Oops! I Got This Wrong. . . . .

Sorry everyone. I've been very silly and I've done the wrong challenge this month for Anything But A Card! Don't ask me why this happened - an extremely senior moment I fear! Thanks to those who took the trouble to read and comment.

Here is April's challenge at Anything But A Card: Spring Forward! Just click on the words and you'll be transferred to the blog where you can view the first DT group showing their wonderful 'Spring Forward' makes.

Good morning to all. Today sees the start of a new challenge at Anything But A Card. This month, we're asking you to use a colour inspiration image:

A beautiful palette for you to be inspired by.

I'm not usually a fan of colour inspiration challenge themes but there was something about this combination which appealed to me. I mainly used the darker tones at the right hand end with a small amount of the more neutral colours at the other end.

You must visit Anything But A Card and see the inspiration provided by team 1 of the DT. The other talented ladies come later in the month. We are also adding some extra interest this month so keep popping back!

I've made an ATC for this challenge - hope you like it:

A Darkroom Door stamp bought long ago and not inked, inks, paint, crackle medium, die cutting and some punched florals make up this ATC.

A die cut shape used for the top of the ATC. This was painted - using DecoArt Americana paints - with a mixture of the colours from the image then crackled. The punched florals were also painted and crackled then shaped and assembled. A small black gem was used for the centre of each flower - the only bling I seem to use with any regularity!

The ATC was coloured and stamped with one shade of Distress Ink. Some hidden areas were stamped again with Versamark and shimmer powder was dusted over - you can just see this at the top of the image. The face was stamped with Archival Ink and the edges of the ATC were inked with a darker shade of Distress Ink.

The florals were punched with my favourite punch - I do a lot of these but I really love their delicate look and almost porcelain like appearance.

A Chit Chat sticker was inked and applied. I chose this word because that's how I think of the image. She's very mysterious and you could come up with all kinds of stories about her!

Thanks so much for dropping by. The last 6 months or so haven't been my most sociable in blogland but I'm getting there! Thank you so much to those of you who have continued to support me with visits and words of encouragement - it is so much appreciated.

So, what are you going to do with our wonderful colour palette inspiration this month at Anything But A Card? I look forward to seeing what you create. Just remember: we are a 'cardless' challenge but you can make anything else you like!

With A Song In Your Heart. . . . . . At Our Creative Corner

Hello everyone, hope your week has started well. It's time for a new challenge at Our Creative Corner and this month your host is the hugely talented Alison of Words and Pictures.

The theme for the April challenge is 'With A Song In Your Heart'. Alison asks that you create something inspired by and including a song title or lyrics. You are asked to include the words on your creation and to make sure that the song title appears in your post.

In an ideal world, it would be fabulous if you included a link to the music so that we can have a listen!  But that's not compulsory.

The song I have chosen is 'For Your Babies' by Simply Red. Click here if you'd like to have a listen to this wonderfully sentimental song.

I have chosen to use a picture of my daughter when she was about two. I converted it into a threshold image and then used some fabrics, DecoArt products and chipboard tag shape as a substrate.

This is the 'threshold' copy of the photo I developed using some free software called 'Photoscape'. I opted to leave out some details and smooth some edges and created this:

A Tando chipboard tag, DecoArt SoSoft fabric paint, section from a piece of silk screen printed challenge and some polyester wadding were used to construct the hanging. (Mustn't forget the rusty wire too!).

I used a small section from a piece of screen printed fabric which I made at a recent workshop. The little picture is padded and can be hung using a rusty wire loop which I attached.

Probably the line from the song which I love the best and the one which conjures up my daughters gorgeous face when she was a little girl. I printed the words out and made them into a banner with some ink to dirty up the edges. The blue script was made using a stencil and some DecoArt SoSoft Fabric Paint on a piece of foam. A rusty wire loop for hanging is sandwiched between the layers.

I chose a section of the screen printed fabric which featured two different colours and a very distinct design element. These images are really best viewed not quite so close up but I wanted to show the detail to you. 

The script was stencilled on top the black fabric paint but I love how it seems to be coming through from underneath.
Using the fabric paint lightly gives an almost sketchy appearance to the work which I like very much. 

 I hope you like this little project. You need to pop over to Our Creative Corner and see the inspirational work produced by my fellow teamies. After that choose your song and get creating for us! Can't wait to see which song you choose and how you interpret it.

Thanks so much for looking.