Sorry for disappearing!!!

Hi Everyone

I'm really sorry that I've abandonded my blog for the last 6 weeks or so but I've been extremely ill and unable to work.

I did schedule a few posts for over the christmas period but they have managed to disappear off the face of the earth some how so I appologise to my DT's that should have had items posted too.

Due to my current health issues I've had to resign from virtually all my DT positions and I am no longer the Co-Owner/ DT Co-Ordinator of Robyn's Fetish either. I will try to post as much as I can and keep you informed of things that are going on.

Speak to you all again soon

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Sewn Together Challenge #13

Hi Everyone

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone that takes the time to visit my blog and also leave comments – I really do appreciate it and you are all so kind.

Today see’s the launch of the new weekly challenge from Sew Many Cards. This weeks challenge is a Colour Challenge

The challenge is to make a card/ paper crafts project using only the colours Brown, Orange and Green for your papers, card stock and embellishments, you can however us other colours on your Sewn Together image.

As a Design Team member we were asked to take the challenge too, so here is my take on it

For my challenge card I chose to use the new digi stamp of Angela’s puppy Hershey!!! and I coloured him with my copic markers. My patterned papers are from a Papermania pack that I purchased from QVCUK a few years ago. TO finish the card I added a punched border using a Woodware border punch and shaped the edge with some Fiskars Victorian paper edger scissors, then I added some grosgrain ribbon, some text cut with one of my Quickutz alphabets and some buttons from my stash.

Here is a closer look at Hershey – isn’t he adorable!!!

If you would like more inspiration for this weeks challenge then why not visit my fellow Design Team mates blog – they are listed in my side bar.

To enter this weeks challenge you can find all the details on Angela’s blog HERE and if you would like Hershey and his friends to come to your house then you can link to the shop from Angela’s blog too.

So that’s it for today – speak to you again soon

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Robyn’s Fetish Design Team Call

Hi Everyone

We are looking to add to our fun and friendly Design Team, to help promote our fab range of products

We are looking for members with great colouring skills, that are creative, inspiring, friendly, a team player and of course have enthusiasm!!!

As a Design Team member we will require:

1. Must have own blog that you post to regularly
2. Participate in weekly challenge and post on your blog with a link to the RF Challenge blog.
3. Complete a minimum of 1 card.project per week using RF digi stamps/stickers and post on your blog and online galleries
4. Actively participate in group and any blog hops etc.
5. Add RF logo &link to your blog and links to DT members blogs
6. Actively promote RF wherever possible
7. Promote new releases, announcements, contests etc on your blog with a link back to RF shop and/or challenge blog
8. Lots of enthusiasm!

As a member of the Design Team you will receive

1. An opportunity to play with a generous range of digi stamps and stickers
2. 30% discount on any digi’s not for RF work
3. Will be promoted as a Design Team member on the RF Challenge blog and other DT Members blogs
4. Your bio on RF Challenge blog
5. 15% discount on all digi stamps and stickers for one year after completion of DT term

The deadline for this call is the 1st December 2009

The Design Team Term will be for 6 months – you can re-apply at the end of this term.

To apply to be a team member please email Donna at theartofpapercrafts@hotmail.co.uk the following details:

1. Name
2. Address
3. Email Address
4. Blog Address
5. Link to any online galleries
6. A list of the forums you like to visit (We don’t need your user name)
7. Any other DT positions past or present (previous experience not essential)
8. A bit about yourself – your crafting background, where your passions lie, why Robyn’s Fetish etc

There is no need to make anything especially for this DT Call

We look forward to hearing from you

Crafty hugs Donna & Robyn

Girl Elf from KLM Designs

Hi Everyone

As you may have gathered by now I adore the digi stamps from KLM Designs so I thought I would show you another card made using one of the new releases for November

This time I decided to use the girl version of the Elf from last week and below is the card I came up with – although I adore the image I’m not completely happy with the card but I think this cold isn’t helping.

