower gems and a glossy red satin ribbon.

I would like to add this card to the following challenges too:

 

MADE ESPECIALLY FOR YOU, WEEKLY CHALLENGE, ‘USE 3 BRADS’

MAKE IT MONDAY, #90, ‘ANYTHING GOES’

OOH LA LA CREATIONS, #105, ‘ADD RIBBON’

STAMPS+ FUN = CREATIVITY, #100, ‘ANYTHING GOES’

MOJO MONDAY, #242, SKETCH

ONE STITCH AT A TIME, #114, ‘ANYTHING GOES’

ROBIN’S FETISH, ‘ANYTHING GOES’

luv'n huggz

Jen Leeflang

Durban

South Africa