Happy New Year!

It's the end of another year.  I hope, like me, you've had a wonderful holiday season.  My teamies at Everybody Art Challenge  are taking a well deserved vacation and will return on 28 January so I have an opportunity to enjoy playing along with lots of other challenges.   I am so grateful to the creative Blog teams who select new themes for their challenges and who showcase beautiful creations for us to enjoy throughout the year.  For my post today I have made a  (remarkably for me) CAS card using Cardinal from Mo’s Digital Pencil.  It's just $2, Peeps, and is available in Mo's store HERE.  I am going to be quite busy for the next couple of days so I'm posting my card on my Blog a little earlier than usual. 

Mo's Facebook page can be found HERE, her Dream Team Blog is HERE and her "Patreon" Page, where there are four levels including a completely free membership, is HERE.  Mo posts digi images for all levels of membership even the Free one and with paid membership starting at a minimum of just $2.50 per month, plus tax where applicable, you get more FREE images and coupons too!  

By the way, if you would prefer to see my cards on Facebook, please look for Lesley Kollinsky Grenouille Greetings HERE 

I made three of these, inking up my Joy Embossing folder in a different soft Distress ink each time and colouring the cardinal with my Copic pens.  I'm entering my cards into the following challenges:

Can you Handle the Pressure December - Anything using an embossing folder optional Winter twist.

CD Sunday Plus - #148 Always Anything Digital Goes

Creatalicious  #284 Anything Goes with optional Christmas or New Year

Creative Inspirations - Dec - Let it snow

Dragonfly Dreams - Dec - Christmas

Krafty Chicks #748 - All Occasions

the Male Room # 193 Anything Goes

Sweet Stampin - Christmas Creations

 

W is for Winter

I had two choices of cards for our new theme of "W is for..." at Everybody Art Challenge.  In the end I decided to opt for "W is for Winter" with this cute image from Mo’s Digital Pencil called "Snowflakes" which is available in her shop here.  Do come and play along with my delightful EAC Design Teamies and share some love with them by leaving comments on their blogs.  By the way the team will be taking a Christmas break until 28 January.

I actually used this same image very recently here, on that occasion colouring her basket of poppy flowers red as Mo intended but this time, I decided they were winter Hellebores in this ragged cutie's basket and made them white to tie in with the snowflakes falling in the background and to enable me to colour her coat poppy red!   I kept my card quite simple, using a much favoured stitched frame (MMM has a Stitch Theme this week), some DPs in the background, and a pre-printed sentiment.

Mo has a Facebook page HERE where members can upload their Mo Manning creations.  Mo's Dream Team Blog HERE has lots of fabulous inspiration from my teamies.  

In case you haven't yet heard the great news - Mo now has FOUR levels of Patron to choose from - one of which is absolutely FREE and includes regular free digis.  Paid memberships start at just $2.50 per month (plus tax where applicable) and include even more digi images plus coupons!  Please do go and check it out.  Remember you can access the lowest tier and a freebie for free!  You can find Mo's Patreon Page HERE

By the way, if you would prefer to see my cards on Facebook, please look for Lesley Kollinsky Grenouille Greetings HERE 

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Alphabet Challenge - S is for Silent Night

CD Sunday Plus - #148 Always Anything Digital Goes

Creatalicious #284 Anything Goes with optional Christmas or New Year

Creative Inspirations - Dec - Let it snow

Dragonfly Dreams - Dec - Christmas

Four Seasons - Dec - Winter

Krafty Chicks #746 - Christmas

Make my Monday -#241 Stitching Real or Faux

Passion for Markers -#769 Anything Goes (with bumper prizes!)

Sweet Stampin - Christmas Creations

 

The Cat is in the Christmas Tree, again!

Oops, I'm late today sharing our new theme for "Home" at Everybody Art Challenge.  Do come and play along and share some love with the Design Team by leaving comments on their blogs.

Today I have used this fun "Cat's in the Christmas Tree" image from Mo’s Digital Pencil which is available in her shop HERE.  