For this card I decided to use my prismacolor pencils and blended them with a Lyra Rembrandt Slender Blender pencil (but the Prismacolor PC 1077 Colorless Blender would work too) . The papers are from an old paper pack by Papermania and I finished the card with some snowflakes cut with an X-cut punch with a rhinestone in the centre and some grosgrain ribbon.

Here is a closer look at the Girl Elf

If you would like more ideas with the new releases from KLM then why not visit the blogs of my fellow Design Team members – you can find them in my side bar.

You can also buy these digi stamps from the KLM Designs store HERE

Speak to you again soon

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Robyns Fetish Weekly Challenge #6

Hi Everyone

So it is time to tell you all about the new weekly challenge from Robyn's Fetish

This weeks challenge is a Theme Challenge – to make a card/paper crafts project for a Man but you cannot use the colours blue or brown!!

If you would like to enter the challenge and be in with a chance of winning some image from the store then all you have to do is either leave a link to your creation in the challenge post on the challenge blog that you can link to HERE or email our project to me (Donna) at theartofpapercraft@hotmail.co.uk You have until12pm EST Friday 20th November to enter this challenge – Good Luck!!!

I also set this challenge to our fab Design Team and here is my card

For this weeks challenge I used the image called Grandad and coloured him with my copic markers. For the rest of my card I used papers from a pack by The English Paper Company and finished it with some chipboard letters that I coloured to match with my copics and I used a fiskars border bunch to add something decorative

Here is a closer look a Grandad

We would really love to see your take on this challenge and if you would like more inspiration then please visit my fellow Design Team members blogs which you can find lin ks to in my side bar – I’m sure it will be worth the visit as they are amazingly talented ladies.

If you would like any digi stamps from Robyn’s Fetish then you can find the store HERE and if you would like to meet other people and chat about paper crafts then why not pay our new forum visit, you can link to it HERE

Speak to you all soon

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Robyn’s Fetish November New Release Blog Hop

Hi Everyone

So it’s finally here!! Today we launch our new digi stamps into the range at Robyn's Fetish.

To celebrate we are having a blog hop, each member of the design team has a different new release image to reveal to you. If you are currently hopping along then you should have arrived here from Deanne's blog, if not then please begin the hop at the Robyn's Fetish Challenge Blog

As a part of the blog hop we are also launching a challenge for you to take part in and one lucky person will win the new releases!!!

The challenge is: Colour Challenge!!!

We would like for you to make a card/paper crafts project that uses a Robyn’s Fetish image and only the following colours only for your image, papers, card stock and embellishments – the colours are: Red, White and Blue (you can also use black!)

This challenge will remain open until 11.30pm EST Sunday 15th November, to enter you can either leave a link to your creation in the comments section of the blog hop post on the Challenge blog or email your entry to me (Donna) at theartofpapercrafts@hotmail.co.uk

So for the hop here is my new release image:

My new image is Denise!!! For this card I coloured her with my Prismacolor pencils and blended them with sansodor (UK gamsol). The patterned papers are from K & Company and to finish the card I used a border punch, butterfly charm, grosgrain ribbon and a metal ribbon charm from Making Memories .

Here is a closer look at Denise – isn’t she cute!!

So now back to the hop – the sequence for the hop is:

1. Challenge Blog - challenge
2. Sara – Puppy Pilgrim
3. Meredith – Patty Pilgrim
4. Jeri – Patrick Pilgrim
5. Amanda – Kitty Pilgrim
6. Robyn – Flowerpot
7. Lisa – Sally Da Sheep
8. Deanne – Fireplace 1
9. Donna – Denise

So now you have reached the final stop on the hop, thank you so much for taking part and please enter the challenge!!

If you would like any of the new releases you can find them in the store now, to get to the store click HERE

Speak to you again soon

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Sewn Together Weekly Challenge #12

Hi Everyone

Well it’s that time again to tell you all about the new weekly challenge from Sew Many Cards

This week the challenge is to make a card or paper craft project that is for Christmas and has bows – they can be ribbon, paper anything you like just so long as they are bows. For more details on entering etc see Angela’s blog HERE

For my challenge card I chose to use a previous Freebie Friday image of Santa with a Kangaroo and I coloured it with my copic markers. For the background papers I used some from a Diecuts with a View set that I purchased from QVCUK. To finish the card I added a grosgrain ribbon and bow and some faux pearls coloured with copics to match.

