Colorful Options July Challenge Choose your Favourite Flag.

Posted on by

15

Welcome back to another fun challenge at Colorful Options where our theme for this month is to use your favourite flag as inspiration to create a card or a project of your choice.

This was an easy challenge for me and my cards came together quickly. Instead of using the Greek flag (I’ve lived in Greece longer than I lived in the UK) I was inspired by a country that has been on my bucket list for years and there’s a possibility I might be able to realise my dream this Septemeber.

Can you guess which country it is by looking at my cards?

For my first card, I used my brand new Silhouette Cameo 5 to cut out the sweet couple and used Poppy Stamps Nordic Flourish Background behind them.I also used the same background for my second card together with another Poppy Stamps Nordic die in butterfly form, all popped up with a touch of foam for dimension. A few enamel dots strategically placed and other you have it! Did you guess which country’s flag inspired me? Japan !!! I’ve always wanted to visit and maybe this year will be the year !!! fingers crossed.

I’m also playing along with NBUS challenge # 64 as my Poppy Stamps Butterfly and floral background are having their first outing.

We do hope you will join us at Colorful Options we would love to see which flag inspires you, but fear not you can play along using rainbow colours if you aren’t inspired by a particular flag and you aren’t limited to cards any crafty project is welcome.

In other news Greece is sweltering with the highest temperatures ever recorded for this time of year it’s so unbearably hot especially when I return home up a steep hill with my high heels on, thank goodness for air conditioning.

Take care

Marie

Colorful Options June Challenge “Aqua”

Posted on by

14

welcome back to another fun challenge at Colorful Options for June we are asking you to use Aqua in your creations and if Aqua isn’t your thing then you can play along using rainbow colors.

Something fun and new! We’re thrilled to announce our collaboration with the Double Trouble Challenge for the inaugural two weeks of this month. We warmly invite you to participate in both challenges and share in the joy of crafting together. Let’s make these two weeks unforgettable!

I loved the color theme this month; my card came together quickly, and as you read this post, I will hopefully be swimming in the beautiful Aqua waters at my summer house.

Above are a few photo’s from my summer house you can see how I was inspired by that wonderful die and Colorful Options Aqua theme.

I used this amazing die by A Pocket Full of Happiness and practically cased Zoka”S card, I just layered up the waves and used a variety of Distress Oxide inks for the sea all popped up with lashings of foam tape to give dimension. A Tim Holtz sentiment sticker and a hot burning sun and there you have it.

I will also be playing along with Double Trouble Challenge this month and hope you take the time to check it out.

In other news, I’m afraid I have been a bad blogger struggling to keep up with you all. Our new shop is bustling and I’ve been working longer hours than usual I also sell my cards there and they have been in such high demand and I can hardly keep up or even play along in many challenges but I will try my very best to be a better blogger and catch up with all of your amazing crafty projects.

Take care

Marie

Colorful Options Royal Blue

Posted on by

17

Welcome back to another fun challenge at Colorful Options, we had so many amazing entries for our Pastel challenges last month and do hope you will play along without our latest challenge where we are asking you to create a project using Royal Blue


Please remember that you may incorporate any neutrals or metallics you need in your design and that your make does not need to be monochromatic.  If royal blue is not to your liking, join us with a rainbow-inspired craft.

As you can see from my card I went down the rainbow path as my “Royal Blue” didn’t arrive in time.

We have an amazing guest designer this month the wonderful and talented Trina from Phamtastic Designs do check out her blog she is a master with Colour.

Items used

Honey Bee Stamps Parot Die

Spellbinders oval die

Spellbinders Four Leaf embossing folder

Distress Oxides

Sentiment Tim Holtz .

. We do hope you will join us at Colorful Options so why not pop along and see what the rest of the Design Team have created to inspire and delight.

In other news my lovely sister is visiting from the UK to celebrate Greek Orthodox Easter with us and we are so looking forward to spending some time at our holiday home by the sea weather permitting.

I’m also linking up with NBUS#62 as my parot die is fresh out of the packet.

Take care

Marie

Colorful Options Color of the Month “Pastels”

Posted on by

22

Hello and welcome back to another fun challenge at Colorful Options

This month, we challenge you to use a pastel color. Please remember that you
may incorporate any neutrals or metallics that you need in your design and that your design does not need to be monochromatic. If pastels are not to your liking, join us with a rainbow-inspired craft instead.

For our challenge, I made two cards using some new dies from Poppy Stamps from their Nordic Flowers series I acquired on a recent trip to the UK. The first card features the Nordic Majestic Bloom die-coloured with Distress Oxide inks and placed inside a lovely scalloped oval frame by Catherine Pooler also a new purchase(yes Darnell I will once again be playing along ).

