Elzybells Blog

Challenge #23

It's time for a new challenge and I know how much you love sketches, so here's one I have lined up for you for this week...

 

 

 

 

Here's my take on the sketch with a little get well note.

 

Stamps used:

20-018 Chicken in

20-036 Mini messages - little hello

 

Here are what a few of the DT came up with

 

Deborah

Frances

Jeanne

Michelle

Steph

 

If you would like to play along with this challenge you have one week to link your creations to this post. Next Thursday I will choose my favourite creation and that person will win a £5 elzybells voucher to spend online! The only rule is that the stamps used be elzybells stamps.

You do not have to stick strictly to the sketch, it's just a starting point for your layout. Have fun with it, I can't wait to see what you come up with!!

 

 

Now before I go, I just *have* to tell you that we have our new Summer release coming next week and you are gonna absolutely fall head over heels in love with the new images I've been working on!!

I'm so excited for you to see what we have - these new stamps are by FAR my favourite release this year!!!!

 

Please drop by on Monday as the DT and I will have the first round of sneak peeks to share... I CAN'T WAIT!!!

...and just to tease you, because I'm mean like that ;) here's a tiny snippet.

 Do you want to see more...??

 

I'm a little late announcing last week's challenge winner (I'm sorry!) however, I think it was worth the wait...

 

The challenge was to create a card using your own country's colours. So how about this wonderful creation by Sunghee - it's amazing!! I love all the little details especially the towel rail and how the towel has also been stamped with the word relax :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can find out more on Sunghee's blog:

http://www.creativityinprogress.com/blog/mommy-needs-to-relax

 

Sunghee, please email me and I'll give you your coupon code :)

 

Following last month's birthday celebrations, the blog is now getting back to normal and it's Thursday which means it's challenge day!!

Given that it's the 4th of July on Saturday, I thought it'd be great for today's challenge to be an idea from 'retired' dt member Paula - to create a card that includes the colours of your country's flag!

 

Now I didn't realise how much I would struggle with these colours, they're definitely not what I would usually go for (I think it's because it reminds me of my old school uniform!). So as I wasn't getting much inspiration, I thought I'd just have a play with some blue, red and white fimo and I made some odd shaped beads.

Here's my simple card:

 

 

You can't see it in the photo, but the fimo has some lovely sparkly glitter in it! :)

 

Visit the following DT's blogs to see what they came up with!

 

Angel (USA)

Charlene (Canada)

Deborah (USA)

Frances (Australia)

Jeanne (USA)

Kim (UK)

Michelle (UK)

Steph (UK)

 

If you'd like to have a go at this challenge and be in with a chance to win £5 to spend in the online shop, you have one week to link your creation to the comments of this post. I will pick my favourite and announce the winner on Thursday!

 

 

 

I have a winner for last week's recycle challenge!

CARLY ROBERTSON!!

 

I was so impressed with how Carly recycled an ordinary CD case. I have a few cases lying around myself so can't wait to give it a go!!

 

 

Visit carly's blog for more pictures and information!

http://carly-robertson.blogspot.com/2009/05/elzybells-challenge-21-recycle.html 

 

Carly, please email me and I'll let you know your coupon code :)

 

 

Challenge 21

 

This fortnight's challenge has been set by Kim and it's a good un'! The challenge is to recycle and you can interpret this as you wish!

 

I decided to recycle an old jam jar and turn it into a Summer tea light holder.

 

I tried stamping the daisy directly onto the glass. The plan was to then colour using glass paints but it's near impossible to get a perfect image without any smudging as the surface is round and so slippery! So after many failed attempts (I didn't give up without a fight!) I decided to stamp the daisy onto some thin white tissue paper and stuck it onto the glass with glue. It was a bit fiddly but it did save me colouring them in afterwards.

I then added some yellow liquid pearls in the daisy centres, added some wire for hanging and a little bow.

 

 

 

 

My favourite creation from the design team is by Charlene who recycled a cardboard cheese container and also the light blue trim is from some suede-like perfume packaging!

 

  

 

  

 

It just goes to show, you can make a beautiful gift on a limited budget, you just have to be imaginative!

To see what the rest of the design team came up with, check out the link in the right sidebar (challenge 21) or visit their blogs for more information on what has been recycled. Jeanne will have a tutorial today showing how to recreate her gold and silver background which I'm looking forward to seeing!

 

If you would like to play along with this challenge you have one week to link your creations to this post. Next Thursday I will choose my favourite creation and that person will win a £5 elzybells voucher to spend online! I'm really interested to see what you can come up with and I'll be looking out for who has been the most imaginative with the item they are recycling!

 

Boy, what a week!

The weekend really couldn't come quick enough for me. Being a bank holiday on Monday, we've worked tirelessly to get all orders despatched so you'll have them in time to play over the long weekend :)

By the sounds of it we have some glorious sunshine coming our way so I hope you all have a chance to enjoy it...

 

 

 

If you play along with the challenges, you will have read on our most recent challenge that I'm changing the format a little - instead of all the participants being put into a random draw at the end of the month, from now on, you'll have a chance to win on very challenge!

I will pick my personal favourite from all the cards submitted for each challenge!