This card is all about the image!  And I just love this funky frame from Aall & Create which I thought was perfect for the chaotic kitty scene!  I added glossy accents to the ornaments so there is quite a bit of shine on this Copic coloured card.

Please excuse the horrid lighting!  It's winter in England and it is dull, dull, dull outside!

There is a Facebook page where members can upload their Mo Manning creations and we look forward to seeing you there. It's easy to become a member.  Just click HERE.  And check out Mo's Dream Team Blog HERE for inspiration from my teamies.   In case you haven't yet heard the great news - Mo now has FOUR levels of Patron to choose from - one of which is absolutely FREE and includes regular free digis.  Paid memberships start at just $2.50 per month (plus tax where applicable) and include even more digi images plus coupons!  Please do go and check it out.  Remember you can access the lowest tier and a freebie for free!  You can find Mo's Patreon Page HERE

By the way, if you would prefer to see my cards on Facebook, please look for Lesley Kollinsky Grenouille Greetings HERE 

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

CD Sunday Plus - #147 Always Anything Digital Goes

Creative Inspirations - Nov - Christmas Animals (I'm being cheeky with my Christmas cat)

Dragonfly Dreams - Dec - Christmas

Four Seasons - Dec - Winter

Krafty Chicks #744 - All Occasions

Simon Says Stamp (Wed) - Anything Goes 

 

Make A Wish

We have a new theme for "Blue" at Everybody Art Challenge.  Do come and play along and share some love with the Design Team by leaving comments on their blogs.

Today I have used this delightfully cute "Make a Wish" image from Mo’s Digital Pencil.  You can buy this image as a rubberstamp from Penny Black, and a digital version is also available in Mo's shop here.  It's a slightly older image and the digi is only $3!   What a bargain!

I coloured her with my Copic pens.  My Design papers are by Prima and the Dandelion clock die is by Marianne.  Tags are cut with my favourite Stampin Up tiny tags punch and I've added some sparkle with the gems.

There is a Facebook page where members can upload their Mo Manning creations and we look forward to seeing you there. It's easy to become a member.  Just click HERE.  If you need more inspiration, do check out Mo's Dream Team Blog HERE.    Mo now has FOUR levels of Patron to choose from - one of which is absolutely FREE and includes regular free digis.  Paid memberships start at just $2.50 per month (plus tax where applicable) and include even more digi images plus coupons!  Please do go and check it out.  Remember you can access the lowest tier and a freebie for free!  You can find Mo's Patreon Page HERE

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

CD Sunday Plus - #146 Always Anything Digital Goes

Creatalicious #283 - Anything Goes with an option for Thanks or Thanksgiving

Just Add Ink  #728 Choose 2 from Pens, Pencils and Patterned Papers 

Penny Black -Nov - Always Anything Goes with the option to make a scene

Seize the Birthday #295 Focal One (use one stamp, stamped once for the focus)

Edited to add a happy dance for having this card make the Honors Roll from the lovelies at Just Add Ink and also Seize the Birthday.  I am thrilled and grateful for these honours!

  

Snowflakes and Poppies

We have a new theme for "Red or Blue plus Gold or Silver" at Everybody Art Challenge this week.  Do come and play along and share some love with the Design Team by leaving comments on their blogs.

It's the perfect opportunity to make Holiday cards but I chose instead to make a card with this coming Remembrance Sunday in mind - Armistice Day in the UK, and Veterans' Day in the USA.  

I used the beautiful "Snowflakes" image from Mo’s Digital Pencil which is available in her shop here.    Instead of using white for snowflakes, I wanted my image to appear in a flurry of Poppy petals.  She is coloured with Polychromos pencils on Kraft cardstock.  I absolutely need more practice with this media but I like how she turned out.  I think the pencils really work with Mo's delightful vintage style image. I used an inked Simon Says Stamp Poppy Stencil for my background and gold mirror card for the layering and the sentiment. 

