Challenge 7 - Stitching- Real or Faux x

Hey guys, hope you're having a lovely bank holiday Easter Weekend and have happy bellies full of lovely chocolate x Healthy eating starts again tomorrow lol :-) It's been a lovely weekend for hubby and I with very dear friends coming to stay - lots of drinking, eating, and general overindulgence - bliss :-D x

I want to say a massive thank you to everyone that joined us for the challenge last month - I really enjoyed seeing the beautiful creations and loved celebrating friendship for the month x I've run the numbers though the Random Number Generator again and the winner for the Friendship challenge is:

Gail

Congratulations sweetie – I’ll add your card to the winners wall today x If you email me at flatfriendsboutique@gmail.com with your choice of 4 digis I’ll get them over to you. You can grab your winners badge from the sidebar too – any probs let me know x

As you can see from the title above this month’s challenge is ‘Stitching - real or faux’ - I've developed a big soft spot for stitching on cards so I can't wait to see everyone's lovely creations for this one x x

A winner will be chosen using the Random Number Generator and announced on the 1^st of May (when we launch the next challenge). They will have their choice of 4 free Flat Friends digi’s and their card will feature on our Wall of Fame for the month.

As always a Flat Friends digi must be used for your creation but there are some freebies that can be used if you don't already own one of my designs which can be accessed from the freebies tab above x

Okay I’ll leave you to have a look though the lovely inspiration we’ve got from the design team this month – it would appear our lovely gals are all pretty handy with a needle and thread :-) Thank you ladies - stunning creations as always x x 

Digi Hugs and xx's

Hi everyone, it's Audrey!  I am using the darling Millie Birthday image from Flat Friends.  I colored this wonderful image with Copics and cut out with a stitched die from L'il Inker Designs - die is actually a square, but I altered it to fit the image.  I added another stitched die cut piece behind it, leaving that one a square.  I found this awesome stitched ribbon from Paper Mart.  Cardstock used is Core-dinations and American Crafts, Designed paper is from My Mind's Eye.  I added a flower from Wild Orchid Crafts and sentiment from Just Rite Stamps that is cut with another L'il Inkers die.  Sure hope you like it and will come join the challenge!!

Hey everyone, Kathy here, I love to sew on my cards, I think it adds such a little something extra. So for this one I just gave it some zig zag stitching with my machine. I used this adorable Graduation Celebration image called,  Hope you are all having a great start to April and will find some time to play along with us. 

Hi Everyone, It's Patty! Here is my card for this month's challenge.  It was a quick make as I left it to the last minute!!!!  I used one of Emma's new imaged Cheerleader,  I coloured her with my Prismacolor pencils .   I used my Spellbinders Oval die to cut out a bright pink oval and cut her outlining and matted on the pink oval  I then layered the pink oval on top of a design paper (don't remmember who's it is!) I then I used my Sew easy Zig Zag to stitched a pink border on top of the design paper around the edges. All of the papers used were from my crafty stash on top of my table.  Added the Spanish sentiment Feliz Feliz Feliz Cumpleanos which means Happy Happy Happy Birthday! and finished with some faux stiched on the bottom border.

Hi it's Sally here.  Happy Easter everyone from snowy Germany! Yes, its snowing on Easter Sunday!!! Brrr! Anyway, Here is my card for this month's challenge.  It was a quick make as I left it to the last minute!!!!  I had one of Emma's imaged already printed so I coloured her with my new Graph it pens.  I really like how they blend and the colours are vibrant. I used my Spellbinders dies to cut her out and matted on black and faux stitched around the edges. I found a piece of patchwork paper in my crafty stash, I think it is from one of my Polkadoodles CD Roms, not sure which one though. Matted it on black and again faux stitched around it. Added another layer which is a Spellbinder die also as it has the holes pierced around the inner  rim and again made it look like stitching. Added a piece of Gingham ribbon and a sentiment and of course a bit of glitter! 