Here is a closer look at this cute image

So now you have seen my take on the challenge why not take a look and see what my fellow Design Team mates came up with.

Once you have done that it will me your turn to take the challenge!!!

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Sew Many Cards Freebie Friday

Hi Everyone

I just wanted to quickly show you a card made using the current Freebie Friday image from Sew Many Cards

Angela manages to do it every time and this week is no different!!! The image she has come up with is fab!!!

This weeks freebie is the every so cute frog – for a change I decided to paint him with my twinkling H20’s. The papers are from the English Paper Company and I finished the card with some bling.

Here is a closer look at this cute little guy!!

As I said it was just a quickie, so I’ll speak to you all again soon

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Robyn’s Fetish Weekly Challenge #5

Hi Everone

Today sees the start of the new weekly challenge from Robyn's Fetish

The Challenge set for this week is a recipe challenge and you can find all the details and the recipe on the challenge blog HERE

The Design Team were also asked to take the challenge, my card is below and you can also find links to my fab Design Team mates in my side bar so you can see what they came up with too.

For my challenge card I chose to use Gretchen Garden Gal as my image and coloured her with my copic markers. I chose matching papers from a K & Company pad called Yellow Floral. To finish the card I added some grosgrain ribbon, a border punch strip, flowers, bling and some Sakura Glitter Gel pen to the image.

Here is a closer look at Gretchen

Now it is your turn to take the challenge on the blog HERE

If you need any Robyn’s Fetish images you can find the store HERE

That’s it for this post, ‘speak’ to you all again soon

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Package Elf by KLM Designs

Hi Everyone

Today I thought I would show you another one of the new releases from KLM Designs for November.

They have come up with some really lovely images for this month and you can find them all at their store HERE

For my card today I chose to use the new Package Elf – it’s so nice that they always seem to have boy images in their releases. I coloured him with my Prismacolor pencils and blended them with Sansodor (UK Gamsol). For my patterned papers I used some Christmas papers from an old Papermania paper pad. To finish the card I stamps a greeting in Versamagic ink using a stamp from Hot off the Press and frames it with a metal frame inked with alcohol inks and added to grosgrain ribbon.

Here is a closer look at ‘our’ cute little Elf

If you would like to see more idea’s using the new releases from KLM Designs then why not pay a visit to my fab fellow Design Team members, you can find their blogs in my side bar.

Speak to you soon

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Sewn Together Challenge #11

Hi Everyone

SO it is time to launch the new weekly challenge from Sew Many Cards – this weeks challenge is a Technique Challenge and as the images are known as Sewn Together the technique to be used this week is STITCHING!!! Obvious really right!

If you would like to take part all the details can be found on Angela’s blog HERE, you can also enter the challenge there too.

For the challenge this week I chose to use another image of Halen in Hat, she is so cute and as she has the Breast Cancer Symbol on her hat I thought I had to use her. I coloured her with my copic ciao markers using colours that matched my papers from K & Company’s K Studio Orange Stripes pad. For the technique I use a stitching template to add stitching to the edge and used glitter thread for the actual stitching. to finish the card I added a punched border and some grosgrain ribbon.

Here is a closer look at Halen.

If you would like more inspiration for this challenge then why not visit my fellow Design Team members blogs and see what they came up with for the challenge.

We can’t wait to see what you come up with for the challenge.

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Robyn’s Fetish Weekly Challenge #4

Hi Everyone

Well here we are again with the next weekly challenge from Robyn's Fetish. This week is a Sketch Challenge and you can find all the details about is over on the Challenge blog HERE

Not only have we set a sketch challenge using one of the Robyn’s Fetish digi images but we have also asked that you only use patterend papers and card stock from your scraps box. Well we thought it would be a way to use up some of those scraps that we all keep meaning to use some time!!