The second card features this pretty Nordic Crown Flower die again coloured with Distress oxides. This time I’ve used this lovely Spellbinders Infinity punch and pierce die plate as a background and not cut it all the way through so it gives an embossed effect.

We do hope you will join us at Colorful Options it’s always great to see your amazing cards and it’s a great source of inspiration to me personally. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the Design team’s amazing creations.

I’m also linking up to

NBUS challenge#61 as my dies are all brand spanking new.

Die-cut Divas Who are asking us to make a spring card

CAS on Friday #challenge 280 Who are asking us to use dies only

Wishing you all a wonderful happy, healthy, crafty week.

Take care

Marie

Colorful Options March 2024 “Green”

Posted on by

15

A big thank you to all who participated in our pink challenge at Colorful Options we had so many amazing entries it was so difficult to choose our top three.


This month we challenge you to use green as your inspiration. ANY shade or interpretation of green is welcome.

Please remember that you may incorporate any neutrals or metallics you need in your design and that your make does not need to be monochromatic. If green is not to your liking, join us with a rainbow-inspired craft.

This time, I decided to make a card and a piece of home decor.


I used these fabulous small butterfly dies from a Pocket Full of Happiness for my card. To create the background I took a piece of acetate and added lashings of glossy accents and drops of distress oxides in various colours. I added cling film on top and smooshed it around until I got the desired effect and then left it to dry which took for everrrrrrrr. `I then cut the background to size and added it behind the negative space of the butterflies and then added the butterflies on top.I found this technique ages ago somewhere online but can’t for the life of me find the source to give them credit nor does this photo show the lovely rippled effect it has but hey ho that’s the joy of trying to take a photo of glossy,shiny things.

My next piece may seem a little random but I’ve been playing with my electronic needle felting machine lately and this is what I came up with.

This is such a fun technique and great for using scraps of leftover material. To make this I took a piece of thin felt as a base and laid silk strips on top. For those of you who don’t know what this machine does, it’s basically a sewing machine with lots of needles and no thread and you just run it over the material and it punches it into the base adhering the top to the bottom. I just kept going until I got the look I required. It’s quite addictive. I then cut the piece down to fit my frame and there you have it.

We do hope you will join us at Colorful Options why not pop over and see what my wonderful team mates have come up with and delight and inspire.

I’m also playing along with Time Out Challenges

NBUS challenge#60 as my butterflies are fresh out of the packet

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend.

Marie

Colorful Options Pink

Posted on by

24

Welcome to another fun challenge at Colorful Options and it just so happens to be one of my favourite colours….Pink!


This month we challenge you to use pink as your inspiration.  ANY shade or interpretation of pink is welcome.  

Please remember that you may incorporate any neutrals or metallics you need in your design and that your make does not need to be monochromatic.  If pink is not to your liking, join us with a rainbow-inspired craft. 

For my card, I used the Fresh Picked Anemones dies by Spellbinders I love their latest release and have to say I went on a spending spree. The dies are quite large and fill up the space quite nicely. I used a combination of Distress Oxides in varying shades of pink to colour the blooms a touch of kraft card and some Distress Embossing Glaze on the centers and there you have it.

I loved it so much that I placed it on my desk at work next to that gorgeous plant that I don’t know the name of.

We do hope you will play along with us this month at Colorful Options, the DT has some amazing cards to delight and inspire.

I’m also playing along with Addicted to Stamps and More

Created with GIMP

NBUS challenge # 59 as my die set is brand spanking new

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend.

Marie

Colorful Options. Blue Lagoon

Posted on by

13

Welcome to the first challenge of the new year at Colorful Options and our theme for the next month is Blue Lagoon.

This month’s challenge is inspired by the Blue Lagoon resort in Iceland and the Blue Lagoon Island in the Caribbean.

This month we are doing something a little different; we challenge you to use the colors associated with a blue lagoon. Feel free to use one of the colors in the pictures or any combination of colors found in the pictures. Please remember that you may incorporate any neutrals or metallics that you need in your design and that your design does not need to be monochromatic. If you are not inspired by the blue lagoon, join us with a rainbow-inspired craft.

To make my card I used this abstract design from a cover plate from A Pocket Full of Happiness. Distress Oxides were used to colour white card and foam tape to give dimension to some of the card. I have to be honest it really does look so much better in real life.

We hope you will play along with this month’s challenge and look forward to seeing your creations. For more details, pop over to Colorful Options and see the wonderful designs from my fellow teammates.