Hi all, Sarah speaking - so stitching, eh!  Well I normally make do with faux stitching but as I went and broke my pokey tool trying to do that on this card - I took the plunge and got out my (well my mother-in-law's!) old Singer sewing machine.  I don't think I did too bad for my first attempt in ages at machine stitching on cards, even if I do say so myself!

I used a freebie digi of Emma's that you will find on the blog, coloured with my Promarkers and then used one of my Nestie labels to cut her out.  Some flowers, a flourish - both Memory Box dies - sentiment, heart and he presto you have a birthday card.

Hope you like!

Em - Hey guys x I was really looking forward to this challenge as I’d wanted to give stitching a go for a while. For my card I decided to go with the ‘Foxy Friend’ digi, and went with My Mind’s Eye papers again (yes I am obsessed) the pink paper is from the ‘Happier’ paper pad and the Yellow/Orange one is from the ‘Away We Go’ paper pad. I used the ‘Hey Buddy’ stamp from ‘Simply Said’ stamp set by Paper Smooches with the Antique Linen Ink Pad by Tim Holtz but you can't see it very well on the photo I'm afraid. To make the holes for the stitching I used the ‘Sew Easy Stitch Piercer’ (which I must admit is ‘Sew Easy’ to use) :-) For the stitching itself I just matched some embroidery threads as well as I could from my thread stash. I can’t decide if I’m happy with this card or not but I didn’t dislike it enough to start from scratch which must be a good sign :-D x x

Challenge 6 - Friendship x

Hey guys, hope you’ve had a lovely February full of flipping pancakes and romantic valentines treats :-) We’ve got some exciting news this month as we have a new (and extremely lovely) DT lady on our team. Her name is Audrey, she’s super talented, and we’re very happy to have her joining us. You can check out her lovely blog at http://hippieaud.blogspot.com x So official hugs and hello’s to you Audrey – loving working with you already x

As always I want to say a big thank you to the girls who joined us on the challenge last month – I really enjoyed the inspiration as I’m trying to get into using die cuts now I’m making cards myself - looks like all of my pocket money pennies will be going towards them in the future :-D I ran the numbers though the Random Number Generator again and the winner for the challenge is:

Ruth

Congratulations me dears – I’ll add your card to the winners wall today x If you email me at flatfriendsboutique@gmail.com using verification code FFC5 with your choice of 4 digis I’ll get them over to you. You can grab your winners badge from the sidebar too – any probs let me know x

As you can see from the title above this month’s challenge is ‘Friendship’ so we’re looking for cute cards for friends :-) I’m sure we’ve all got some lovely friendships to celebrate so hopefully this should be a nice theme – I’m really looking forward to seeing what people do with this one :-D 

A winner will be chosen using the Random Number Generator and announced on the 1^st of April (when we launch the next challenge). They will have their choice of 4 free Flat Friends digi’s and their card will feature on our Wall of Fame for the month.

As always a Flat Friends digi must be used for your creation but there are some freebies that can be used if you don't already own one of my designs which can be accessed from the freebies tab above x

Okay I’ll leave you to have a look though the gorgeous inspiration we’ve got from the design team this month – I’ve been having major swoons over these ones – soooo cute!! Thank you ladies – fabtastic as always x x

Big love & Digi Hugs x x

Audrey here, I am the new kid on the block and so thrilled to be part of the Flat Friends DT. I have chosen "Goldi" image from the Fairy Tales category.  I thought she was perfect with her 3 little bear friends. I colored her with Copics and cut out with Sizzix dies.  I have added SU designer paper and cardstock from Bazzill and Taylored Expressions.  My sentiment is from Inky Antics and is cut with MFT die - I think the words fit perfectly with the image.  Ribbon added is from my stash:

Hi everyone, Kathy here. I've made a sweet little card for a friend with Love Ewe image. I think I'll put a sentiment inside that uses a play on words with ewe, like "Thinking of Ewe". I've colored her with copics and added a bitty Trendy Twine bow to her hair and paired her with some Crate papers. The little sheep is coated with flock for a bit of texture. Hope you will take some time and play along this month!