- - Oh my word, I never realised this would be such a difficult task!! Challenge 20 was that your card must include more than one fold. There have been some amazing cards submitted where obviously a lot of thought and time have gone into creating them. I could have quite easily picked four or five winners, but alas I can only choose one.

So, the winner for challenge 20 is Anne Ray with this creation

You can visit Anne's blog for more details here.
Anne, can you please drop me an email and I'll let you know your voucher code!

 

... Ok, well as it is the first challenge where I pick the winner, maybe I could choose just one more... check out Paul Ford's amazing creation!

 

The reason why I like it is because it's so different to what everyone else (including me) thought of for this challenge!

Here's Paul's blog so you can find out more :)

 

 

As I said, it's a bank holiday weekend so Elzybells HQ will be closed on Monday. Orders will not be processed until Tuesday and I won't have access to my emails until then either. If there's anything urgent, you can email me through the blog.

 

Have a bright and cheery weekend!

... I feel a picnic coming on... :)

 

 

At last - my challenge card!

Here's my late but now finished card for this week's challenge, which was to use more than one fold. I hope it was worth the wait?!

 

 

All the colouring has been done with koh-i-noors and OMS. For the sky I roughly sketched some clouds with the light blue pencil first and then just worked the colour around them. For the extra flowers along the glass I inked up only a flower and blade of grass on the ladybug fun stamp and stamped randomly. I actually used a marvey pen to ink up the parts I wanted and suddenly panicked, (having stamped them all) that being water based, the OMS would smudge it - but to my surprise it actually stayed put! 

 

 

And I couldn't resist a few flowers popping up on wire and the ladybug flying over. For this I simply pierced a small hole along the fold, fed the wire through and secured it with tape on the underneath of the card. Green wire would have looked great but I had to make do with what I had.

 

 

I hope you like!

 

 

Challenge 20

It's challenge day today and I'm so sorry for posting so late in the day. We had a few niggles earlier with the online shop, having switched servers so I've been busy sorting through that (my web designers are awesome!) and catching up on today's orders. If you have experienced problems ordering yesterday / today, the bugs should all now be fixed.

 

The challenge this fortnight has been set by Elzybelle, Steph and it is to create a card with more than one fold. Hopefully this will get you thinking outside of the box if you're in a rut with your cardmaking. I rarely make cards with more than one fold so I've been enjoying this one!

I'm actually a little late with my challenge card. It's half way there but I need another day to finish it. I hope you're not too upset with me!! I will edit this post on Saturday to include my card when I announce the blog candy winner... :)

 

 

So here are a couple of my favourite's from the DT's challenge cards (I must be in a green mood). All the cards can be viewed by clicking the link on the right under the challenge menu and you can visit the DT's blogs for more information.

 

Here's Charlene's card. I think its simplicity and fresh colours are amazing - and the buttons are as cute as, well - a button!!

 

 

 

 

and here's Paula's card:

 

 

 

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! (...I'm drooling).

Paula used the gold and silver koh-i-noors on the baubles! Also, be sure to check out Jeanne's fabulously sweet card, where she has blended the gold and silver koh-i-noors with OMS.

 

I hope the DT's cards inspire you to play along with the challenge!

To take part, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post with a direct link to your card. I'm changing how it works from now on - - - for the challenges, instead of being entered into a draw at the end of the month, I'm actually going to pick my favourite card from all the entries on each challenge and the winner will receive a £5 voucher to spend in the online shop!!

 

You have a week to submit your creations, I'll post the winner next Thursday.

So get your creative caps on and I look forward to seeing what you come up with!!

 

 

 

 

Challenge 19

Yep, it's challenge time!!! This fortnight's challenge is a great sketch by Rachel (I know you love the sketches!) and the design team have some wonderful ideas to inspire you.

Here's the sketch:

 

 

Here's my attempt:

 

Although I enjoyed this sketch, I can't help thinking I could have done better - especially having seen Rachel's fabulous card!! How do you like this...!

 

 I especially like the pompoms, they're like little balls of wool! :)

 

(inside)

 

 

The rest of the design team's cards are shown in the challenge gallery in the right sidebar. To play along with the challenge all you have to do is add a comment to this post with the link to your creation within the next 2 weeks. The only rule is to use Elzybells stamps on the whole. You do not have to stick strictly to the sketch, it's just a starting point for your layout.

 

Have fun with it, I can't wait to see what you come up with!!

 

 

 

Challenge 18

This fortnight's challenge is being set by me - it's inside out!

Often with the beautiful cards we create the insides get forgotten. So for this challenge you must co-ordinate your inside with your outside - and why not go the whole hog - don't forget a matching envelope too!

 

Here's the card I came up with -

 

 

The paper is from the Papermania black & white pack. The little heart I stamped on the inside goes perfectly with the paper!

The design team have some fabulous samples to inspire you. Here's just one of my favourite's by Paula.

 

 

 

To see the other DT creations, just click on the link in the right sidebar - challenge 18, you'll love them!

To play along with the challenge, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post with a direct link to your creation within the next two weeks. The only rule is that elzybells stamps be used.

As always, everyone who plays along will be added to a draw at the end of the month for a chance to win a voucher to spend online.

I look forward to seeing what you create!