There is a Facebook page where members can upload their Mo Manning creations and we look forward to seeing you there. It's easy to become a member.  Just click HERE.  And check out Mo's Dream Team Blog HERE for inspiration from my teamies.   In case you haven't yet heard the great news - Mo now has FOUR levels of Patron to choose from - one of which is absolutely FREE and includes regular free digis.  Paid memberships start at just $2.50 per month (plus tax where applicable) and include even more digi images plus coupons!  Please do go and check it out.  Remember you can access the lowest tier and a freebie for free!  You can find Mo's Patreon Page HERE

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

CD Sunday Plus - #145 Always Anything Digital Goes

Colorful Options - Nov - Red

Inkspirational #328 Layer It

Krafty Chicks #740 - Anything Goes

Polkadoodles #44 - Always Anything Goes

Edited to add my absolute delight that this card was in the top picks from the super team over at CD Sunday Plus.  Thank you, ladies!

 

Introducing FREEBIE Peter, and his spooky winged friends

We have a new theme for "Things with Wings" at Everybody Art Challenge.  Do come and play along and share some love with the Design Team by leaving comments on their blogs. I utilised wings in the background paper and also with these fun bat sequins.  I also added some Memory Box die-cut gravestones

Importantly I used this FREE fun image called Peter from Mo's Digital Pencil "Patreon" Page  which you can find HERE.   I masked Peter before ink blending his background.  Similar text is free with the image.  I repositioned it and overwrote it with a black glaze pen. I coloured Peter with my Copics in the same colours that Mo had chosen.  Mo now has FOUR levels of Patron to choose from - one of which is absolutely FREE and includes regular free digis.  Paid memberships start at just $2.50 per month (plus tax where applicable) and include even more digi images plus coupons!  Please do go and check it out.  Remember you can access the lowest tier and this fun guy for free!

There is a Facebook page where members can upload their Mo Manning creations and we look forward to seeing you there. It's easy to become a member.  Just click HERE or stop by Mo's Dream Team Blog HERE for inspiration

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

CD Sunday Plus - #144 Always Anything Digital Goes

Colorful Options - October - Orange or Rainbow.  I opted for rainbow with red shoes, orange face, yellow mid background, green hoodie, blue jeans, indigo and violet upper sky

Creatalicious #282 Anything Goes with optional Halloween

Four Seasons October - Anything Fall

Inkspirational #327 Seasonal

Just Us Girls #749 Moodboard (see image below)

Love those Pretty Papers - October Halloween Colours/Papers 

Make my Monday -#237 Spooky/Halloween

Simon Says Stamp (Mon) - Spooky - Add some purple 

Simon Says Stamp (Wed) - Spooky/Halloween

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #255 H is for Halloween

     

Edited to show my appreciation for being in the winners' circle from the fabulous team at CD Sunday Plus!  Thank you so much! 

 

First you need a sheep (or Deconstructed Sweater)

We have a new theme for "Sweater Weather" at Everybody Art Challenge.  And what do you need to make a nice wool sweater?  You need sheep!  My card today utilises this fun "luv ewe" image from Mo’s Digital Pencil which is available in her shop here.  Now Mo only has the one sheep in her image but I copied it and merged the two images together for my card.  To add interest, I removed the knitting needles from the second sheep which I made a little smaller and added a personalised birthday banner where the knitted wool heart had been.  I always seek and receive permission from Mo before altering her already perfect images.  I just wanted this birthday card to look like it came from me and my husband so I wanted two sheep.   Oddly it reminds me of the famous American Gothic painting by Grant Wood.  I really want to make another version and include a pitchfork! Ha!

I used a Marianne Design knitted embossing folder and die and glued the left side of my card to the back panel for a slightly funky fold.  I also included some little wool ball dies (also by Marianne Design), and a grass verge which I believe is by Memory Box.  I Word processed the sentiment.   I never get tired of using this fun pun!  The clouds behind the sheep were stencilled using, I think, My Favorite Things cloud stencil.