Sally - Hi folks, this is my "Friends" Challenge for this month. I chose this image as I am sure everyone needs a big hug now and again. I coloured the image using promarkers and flexmarkers. I chose some background papers from my crafty stash and mounted the image on one of my favourite Spellbinder dies. I added a sentiment from Cherry Blossom Lane CD Rom from Polkadoodles and that is it:

Hi all, Sarah here.  So for my card I decided to go bright - do y'think it's bright enough?  I used a Memory Box corner swirl, which I've chopped into pieces and dug out some very bright flowers from one of my (ahem) many boxes.  I layered two flowers up and finished off with a brad. I coloured the image with Promarkers and edged all the papers with one of the same pens that I'd coloured with and swiped some ink all over as well.

The sentiment is one I've had for ages and I inked around it while it was still in the die.  I thought maybe it could be sent to a friend who needs a hug:

Em - Hiya guys x For my card I decided to go with the ‘Deer Friend’ digi and tried to make an outdoor scene for the layout as I thought it would fit quite nicely with the design. For supplies I used the Marshmallow clouds' die from Memory Box, the blue paper for the sky came from the 'Away We Go' My Mind's Eye paper pad, and the Green Paper which I cut for grass came from the 'Dwell' My Mind's Eye paper pad. To lift the front of the card up to give a bit of a 3d effect for the cloud I used some foam squares. I had originally intended to put a ‘Deer Friend’ sentiment on the front to make it fit nicely with the month’s challenge theme but made the mistake of sticking everything down and then realising I didn’t have a perfect spot to place a sentiment lol :-D To solve the problem (aka cheat) I decorated the inside of the card too and added the sentiment there (pic on my personal blog). Everyday’s a learning day as a card making newbie but I’m loving it  :-) x x

Challenge 5 – To Die For x

Hiya guys, I can’t believe it’s been a month since our last competition! Where did January go? It’s a bit of a blur with the snow and the below zero temperatures – I’ve been carrying my hot water bottle around with me all month :-D Hope you’ve all been having fun snow angel’ing your way around :-)  x 

Before we start we’ve got a little bit of sad news as we’re saying goodbye to a couple of our gorgeous DT girls – Fabi & NJ. It’s with a heavy heart that I say farewell as we absolutely loved having them on the team and I’ll always be thankful for all the help they gave me whilst we were getting this site going (as I literally had no idea what I was doing) :-D I’m sure you’ll join me and the girls in wishing them the best for the future and, thanks to the wonderful lands of Blogger and Facebook, we’ll be able to keep in contact with them (and an eye on their gorgeous work) in the future.

We will probably look to add a couple more peeps to the team over the next couple of months but I thought I’d take this opportunity to give myself the kick up the bottom I needed to get going at card making myself {{{nervous}}} so I’ll be joining in with the girls for a bit to keep the numbers up – be kind – I’m a card making newbie :-D

Right, on with business – a massive thank you to everyone who joined in with us last month – there were some truly beautiful cards and it always makes my day when I see a new entry – I don’t think that feeling will ever go away – I just love seeing the digi’s being played with! - Thanks for keeping the smile on my face throughout the cold month of January ladies x x I ran the numbers though the Random Number Generator again and the winner for the White on White challenge is:

Donna

Congratulations chick – I’ll add your card to the winners wall today x If you email me at flatfriendsboutique@gmail.com using verification code FFC4 with your choice of 4 digis I’ll get them over to you. You can grab your winners badge from the sidebar too – any probs let me know x

As you can see from the title above this month’s challenge is ‘To Die For’ so we’re looking for cards where a die cut has been used – doesn’t matter which one - any die will do :-) I’m super excited about this challenge as I got my first ever die cutting machine recently and it will be really nice for me to get some ideas for the shopping list (sorry to hubster if you’re reading this – could be an expensive month) :-D

A winner will be chosen using the Random Number Generator and announced on the 1^st of March (when we launch the next challenge). They will have their choice of 4 free Flat Friends digi’s and their card will feature on our Wall of Fame for the month.