The Design Team as ever have come up with some amazing projects from their take on the challenge, so why not pay their blogs a visit and see for yourself, you can find a link to them in my sidebar and while there why not leave them some much earned blog love – thanks

Well I suppose I should stop talking and show you my take on the challenge!!

For this challenge I thought I would use one of the new releases called Raquel – I love the new images Robyn came up with!!! I coloured her with my Prismacolor pencils and blended them with Sansodor (UK Gamsol). The paper scraps I used were from a Papermania paper pad called Spring Burst. To complete the card I added some bought crochet trim, some fuchsia flower soft to the flower and made some flowers using two sizes of X-cut Daisy punches and added a rhinestone in the centres.

Here is a closer look at Raquel.

So now you have seen my take on the challenge why not have a go yourself – someone will win 6 digi stamps of their choosing from the Robyn’s Fetish store and you can find a link HERE if you would like to take a look at the images we have for sale.

Also if you love all things paper crafts and would like to meet fellow minded people then why not join us on our new forum HERE and our accompanying gallery HERE

That’s it for this post, ‘talk’ to you all again soon

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Sew Many Cards – Freebie Friday Bear

Hi Everyone

Today see the release of the new Freebie Friday digi stamp over at Sew Many Cards. The freebie this week is an ever so cute teddy bear!!! My mum collects teddy bears so I can see her going made for this image!!!

If you would like to have this freebie image all you need to do is visit the Sew Many cards site HERE to be able to download him.

So I thought rather than just show you the image as it comes in the download I would make a quick card with him for you, well I couldn’t resist playing with him if I’m completely honest!!

So here is the card I made with him!!! I coloured him with my Prismacolor pencils and blended them with Sansodor (UK Gamsol). I chose some Diecuts with a View papers from my scraps bag and to finish the card off I added some ribbon and a buckle, and finally a balloon button and some chord.

Here is a closer look at the bear – Isn’t he just so cute!!!

So please visit the site and download him and if you would like more inspiration with him then why not visit my amazingly talented fellow Design Team members and see what they came up with.

Also don’t forget the New Release sneak peeks for Sew Many Cards that are currently happening!!! You can find a post below dated 29th October that will give you further details and a schedule of which Design Team member is doing the sneak peek on which days.

Well that’s it for this post, ‘speak’ to you all again soon

Crafty hugs Donna xx

The Character Cafe – Witches Brew Challenge

Hi Everyone

This will be my last weekly challenge as a member of the Character Cafe Design Team, unfortunately I’ve had to leave the team due to a conflict of interests now that I am part owner of a different Digi stamp company.

Our challenge this week is hosted my Piali and she set us a Recipe challenge with a difference – to make a card using Halloween papers but not make it a traditional Halloween card but for another occasion instead and it had to be glittery too

So here is the card that I came up with

For my card I used one ot their older images called Fairy Belle and coloured her with my Prismacolor pencils and blended them with Sansodor (UK Gamsol) then I added some clear Sakura Glitter pen over some areas. The papers are from a Diecuts with a View kit that I purchased from QVCUK. To finish the card I cut out my greeting with my ‘Girls are Weird’ Sizzlet dies and covered them with glitter glue, the spiders are cut with a Quickutz die and the legs have been glittered with a Sakura glitter pen and I added some grosgrain and organza ribbon.

Here is a closer look at Fairy Belle – please mind the colouring though as I’m still trying to get the hang of the Prismacolor pencils!!!

So that’s my take on the challenge, why not visit the other Design Team members and see what they came up with!! their blog links are in my sidebar.

If you like the images used here and by the Design Team members then why not visit the store HERE

Speak to you again soon

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Sew Many Cards Release Party Countdown!!!

Welcome to the Sew Many Cards Release Party Countdown Stop #6.

Every day for the next 6 days the Sew Many Cards Design Team will be showing you Sneak Peeks of the new releases for 11/03/09.

Here is the sneak peek for today:

To be a part of the Sew Many Cards Party Release Hop:

-create a post with a link to the hop showing us your Sew Many Cards Creation. (You can get your freebies HERE )

-incluse your guess on what you think the image(s) is/are. Remember that everyday another image or two will have a sneak peek posted.