Do come and play along and share some love with the Everybody Art Challenge Design Team by leaving comments on their blogs.

There is Facebook page where members can upload their Mo Manning creations and we look forward to seeing you there. It's easy to become a member.  Just click HERE.  And check out Mo's other sites where there is lots of inspiration from my teamies.

* Dream Team Blog HERE for inspiration

* Mo's "Patreon" Page HERE. There are three levels of Patron to choose from with a minimum of just $2.50 per month!  Mo is going to be opening a new Patreon shop soon so it's very worth looking her up on Patreon.  I'm pretty sure you can join for free at the moment but please don't hold me to that!

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Can you Handle the Pressure Use a Sentiment

CD Sunday Plus - #143 Always Anything Digital Goes

Crafter's Cafe - #312 Anything Goes with the option to include an animal

Krafty Chicks #736 - Stamps

Polkadoodles #40 - Always Anything Goes

Happy Crafting!  Lesley xx

Opportunities for Embellishment

We have a new theme for "Fall Leaves" at Everybody Art Challenge.  Do come and play along and share some love with the Design Team by leaving comments on their blogs.

I used this adorable "Fall" image from Mo’s Digital Pencil which is available in her shop here.  I coloured the kitty who is looking at a drawn leaf in Mo's original image with my alcohol markers and then inked through some Martha Stewart leaf stencils around it.  I meant to cut around the drawn leaf above the cat's head before cutting with my oval die but I just forgot and cut right through the leaf.  I embossed the outer elements of the card with a Tim Holtz-designed leafy folder but having mounted the kitty on a scallop frame I then mistakenly proceeded to adhere it just off centre which left gaps around the scallop frame.  Duh!  Never mind.  Some larger stenciled die cut oak leaves and some inked and punched tiny maple leaves, all strategically placed, covered up all my unintended errors thus proving the old papercrafters' adage that  "there are no mistakes in cardmaking - only opportunities for embellishment"!

If you are looking to showcase your own cards made with images by Mo Manning, Mo has a Facebook page HERE.  More inspiration can be found on the Dream Team Blog HERE.  If you don't already know, Mo has a  great "Patreon" Page HERE. There are three levels of Patron to choose from with a minimum of just $2.50 per month!  

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Can you Handle the Pressure #Sept Anything Goes with a twist of Fall colours

CD Sunday Plus - #142 Always Anything Digital Goes

Crafter's Cafe - #312 Always Anything Goes, with an option to add an animal

Four Seasons September Fall

Make my Monday -#235 Create your own background (and a DT call btw)

Simon Says Stamp (Wed) - Make your own background

Stencil Fun Challenge - Sept - Anything Stencilled, optional Fall Frenzy 

Tic Tac Toe #256 - I've utilised an entire corner of this challenge - the left hand column - spring/fall, embossing and layers, and also the bottom row - layers, diecut and markers, and managed to capture the diagonal row too of spring/fall, free and pencils/markers.  Score!

 

Edited to add my delightful award from the lovelies at Four Seasons!  Thank you for selecting my card in your top three!

Wishing you Rainbows...

Sometimes you just need a "Feel Better" kind of card and a rainbow always makes me feel better.  So here is a rainbow of bandaids made with a cute little Lawn Fawn stamp set and coloured with Copics.  I think the sentiment is Papertrey Ink but I put it away and now can't remember.

I'm pretty sure I have seen someone else make a very similar card so I can't take credit for the design but I saw that Just Add Ink #720 had a challenge for Rainbows and this design popped into my head.

I am entering my card into the following challenges too:

Colorful Options - Sept - Be Bold

Krafty Chicks #734 - CAS

Edited to add a little jump for joy for having this card in the honourable mentions from the lovelies at Just Add Ink and in the top picks from the lovelies at Krafty Chicks!  

Artists' Trading Card

My lovely teamies at Everybody Art Challenge want us to make an ATC.  I have never made one before and I have to confess to being very outside my comfort zone.  It took me ages to come up with an idea for my 3.5 x 2.5 inch card but I knew I wanted to upcycle some old snippets of abandoned watercolour card I had in my stash.  