On another note, I hope that all who celebrate had wonderful holidays and I hope to catch up within the next few days.

Take care

Marie

Colorful Options Silver and Gold

Posted on by

11

Welcome back to a new challenge at Colorful Options where our theme for the next month is to use silver and Gold in your creations.

A super easy card that came together very quickly without any stamping. I used a lovely Pinkfresh Mini frame and silver and gold metallic card . The central piece was embossed with The Tim Holtz for Sizzix Christmas Sparkle folder. I then added some pretty dried flowers in gold and blue and used a wax seal from Spellbinders in a corresponding colour to attach the flowers and there you have it !It took longer to photograph than it did to make due to my reflection in the shiny card. I had to replace the central silver panel with mat card as the shiny one I had originally used kept showing my ugly mug.

In other news It’s been a very sad and difficult time at home lately my lovely Rosy the Frenchie had to be put to sleep. She was a grand old dame of 14 years and decided it was time to join Bailey who had passed away two months earlier.The end of an era….and both were inspirations for my blog name Baileyrosy,they are sadly missed. A few days later I had to have surgery but am glad to say I’m recovering nicely after having a few complications It’s been a rotten year but am hoping from now on in my health will be so much better and can start to enjoy everyday life again.

I thought I would just share a photo of our Christmas window at our new shop, I wasn’t able to physically help but was there for the most important part….the moaning and giving orders part which I’m particularly good at. !

We do hope you will join us at Colorful Options my team mates have some incredible cards to delight and inspire. Keep in mind that our contest is not limited to paper crafts.  Paint? Ink? Decor? Drawing? ANY artistic endeavor is welcome!!  

I look forward to catching up with you all.

Take care

Marie

Colorful Options “Red”

Posted on by

20

I’m back after a long break due to ill health after I was admitted to hospital for five days with intestinal issues and managed to catch covid just to put icing on the cake. The road to recovery has been slow and I’ll require surgery and more tests shortly but I’m feeling so much better and getting stronger by the day. Unfortunately, this all coincided with the opening of our new shop which had to be delayed by two weeks thankfully we are up and running now.

Enough of my moaning and on to the task at hand. Colorful Options has a fabulous new challenge with one of my favourite colours….red.

I made a frame using some old Spellbinders dies and embossed a piece of card with this fantastic EF from WeRmemory keepers. I brushed carefully over the top with Distress Oxide in Coral Red so as to keep some of the white card visible. I then attached acetate as I was planning to make a shaker but as it happens I didn’t like the result so left it as was. The faceted heart is courtesy of Mr Holtz and Sizzix also colored by Distress Oxide and a tad of clear Distress embossing glaze for a little shine.

We do hope you will join us at Colorful Options the DT has some amazing cards to delight and inspire and you can also find out more about this challenge and the wonderful gifts for our lucky winners.

Here’s a little glimpse of the new shop, not a very good photo but the best one I could get from a distance to show both windows.

I look forward to catching up with you all.

Take care

Marie

Simply Less is More #492 C is for Celebrate

Posted on by

14

Welcome back to a new challenge at `LIM for the next two weeks we are asking you to create something using our prompt C is for Celebrate.

This card was one of the quickest I have ever made, due to the fact that my brain is addled with so much going on in my life. I had mistakenly made a card for our November challenge and when I went to upload it realised my mistake and had to whip up a new one in a matter of moments. I used my brand new Scrolled Punch and Pierce Plate (try saying that after a few libations !) from Spellbinders. I bought this beauty after seeing the fabulous and talented Michele Ferguson from I Card Everyone create an immaculate card.

Here I’ve only used the centre part of the die to keep my card clean and simple, having said that this die is rather challenging but Michele does have some top tips to help and boy did I need them.

Here’s a card I made using the complete plate as you can see there are hundreds of little die cuts, definitely not one for the faint-hearted.

In other news I had a lovely visit from my crazy sister and niece from the UK unfortunately my niece was very ill with a high fever and terrible cough all week so was unable to join in most of the activities but that didn’t stop my sister and I from have lots of fun. Unfortunately whilst they were here my beautiful little Bailey the mini pinscher passed away we are absolutely devastated but having my sister here was a great comfort. Bailey was a very cheeky chappy but his name lives on in my blog title and our memories.

We do hope you will play along with us at LIM my teamies have some amazing cards to delight and inspire.

I’m also linking up to NBUS as this die is fresh out of the packet.

Craft Rocket #107 Clean and Simple

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend

Take care

Marie