You have until 11/02/09, midnight, CST to submit your creations.

Earn entries:

-by guessing what the image is (there are 9 in total)- earn up to 9 entries

-for every creation you make using a Sew Many Cards image

-for leaving a comment on the Design Teams personal blogs (you can find the Design Team line up at the Sew Many Cards Ning Community)

There will also be a Scavenger Hunt! Start your hunt HERE. FInd out the name of the stamp used in the creations, leave a comment with your answers. Stop by the Sew Many Cards Shop HERE for help! Everyone who submits the correct answers will be entered into a random drawing to win free digi’s from Sew Many Cards!!!

The hop will start on 10/28 at Angela’s Blog HERE and the Sew Many Cards Ning Group HERE and go through 11/02 with the sneak peeks. The final reveals, winners and new challenge will be posted on 11/03/09 so stay tuned!!!

The scheduled Countdown stops for this event are:

#7 – 10/28 Sarabeth

#6 – 10/29 Donna and Cheri

#5 – 10/30 Jeri

#4 – 10/31 Deanette and Sheila

#3 – 11/01 Kim

#2 – 11/02 Angela

#1 – 11/03 PARTY TIME!!!!!!!!!!

We really look forward to you joining us all for this event.

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Sewn Together Challenge #10

Hi Everyone

Firstly I have to make a HUGE apology that this post is two days late, I’ve had some family issues that have had to take priority but thankfully they are beginning to resolve themselves and I managed to get my card for this weeks Sew Many Cards challenge done!!!

The challenge for this week is a Theme Challenge – to make a card/paper crafts project using any Sewn Together Digi Stamp that has a Thanksgiving/Fall Theme to it (or Autumn as it is called in the UK), you also have to use brads, buttons or flowers (or all of them!)

Although in the UK we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving I was still really excited to do this challenge as I adore working with the stamps that Angela creates. So here is the card that I came up with.

I know I’ve told you this many times before but Angela’s Tiger image called Tayla is my absolute favourite of all the characters she designs, so when I found that she had made an image of Tayla as a Pilgrim then I knew which image I had to use for this weeks challenge. For this card I coloured her with my new Prismacolor pencils (please be kind this is only the second image I’ve coloured with them!) and blended them with Sansodor (UK version of Gamsol). To compliment the image and the theme of the challenge I used some papers from a Diecuts with a View set that I purchased from QVCUK. To finish off the card I added some grosgrain ribbon and some shaped buttons from my stash.

Here is a closer look at Pilgrim Tayla – so what do you think? Isn’t she adorable???

So now you have seen my take on this weeks challenge it is your turn to show us what you can do. You can find all the details on the Sew Many Cards Blog and you can also enter your creation on there too. For more inspiration for this challenge then why not check out my fab Design Team mates blogs – you can find a link to their blogs in my sidebar.

I will be back later today with details on the Sew Many Cards New Release Party – so look out for that!!!

Crafty hugs Donna xx

KLM Designs November Releases Sneak Peek

Hi Everyone

Well can you believe that October is nearly over!!! I can’t! There is always a good side to the end of the month because it means that we are very near to the new releases from KLM Designs being available!!! I have to say that I thought Octobers one’s were amazing BUT the ones for November are brilliant – I can honestly say you are going to love them!!!

As we are near to the launch of these fab digi stamps the Design Team are now allowed to show you a sneak peek of some of what is coming on November.

So would you like to see what KLM Designs have come up with???? Okay I’ll show you – but only one, for now!!!

For my Sneak Peek I decided to use the ever so cute Snowman with Quilt. I just adore snowmen and this one has to be one of the cutest I’ve seen in a long time – the only thing is I’m a bit worried that he might get a bit too warm with that quilt!!!

I chose to colour him with my copic ciao markers and chose my colours to co-ordinate with my patterned papers. The papers are from a Diecuts with a View stack and I cut one of the words from a sheet to use as text on the card. To finish my card I added some organza and satin ribbon and attached a snowman charm with some jump rings.