As always a Flat Friends digi must be used for your creation but there are some freebies that can be used if you don't already own one of my designs which can be accessed from the freebies tab above x

There’s some seriously cute inspiration from the design team this month – thank you ladies – they truly are To Die For as always x x x

Happy Crafting & Digi Hugs x x

Hi, it's Kathy here! I rarely make a card with out dies, they are one of my favorite crafty tools. For this challenge I just had to use Crafting- To Die For. Isn't she cute? Perfect for cards for those crafty friends who you know will appreciate (and not throw out) a lovely hand made card! I colored her up and paired her with some Nestabilities oval dies, MFT border and rolled rose dies, and a PTI banner die. Hope you will join the challenge and show us what die cuts you love.

Hello Patty Here! Mostly all of my cards has some dies or cut out.... today my dies and my cutting machine are the most use and love craft tool i have.  I used Paige I Love you- which will be great for Valentine's day, maybe add some hearts or pink & white layers. I colored her with my prismacolors pencils.

Sally - Hi everyone, this is my favourite card so far using this wonderful image. I coloured her with promarkers and cut her out. I embossed some white pearlescent cardstock using a large Spellbinders embossing folder, and went over it with pan pastels. Cut out a window/ aperture using the new dies from Tonic, cut out again and then put acetate through an embossing folder which looks like pouring rain on the window panes. Stamped the image on a piece of card, coloured it in and adhered it to the window pane. I adhered the window to the outside of the aperture with Pinflair 3D glue. Matted and layered the window card onto baby blue and navy cardstock. Cut out a Spellbinders fancy label and adhered the sentiment "Sorry you are feeling under the weather" on top!

Sarah Hello everybody, can't believe it's February and time for a new challenge!!  My the time is flying along already!

So my card - I used Geeky, from the Back to School collection (and boy it took me a long time to decide which image to use, they are all soooo fab!). I coloured with my Promarkers then cut her out first with Floral Ovals die from Spellbinders, I then dusted Spun Sugar Distress Ink around the image, while it was still in the frame, then went back and die cut her out again with an Oval nesties die.  I then stuck the image directly to the patterned paper, stuck down the hearts border, Memory Box: Twirled Heart, over the image but under the frame which I popped up on 3d foam for depth.  The heart in the corner is waste from the border - and voila! The card you see before you.

Thanks for listening!

Em – Hi again guys x For my card I went with the Taylor ‘Camping Day’ digi along with papers from the My Mind’s Eye ‘Away We Go’ paper pad which I’m absolutely in love with. I’m developing a serious addiction for My Mind’s Eye papers and have a sneaky stash growing in my craft cupboard ready to be played with – they’re ridiculously cute and I wish I could decorate my whole house with them :-D For the dies I went with ‘Labels Eight’ from the Spellbinders Nestabilities collection and the ‘Marshmallow Clouds’ die from Memory Box. I cranked them through my new best friend Mr Big Shot and built up the layers using foam pads. I really really enjoyed making this and loving being an official team member – could get used to this card making! :-D x x 

Hopping Again :-) x

Yayyy it's Friday and time for another challenge over at Polkadoodles :-D We're lucky enough to be working with their gorgeous team again this week on a new blog hop and if you enter you’ll have the chance to win some goodies from the lovely Polkadoodles store.