A couple of years ago I went to an "art class" on a cruise ship.  I have italicised the phrase "art class" because frankly, the "teacher", whilst pleasant and capable of producing some nice pieces herself, had absolutely no idea about teaching and came up with some (in my view) completely unsuitable projects for our class who were probably aged between 30 and 85!  The first session would have been ideal for 3-10 year olds and involved drawing through a giant basic butterfly shaped stencil and painting it with watercolour paints.  I outlined more than one butterfly, and overlapped them.   We were given no idea how to prepare our paper, mix our colours, or put the paint on the page.  We actually had no instruction whatsoever and at the end of the class I had learned absolutely nothing and had a childlike flat image of parts of 3 yellow butterflies against a blueish background.  

Upon my return from the cruise, I cut the large watercolour paper into 4 pieces and put them in my stash.  It was another one of these 4 pieces I used today for the base, back, and frame of my ATC.  And wow!  I'm thrilled with how it worked out for my project.   I used an Aall & Create Die for the abstract honeycomb and cut my inked and stamped apple and honey wand from the same piece of discarded watercolour cardstock. 

This is a small stamp and die set from Papertrey Ink which I have never used before and it came with the "sweet & fruitful" stamp which I heat embossed in copper on vellum.  As a finishing touch I used Glossy Accents on the uncut half of the apple and for the honey on the wand.  I felt really stretched making this project but I absolutely love how it turned out.  I even used a coverplate to emboss another piece of "butterfly watercolour" and adhered it to the back of my ATC.   

Do check out the wonderful inspiration of my teamies and share some love with the Design Team by leaving comments on their blogs and then why not come and play along with us

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Creative Inspirations - Sept - Always Anything Goes

Krafty Chicks #732 - Stamps

Polkadoodles #36 - Always Anything Goes

We Love to Create Mixed Media #8 Anything Mixed Media Goes

Simon Says Stamp (Mon) & Simon Says Stamp (Wed) - "Stamp it" for Stamptember!

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #253 A is for Autumn.  I thought my ripe apple and honey combined with my colours were a good match for Autumn

 

See Ya Again!

My niece went to Prague with two friends for her birthday this year and it seemed an opportunity to use "See Ya" from Mo’s Digital Pencil again.  I made a card using this image last year for a special friend  who accompanied us to Prague. You can see it on my blog here.  Mo drew a curly haired girl, and also a boy version of this fun image with the characters holding up a driving license and set of car keys but I asked and received permission from Mo to slightly alter her image and replaced the items in the girls hands with a little miniature British Passport.  

I included the same artsy rendition of Prague's famous Astronomical Clock tower in the background of my image as I did last time in addition to adding plenty of stencilled cogs and other shapes from a variety of stencils.  I used some bold colours for one of the challenges I want to enter. 

If you would like to showcase your own creations using Mo Manning's stunning images, you can join Mo's Fans' Facebook page HERE.  If you need inspiration on using her images you can check out the Dream Team Blog HERE.  I should also tell you that Mo has a "Patreon" Page HERE. There are three levels of Patron to choose from with a minimum of just $2.50 per month (plus tax where applicable) and each month Mo offers treats to her patrons like coupons to spend in her store and free images.  

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

AAA Birthday #65 Background Focus

CD Sunday Plus - #141 Always Anything Digital Goes

Colorful Options - Sept - Be Bold

Creative Inspirations - Sept - Always Anything Goes

Dragonfly Dreams - Sept - Happy Birthday (in memory of lovely Traci)

Krafty Chicks #732 - Stamps

Polkadoodles #36 - Always Anything Goes

Stencil Fun Challenge - Sept - Anything Stencilled, optional Fall Frenzy 

 

Edited to add my own little happy dance for having my card selected in the top picks from the lovelies at CD Sunday Plus!  I love, love, love the CD Sunday Plus challenge!

