The Challenge #10 {Colours and/or Sketch}

Please Note: I will be announcing the winners for Challenge #9 On Wednesday.

Hello and welcome to The Challenge! This week I am introducing a colour theme and a sketch! You may combine them or do just the colours or just the sketch! It is your choice! I chose just to use the sketch and not the colours but the design team have all done something different!

We are also excited to welcome Anita Madden as a Guest!

Here are the measurements for Challenge #10...

Card Base: 4.25" x 5.50"

Bottom Half: 4.25" x 4.25" 

Top half: 1.25" x 4.25"

Banner/flag portion: Any size that works for you

Lesley Croghan (that's me)

Anita Madden

Jeanne Jachne

Kimberly Wiener 

Lori Tecler

Goodbye SRM Stickers Design Team {A Fond Farewell}

Wow! A year has flown by and I am so sad to be finished with the SRM Press team. Working with Susan has been wonderful. She is generous and lovely! I enjoyed meeting her when I was in Anaheim for the CHA! Thank you so much, Susan for this amazing opportunity!!

Even though our design team year has come and gone, I will still be designing for the SRM Challenge! Come and play with us!

Below are some of my favourite projects that I made for SRM this past year!

I love making gift sets and I am happy to say that I have used almost all of these projects over the past year!

Verve Stamps {Diva Dare} & SRM Summer Challenge

Today I am sharing a project I made for the current Diva Dare over at Verve Stamps. I have seen the Diva Dare before but I do not think I have ever played along! The theme is masculine {A Man's World} and I made a gift set for my Father In-Law. I used the set called Strong Anchor. I will have to put it away until next year. He is an avid fisherman, so this nautical set was a must!

  

I am also playing along with the current SRM Challenge-The theme is Summer. I used some summery colours and a nautical theme! I also used some Twine from the Twinery and a SRM glassine bag. Love the larger bags...they are easy to fill up with goodies and to decorate! I also made a matching card to fit into the bag...easy peasy!

I think he will enjoy the bag when I fill it up with his favourite chocolate bars, candies and a gift card to Dairy Queen! Yes, he has a sweet tooth! Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you get the chance to craft soon!

Viva la Verve {Hello Friend}

I am playing catch up with the sketches over at Viva la Verve! I always really like their sketches as they have lots of room for layers but are "clean" style too! They inspire me! Today I went about using one of their sketches and I had BIG hopes for this card...in my mind it was much more elegant! LOL! Isn't that always the way? I hope you like it...it was fun to make even if it did not turn out as expected.

I inked up a new set from Verve called Hope Blooms! I LOVE floral images especially ones that look like gerber daisies and it comes with lots of sweet sentiments! I inked up the flowers with some Memento Tuxedo Ink and my Copic markers. I left the background black and white as inspired by the inspiration photo that went with the sketch. I did not add gold, but focused on the flowers mixed with black and white.

Seize the Sketch #23 (Celebrate a Sweet Birthday}

Hello! It is time for a brand new sketch over at Seize the Sketch! I created a card that is a bit busier than my usual style. The rest of the team created very cool cards and I think I need to try this sketch again...you may see one more card from me soon!

I used a lot of Stampin' Up goodies on this card! I used some of the new designer paper called All Abloom and two stamp sets called Cycle Celebration and Petite Petals Punch set.

Come and play along with us! We would love to see you at Seize the Sketch!

The Challenge #9 Reminder

There is still a week left to play along with The Challenge #9! 

I inked up a new MFT Stamp set and got out a fun paper that I found in my stash this weekend while cleaning/purging my craftroom.

Come and play along by clicking HERE!

Craftroom Clean Up (with photos) and Viva la Verve {Thank You}

What a great weekend. I had a super time with some good friends yesterday! It was nice to hang out and connect. I ate WAY too much food! I am STILL full. I think I will be digesting all day today. Boy, it was yummy! I have been stamping up a storm this morning. It feels so good to have my organized room back. I carefully cleaned up after each card I made today. Yesterday I tackled the disaster of my craft space. It was bad...I took photos (nope, you are not seeing the floor) and I have a before/after reveal.

Yes I have a bottle of wine in my room...no I am not drinking it...it is there for tags and wine bottle photos for some projects I make! LOL! I cannot believe I am sharing the mess! Please no judging! 

Everything was piled up and it was a complete disaster...is your room this bad full? My room gets like this when I am super busy but have design team commitments...anyway, an hour of hard work and major recycling, I went to work and got back my desk area. It feels amazing and my card making mojo returned!

I made a card for the current Viva la Verve Challenge. Love the sketch and colours!

 

I kept my card simple. I was excited to ink up some new Verve goodies! I LOVE sunflowers and these pretty blooms seemed to go well with the colour combo. I found some gingham paper in my stash too...I have had it for a LONG time...I found it when I cleaned up yesterday! It was meant for this card I think!

CASE this Sketch, FUSION & Colour Me {Thinking of You}

Felt good to craft tonight. I am working on reorganizing my craftroom...I have been neglecting my craft space and only crafting for design team deadlines. This means I craft quickly and do not have the time to tidy up after myself. Yep...an awful mess is in my craftroom...tomorrow I am tackling it!

I played along with a couple of challenges. Did you see that my FUSION team is working with the ladies over at CASE this Sketch? Cool hey! So I went to work and made a card using the sketch and I used the colours from Colour Me. I couldn't resist the pretty combo this week! It is one of my favourite colour palettes!

I was excited to use some new Stampin' Up goodies. I used a new pretty floral set called Flower Patch. It also has matching dies. I used the set to create the flower and leaves on my card. I wanted a smaller sentiment and so I used one from Verve. The pattern paper is also from Stampin' Up and new...it is called All Abloom.

  

Winners for The Challenge #8

Here are the winners for The Challenge #8...remember, the main winner is invited to be my guest designer...if he or she would like to join me.

As I mentioned before, it is really "challenging" for me to choose winners...I adore everyone's card and I know that each card is created from the heart! But I know as a card maker, I love the thrill of being highlighted at a challenge...and so I have chosen One Main "Winner" and a Top 3. I have also explained why I have chosen these cards. 

My main Winner is:

Anita Madden

I just loved Anita's bold use of colour! The papers and her exquisite colouring skills make this card a knockout!

Congrats, Anita!  If you would like to join me as a Guest Designer for the next challenge, please email me by clicking the MAIL icon in the top right hand corner of my blog banner. It looks like a little envelope!

My Top 3 picks are (in alphabetical order):

Michele Duffy

Michele's work is new to me...wow, what a wonderful card she created! Gold embossing, cool pattern paper and a funky sentiment! Love it all!

Narelle Farrugia

I adore everything Narelle created but I especially love it when she uses colours in creative waves! Blue leaves...yum! Gorgeous card!

Harriet Skelly

Harriet's work is always inspiring to me! I LOVE the paper she used but the elegant butterfly steals the show on this exquisite card!

Congrats to all the participants!

Don't forget, Challenge #9 is on right now...to join in the fun, please CLICK HERE!