You can find the free digi to use and the full rules for the hop HERE – good luck :-)

If you've come to my blog from Shell along the hop then you're at the finish line but if you got lost along the way just go back to the Polkadoodle Challenge blog as the full list of participants is there. Don't forget that you need to leave a comment on each of the blogs to be in with a chance of winning the Polkadoodle prize x x

The Blog Hop will end at 12noon on Sunday the 20th of January along with the challenge - so good luck and happy hopping!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Nikky and all the lovely design team ladies over at Polkadoodles - it's been a real treat getting to see all of their gorgeous cards.

Have a lovely weekend everyone x x

Blog Hop :-) x

Hiya guys, we’re doing a blog hop in conjunction with the lovely ladies over at Polkadoodles this week and you have the opportunity to win some goodies by entering their weekly challenge.

You can find the full details and a free digi to use HERE along with some gorgeous inspiration from the design team :-)

Don’t forget that you need to leave a comment on each of the blogs to have a chance at winning the Polkadoodle prize x

The blog hop will end at 12 noon on Sunday January 13^th along with the challenge so good luck and happy hopping! x x 

Challenge 4 – Put a Bling on it x

Hey guys Happy New Year!!! I hope you’re all feeling okay this morning and that you had an amazing Christmas break – mine has been perfect – full of family, friends, and some serious overindulgence! I’ve been wayyy to scared to brave the bathroom scales and, as has become tradition every year, I’ll be avoiding them until January is out of the way and I’ve been really good for a month :-D

Anywho, onto business – first I’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who joined in on our challenge last month. I loved all the cards and really enjoyed the white on white theme – such simple elegant designs – gorgeous. I've run the numbers though the Random Number Generator again and the winner for the White on White challenge is:

Heather

Congratulations hun – I’ll add your card to the winners wall today x If you email me at flatfriendsboutique@gmail.com using verification code FFC3 with your choice of 4 digis I’ll get them over to you. You can grab your winners badge from the sidebar too – any probs let me know x

As you can see from the title above this month’s challenge is ‘Put a Bling on it’ – we thought it may be nice to continue the glitz and glamour of last night into the New Year so we’re looking for glitter/rhinestones/sparkles (basically anything that makes it gorgeous and blingtastic) :-)

A winner will be chosen using the Random Number Generator and announced on the 1^st of February (when we launch the next challenge). They will have their choice of 4 free Flat Friends digi’s and their card will feature on our Wall of Fame throughout January.

As always a Flat Friends digi must be used for your creation but there are a couple of freebies that can be used if you don't already own one of my designs which can be accessed from the freebies tab above x

Okay – that’s enough from me – I’m off to enjoy New Years Day with some gorgeous friends :-) As always, I’ll leave you to look at the beautiful inspiration from the DT – a massive thanks from me to them - stunning as always and seriously blingtastic x x

Happy Crafting & Digi Hugs x x

Kathy - Happy New Year everyone! May 2013 be the best year yet! I love bling and use it on almost every creation. When I saw this new Cheerleader image, I knew she would be fun to bling up! I've used plenty of stickles on her pom poms and outfit. I also glazed her boots for some shine (who wouldn't want green leather boots, right?). I added a few rhinestones to the sentiment as well. Hope you will join us for this bling-tastic challenge!

NJ - Hello lovelies and a very Happy New Year from me. I hope you have all had a wonderful time over the festive season and looking forward to a great 2013. Now I absolutely love this theme as bling is just right up my street! LOL I have used Taylorbell and I wanted to just use 2 sparkly colours so I have gone for silver & black. I wanted to do something a little different so I have coloured her with Sakura Gelly Roll Pens Silver Star and Black Sparkle. I chose not to add any other colour as I wanted to keep the focus on the glitz and glamour of a New Year Celebration. I like the fact too she has a wand and then she can make all your New Year Wishes come true! Hopefully..lol.... Happy New Year Lots of love NJ XXX

Sally - Happy New Year Girlies! Let's hope it is a good one! Here is my card for the New Year Challenge, using Taylor. I have glitzed her up using lots of glitter, cut her out and then chose some card stock from my crafty stash. Cut out a scalloped circle using Spellbinder's dies and cut scalloped ovals using Sizzix dies. Chose a sentiment and adhered it to a Spellbinder's flower.