Belle in Summer

My lovely teamies at  Everybody Art Challenge are back from their summer vacation and we have a new challenge theme starting today which is "Anything Goes".  Do come and play along and share some love with the Design Team by leaving comments on their blogs.

Today, for my birthday card, I have used the beautiful "Belle in Summer" image from Mo’s Digital Pencil which is available in her shop here.  I love these images of women Mo drew for us all last year.  There is a wonderful variety to chose from here.  

I decided not to use Belle in her entirety.  She is a full length curvy woman in summer attire but I used just her face and upper body, coloured with my Copics and double framed within a diecut square overlapping an embossed frame.  I encircled Belle with a variety of hand coloured die cut and punched flowers and leaves and added a stamped ticket from my sentiment stamps.  If you are looking for inspiration to use your own Mo Manning images, check out one of my previous posts, I regularly post links to great sites where you can view cards made with her images as well as links to where to post your own Mo makes, in addition to details about her Patreon scheme.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Can you Handle the Pressure Anything using an embossing folder, optional leaves

CD Sunday Plus - #140 Always Anything Digital Goes

Creative Inspirations - August - Summer Fun

Cupcake Inspirations - #600 Happy Birthday

And I'd like to give a big congratulatory shout out to Cupcake Inspirations who are celebrating their own 600th challenge and 15 years of challenges.  Happy Birthday Cupcakes!  

Dragonfly Dreams - August - "These are a few of my favourite things" (mine include images by Mo Manning, colouring with my Copics, Embossing folders, stamps, die cuts, flowers, birthdays and summer!  

Krafty Chicks #730 All Occasions

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #253 S is for Summer. Nothing snarky in my creation today but lots of summer!

Edited to add a much coveted badge from the lovely team at CD Sunday Plus!  It's so very kind of you!

 

Fishy Little Mermaid Set

I have recently returned from a trip and my computer is STILL playing up. It's actually driving me nuts.  The internet is turning on and off literally every three seconds and I have a VPN which is  suddenly confusing all of the places I visit to the point where I keep being unable to  access my own blog or Facebook pages because the sites don't know it's me.  I've had the VPN for a year.  I have no idea why it's causing me such a problem now.  

On top of that, it's blimmin roasting in England.  We suffered with October weather from October through July (except when I myself was abroad of course - then the weather in England was more summery) .  We had the heating on in June it was so miserable but now it is positively tropical.  The house is uncomfortably toasty and my Craft Space is in the attic and is way too hot to sit in.  

I brought my alcohol markers into the lounge and coloured this image there but the curtains were closed to keep the worst of the heat out and I was working on my lap which is never a good idea so my colour work is a bit of a disaster but I still like my card because the fish is so cute!   It is actually the same fish resized and flipped horizontally, with one of them wearing spectacles with glossy accent lenses.  I was following a sketch from the lovelies at Sketch Saturday.  I was a member of that team for years but gave it up when life got in the way.  The fishy and the big seaweed sprig behind the rock is from Mo's Patreon Page HERE.  The rock with it's urchins, coral and darker green leaves is from Mo's Little Mermaid set in her store HERE .  You can also purchase the rock image with two mermaids and some fish in rubber from Penny Black. It's an adorable stamp set called simply Mermaids. My sentiment is word processed, the fish have sparkly Wink of Stella scales, and I have used two stencils - a kind of dappled light one and a sunrays one for the background.  

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

AAA Birthday #64 Critters

CD Sunday Plus - Always anything digital goes

Seize the Birthday #289 Cute Critters

Simon Says Stamp (Mon) - Sparkle & Shine (There is wink of stella on my fish and the lenses in the fish's glasses are shiny)

Sketch Saturday #757 Sketch 

Stencil Fun Challenge - August - Summertime

Sweet Stampin - Summer Fun

 

Edited to display my excitement having been selected in the top 3 from the lovelies at Sketch Saturday and at CD Sunday!  And also in the top 4 from the AAA Birthday lovelies.  Thank you so much.  I'm thrilled