Here is a closer look at him – so do you agree?? he is cute isn’t he!!!

So now you have seen my sneak peek why not pay a visit to my talented Design Team mates and see what they have to show you, you can find a link to their blogs in my side bar.

Also remember to visit the KLM Designs store in November to be able to get our cute new releases to come to your house so that you too can have fun playing with them.

‘Speak’ to you all again soon

Crafty hugs Donna xx

A Partridge in a pear tree

Hi Everyone

So today I thought I would show you a card I made using one of the new Christmas Sets from Prickley Pear. They are lovely images and the quality of the stamps is brilliant.

I wanted to have a ‘play’ whilst I was working and I didn’t really have any idea in my head of what I was trying to achieve. I just knew that I wanted to use these particular stamps and my Tim Holtz Distress inks.

I started with a piece of white gloss cardstock and added some Fired Brick and Peeled Paint distress ink all over with my blending tool. I also added a tiny amount of Pine Needle to the corners. I then used the Aged Mahogany inkpad to stamp the Partridge in the tree over the top. Once that had dried I inked the outline stamp of the partridge with Shabby Shutters and stamped off the edge of the gloss card, to stop it smudging I dried the images with my heatgun which made the images look like that had been done with a resist technique instead. I also used the text stamp from the set on the gloss card, inked with Fired brick but before I stamped it on there I stamped on scrap paper so that I had a lighter impression.

For the card base I started with plain white cardstock and coloured it with Fried brick and my blending tool. After it was dry I stamped to silhouette partridge with Pine Needle ink and the text with Fired brick, making sure to stamp off the edges too. To tie everything together I also used the Peeled Paint ink and blending tool around the edge of my patterned paper. Finally I added some organza ribbon and a faux metal tag to complete the card.

I’m really pleased with how it turned out and have to say I had a blast just playing!!!! I think I might just have to have another go!!

If you would like any stamps from the Prickley Pear range you can find their online store HERE

‘Speak’ to you all again soon

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Robyn’s Fetish Weekly Challenge #3

Hi Everyone

I cannot believe how quickly the time seems to be passing recently – is it really a week since I posted the last Robyn's Fetish challenge card???

This weeks challenge is a Technique challenge – to make a card/paper crafts project using a Robyn’s Fetish image and stitching on the project – however you cannot use faux stitching or a sewing machine!!!! If you would like to play along with this challenge then please check out the Robyn's Fetish Challenge blog for all the details and how to enter.

For my card this week I wanted to use one of the little girl designs, this one is called Me and My Bear – I think she is really lovely. I coloured her with my copic markers and added some patterned papers from a Diecuts with a View stack. As the challenge was to use stitching a added a stitched border to my card using a pricking template to get the pattern, because of the stitching I only added a greeting sticker from Papermania and some ribbon for Making Memories to complete the card.

Here is a closer look at this sweet little girl and her friend.

So that is what I came up with for the challenge, we would live to see your creations, so why not hop on over to the challenge blog and play along. If you would like more inspiration then why not pay the Design Team members a visit – they have come up with some amazing idea’s this week and would be well worth visiting.

If you have fallen in love with the digital stamps used by the Design Team then you can find them all at our Store

Good luck with the challenge and ‘speak’ to you again soon

Crafty hugs Donna xx

Papertake Weekly Challenge – with The Character Cafe

Hi Everyone

So we have reached Friday again which means it is time for another challenge using the new October releases from The Character Cafe. As previously explained the Design Team members are split into two groups, one group partake in a challenge hosted by a DT member and the other group find a challenge from blogsville to take part in.

For this week I am one of the group doing a challenge from anywhere on the internet – so I have chosen a sketch challenge from Papertake Weekly. You can find all the details and the sketch on their blog.

I decided for my card to use the new Snowman digi stamp. I coloured him with my copic makers and used some matching colours of paper from Diecuts with a View. To finish the card I added some grosgrain ribbon and some meta snowflakes attached with brads.

Here is a closer look at the snowman.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the Design Team’s blogs to see what they came up with for this week.

That’s it for this post

Crafty hugs Donna xx