Sarah - And a very Happy New Year to you all too!  I hope 2013 brings all that you could hope for.  I also used Taylorbell for my image, I thought those wings would look fab all blinged up and they do! I added some of my favourite papers, die cuts and some rhinestones and there you go - my first card of the New Year.  Looking forward to seeing more of your fabulous entries in this month's challenge.

Challenge 3 - White on White with a Splash of Colour x

Hi guys, thanks for popping by again – last month went by sooo quickly – I can’t believe it’s very almost Xmas!! :-) I’m so excited - Christmas is by far my fav. time of year - you’ll struggle to find me without a grin on my face in the weeks leading up to the big day :-D I’m guessing the festive tunes will go full pelt on the radio today and I’ll hopefully be watching a few DVD Crimbo classics over the weekend lol x

Right onto business :-) I want to say a massive thanks to everyone who joined in on the challenge last month – we really enjoyed looking at your beautiful cards x x I've run the numbers though the Random Number Generator again and the winner for the Dots & Stripes challenge is:

Ruth

Congratulations hun – I’ll add your card to the winners wall today x If you email me at flatfriendsboutique@gmail.com using verification code FFC2 with your choice of 4 digis I’ll get them over to you. You can grab your winners badge from the sidebar too – any probs let me know x

As you can see from the title above this month’s challenge is ‘White on White with a Splash of Colour’ or 'Color' for our friends across the water :-) It's a fitting theme I think as it looks like we'll all be surrounded in white this month if the weather forecasts are anything to go by :-D 

As always a Flat Friends digi needs to be used for your creation but I’ve designed an Xmas freebie so everyone can play along. I’ve called it ‘Crimbo Shopping’ and if you click on the picture below you’ll be taken to a download of the black and white PNG digi file. I’ve tested the link on a couple of web browsers but if any of you have any problems accessing the file just drop me an email at flatfriendsboutique@gmail.com and I’ll get it sent over to you directly x

A winner will be chosen using the Random Number Generator and announced on the 1^st of January (when we launch the next challenge). They will have their choice of 4 free Flat Friends digi’s and their card will feature on our Wall of Fame throughout the month.

Okay that’s enough from me – I'm off to crank up the radio and get going on the decorations :-) As always our gorgeous DT have come up with some beautiful inspiration for us all so I’ll leave you to check out their creations.

Happy Crafting & Crimbo Digi Hugs x 

Hi, it's Kathy here. I love white on white cards, so elegant! I think all the white gives a snowy feel, too, so that is what I went with using Skate Away With Me. I used lots of embossing folders to get some texture on all that white cardstock:

NJ - Hello lovelies, as this theme is white on white with a splash of colour...straight away I knew I wanted to add lots of texture. I have used handmade papers, leaves, a flower, ribbon and pearls and kept the colour tones very similar. I love her carrying the tree!

Hi, it's Patty here. I love white on white cards, there so elegant! I think all the white gives the cards a elegant feel and so clean that anything looks amazing on white.  I used Prom Date, with lots of embossing layers of white and just add the cut out oval with the colored digi and embellish with a red bow:

Sally - Hi, I coloured my image using flexmarkers added a touch of glitter and a flower on her dress and added a dew drop for the centre. Embossed a background, using an embossing folder from Spellbinders, matted it on silver card, tied a white sheer ribbon and added a bow and then embellished it with a few flowers in the corners and added a sentiment "Special Sister":

Sarah here - Oooh White on White (or WoW) cards love 'em!  The freedom it gives you with colour choices for your image is fantastic. Then you can really go to town with the embossing, die-cuts, ribbons, etc, etc, etc!

I really had fun making this one, hope you like it too: