December Challenge Winner and A Goodbye

Without further ado our winner for the December challenge is Kate

December was our last challenge for the foreseeable future as the shop is closing down. The challenges may be back once I've sorted out the shop closure and had a bit of a break from it all.

I have a massive closing down sale in the shop. Everything has to go and is marked down to silly prices

Closing Down Sale Continues Everything Must Go

My closing down sale continues.  I've put a lot of items on auction at ridiculously low start prices and other items are either already heavily discounted or have the best offer button and a lot have both.  I need to get rid of everything asap so any offers (provided I can still pay ebay and paypal fees out of the offer price) will be accepted.  There are some crazy bargains to be had.

The shop can be found by clicking here

Closing Down Sale - Flower Bargain Packs

Continuing with my closing down sale I've made up some bags of approximately 30 flowers from a wide mixture of handmade, Prima and other brands.

They can be found here

eBay have a minimum price for buy it now items of 99p so I've had to put them at that price but if you use the best offer button on eBay you will be able to buy them cheaper than that.

Closing Down Sale - Lots Of Bargains

I have made the very difficult decision over the last week to shut down the business.  The world has changed significantly since 2004 when I first started with a few bottles of Prima Got Flowers.  Paper flowers in those days were the thing for card makers and scrapbookers and over the years I have progressed to making my own in addition to the Prima ones. I also introduced sewn, knitted and crocheted items into my shop. With that progression came a changing way we spend money with the addition of so many pound shops and the like to the UK selling cheap imports and a throw away culture was formed.  The handmade marketplace now is very difficult.  People see they can buy for example a hat for their child or themselves for next to nothing whereas a handmade hat by somebody such as myself would take many hours and quality yarns and the price we have to charge just cannot compare any more. 

Anyway after looking over my accounts I just cannot carry on and the shop will be shutting as soon as all my stock has gone.  I have reduced everything that ebay will allow me to by 50%.  Everything has the best offer button on it and everything should be set up to either accept or decline your offer.  Please don't be offended if your offer is automatically declined.  I have set them as low as I possibly can taking into account that I have to pay postage/ebay/paypal fees out of the price so if it is declined it will be because of that.  You WILL be able to pick up some bargains.

An advanced note regarding paper flowers - I will be taking them all off sale in the next day or two and making up some bargain packs of mixed flowers so it might be best to wait a day or two if you wanted to buy any.

The shop can be found here

December Challenge

Welcome to December.  Our challenge to you this month is non traditional Christmas.  By that we mean not using any traditional colours so we don't want to see any red, green or gold but we want to see Christmas projects.

For this month only the rules about how many other challenges can be entered have been relaxed so you can enter as many other challenges and still be included in our prize draw at the end of the month.  The prize this month is a mixed selection of craft flowers.

To enter please use the inlinkz button below.  Your project must be a Christmas project and it can't include any red, green or gold at all.  It must be completed during the month of December 2015.

I made some crocheted baubles which are on sale in my shop. There is also a pre Christmas sale on at the moment if you fancy a bargain.

and here is what the design team created:

                                                                  Astrid

I used a craft colored background and some blue colors for this cute photo of my son and nephew. Christmas colors doesn't have to be red, green or gold I think, just like my tree.

Eleni Gratsia

I was inspired to scrap about Christmas weather ... I want snow this year ... at 20*C I don't see it happening ... but we can always dream right???

Cream, blue, purple, pinks and a bit of silver!!!

Lisa

I really wanted to use colors you would NEVER think of for Christmas. Kraft, black, gunmetal, teal.  I love how these cards came out so much I'm thinking of adding two more to make a set.

November Challenge

Welcome to November

Our theme this month is jigsaw - (interpreted however you like).  There is a mystery prize for a randomly picked entry at the end of the month from all the entries complying with our rules.

Please take a moment to read our rules (below) before submitting your project:

Your project must be completed between 1st and 29th November 2015
Your project must be jigsaw inspired
To be eligible for the prize you can only enter into our challenge and a maximum of 2 others.

Here is how our design team were inspired

Helen

I used jigsaw pieces to decorate this little notebook (6" x 6"). I first covered it in pieces of old book pages and then used Gelatos rubbing them in to get a graduating effect. I added some stenciling (a new Andy Skinner stencil) and sealed the cover with Decopage. The jigsaw pieces were coloured using distress ink pads. I wanted the pieces to look as if they had started to fall from the top so randomly stuck them on, some over lapping each other. I added a walking bird (Octopode Factory) to finish off and then coated the book again in Decopage glue/seal. 

Astrid

The theme "Jigsaw" can be explained in so many ways, so therefore I used this photo of the oldest kids, playing a (big) game of chess, because I think chess is also a kind of puzzle :-) ,  I using lots of bits and pieces from my stash, for more details you can visit my blog. 

Eleni

The moment I read about the jigsaw challenge the first thing that popped into my mind was the pocket letters that I have been making recently ... So I decided to make a Christmas one that a lucky friend will be receiving this year!!!!

 

 

Entry is by the inlinkz button below

 



October Challenge

Welcome to October.

Your challenge this month is to use autumn colours. Here are a couple of design seeds palettes to inspire you but as long as you use autumn colours please feel free to use any colour palette you like from wherever you like. 

Please take a moment to make sure your entry fits our criteria rules (see below) as there are currently a lot of entries which don't qualify for the prize draw. 

Market Tones

Autumn Palette

Our challenge rules are:

• your project must be created during the period 1st October and 30th October 2015
• your project can only be entered into this challenge and 2 others
• we must be able to see clearly how you have been inspired by autumn colours
• you must enter using the inlinkz button at the bottom of this post during the period 1st - 30th October 2015
• you can submit a project using any crafts you like. We are not just about paper crafting
• you must HAVE FUN and ENJOY your crafting

Here is how the design team used autumn colours

HELEN

This month I made a tag using autumnal colours and lots of leaves!

Astrid

Not a layout for me either, I made an Autumn card with my funny new bird stamps, and colored for the first time with distress ink.

Eleni

 I was inspired by the autumn palette as I knew that I wanted to make a layout with last year's Halloween photos!

Lisa

I saw the colors and wanted to make Autumn flowers.  I thought they would look good with a Prima doll, so I did her in fall shades and made a tag-shaped card to put her on.

An InLinkz Link-up

September Challenge

Hello and welcome to September. 

Our challenge to you this month is this sketch from Pagemaps

Here is how the design team interpreted the sketch:

Helen

When I started to make this card it wasn't my intention to use only black, white and grey it just evolved this way. I am really pleased with the result especially as cards are not really my forte. The stamps are all PaperArtsy. 

Eleni

Well, I totally love the sketch and tried to stay as true to the design as possible.  I've used my Fuse tool to make the transparent hearts and added blink inside to make the layout more playful!

Astrid

My page for September, the story behind the photo is on my blog.

Lisa

This sketch looked like a romantic card to me.  I love the combination of all the textures and colors.

Entries will close at 23:59 GMT on 29th September and a winner will be chosen at random after that to win a mystery prize which will be revealed in our mid month inspiration post.

PLEASE read our rules before entering via the inlinkz button below.  Your project must satisfy our rules to be eligible for the prize draw.  In particular I would draw your attention to our rule that you can only enter in this challenge and a maximum of 2 others to qualify. 

Our challenge rules are:

• your project must be created during the period 1st September and 29th September 2015
• your project can only be entered into this challenge and 2 others
• we must be able to see clearly how you have been inspired by the sketch
• you must enter using the inlinkz button during the period 1st - 29th September 2015
• you can submit a project using any crafts you like. We are not just about paper crafting
• you must HAVE FUN and ENJOY your crafting

September mid (and a few days) monthly inspiration

For you mid month inspiration this month Helen has created this amazing project from the sketch.

 

For the original post and the link to upload your project please see here

 

I used DecoArt paint, Seth Apter stamps and metal embellishments to create the look below.

 Coiled chain.

 Steampunk embellishments.

Finished result using the September sketch.

July and August Winners

Apologies for not getting around to this before now.

Again I was faced with multiple entries not qualifying for the prize draw because they had entered too many other challenges.

Without further ado though the winner for July was Jen with this lovely card

Well done Jen. Please can you email me at craftgardenshop@aol.com with your address details and I'll get your mystery prize out asap.

The winner for August was Kitty with this superhero card.

Kitty I have your address from a previous challenge so I'll send your prize out next time I go to the post office.

August Challenge

Welcome to our August challenge. 

Your inspiration is very simple this month - the number 8.  Interpret it how you like, use 8 buttons/ribbons/colours/stamps, make 8 cupcakes/pies/cookies, whatever you want to do that is a crafty project created between 1st and 30th August 2015.

 Our challenge rules are:

• your project must be created during the period 1st August and 30th August 2015
• your project can only be entered into this challenge and 2 others
• we must be able to see clearly how you have been inspired by the number 8
• you must enter using the inlinkz button during the period 1st - 30th August 2015
• you can submit a project using any crafts you like. We are not just about paper crafting
• you must HAVE FUN and ENJOY your crafting

A winner will be selected at random and announced on 31st August 2015 to win a mystery prize.

Here is how our lovely design team have been inspired by the number 8:

HELEN

This is my card for this months challenge. I have used JOFY stamps and DecoArt Fluid Acrylics. Can you spot where I have used 8 of something?

Astrid

Well this was an easy one for me, lol. I still had my boy's 8th birthday photo's laying around from last year, so perfect for this challenge. 

Eleni

 I was also inspired by the photo of my nieces' eighth birthday! I've repeated the number 8 a couple of times!

July Mid Month Inspiration

Wow mid month already. That crept up.

Our July challenge can be found here and with a bit of mid month inspiration for you is Helen:

As you may have noticed, adult colouring books have become very popular recently, apparently colouring in is relaxing (something us crafters have known for years!) So with this is mind I took the Design Seed colours for this month and used them to colour in the floral design below. I enjoyed this challenge as the colours are not what I would naturally use with an image like this one.

When it came to the cutting out I left the intricate swirls as I was mounting the image on black, I simply coloured them in black and nobody would know they hadn't been cut out! The black card really makes the colours pop and I will now make a birthday card from this.

 

July Challenge

Welcome to July

I've gone with this wonderful palette from Design Seeds for July

As always your rules are as follows:

your project must be created during the period 1st July and 30th July 2015

your project can only be entered into this challenge and 2 others

we must be able to see clearly how you have been inspired by the picture

you must enter using the inlinkz button during the period 1st - 30th July 2015

you can submit a project using any crafts you like. We are not just about paper crafting

you must HAVE FUN and ENJOY your crafting

Here is how our design team were inspired by the colours and the picture

HELEN

I simply adore the colour choice for this months inspiration. I had this beautiful photograph of Mel (who is a friends daughter) that I  knew would be the perfect fit. I used paint, stamps, Copics, embossed card, Prima and KaiserCraft embellishments to complete this 12" x 12" scrapbook layout.

Astrid

Ahhh summer colors for this challenge ! Summer finally have start  here (in the Netherlands) with some crazy temperatures, we even have a heatwave this week. On the photo we had a hot summer day a few years ago and had some pool fun in the backyard!

Eleni

I, too, love the colours and image ... not a beach photo but a summer photo on my beloved island of Naxos!!! I hope my layout inspires you to create something!!

Lisa

All the blue in the photo really spoke to me as equal parts water and sky, so I created this card.   I felt like that sky would have a hot air balloon show going through it on a perfect day.

If you feel inspired by the colour palette please enter via the inlinkz button below.
 

PLEASE read our rules before entering. Entries can only be entered into this challenge and a maximum of two others.



An InLinkz Link-up

June Winner

It is with a sad heart that I have to announce that no entries fit our rules for June so unfortunately there won't be a winner.  

Our July challenge will be up tomorrow. 

June Challenge - Mid Month Inspiration

I can't believe it is Mid June already.  This crazy UK weather is swinging between arctic and tropical conditions at the moment.

Helen has provided some mid month inspiration with this lovely journal page

Full details of how to enter our challenge this month are here

June Challenge

Welcome to June 

This month we have a recipe challenge for you.

Your challenge is to use 3 of the following items on your project:

ribbon
paint/ink
white space
yellow
something fluffy
a banner

Our challenge rules are:

• your project must be created during the period 1st June and 29th June 2015
• your project can only be entered into this challenge and 2 others
• we must be able to see clearly how you have been inspired by the picture
• you must enter using the inlinkz button during the period 1st - 29th June 2015
• you can submit a project using any crafts you like. We are not just about paper crafting
• you must HAVE FUN and ENJOY your crafting

The prize this month is a selection of craft flowers and the winner will be selected using random.org on 30th June and announced that day.

Here are our design team projects:

Helen

I used ribbon, paint and yellow from the above list to create this tag. I normally colour stamps using Copics but as these were not n the list I decided to use paint. I was surprised that it turned out as well as it did as paint for me normally involves lots of paint and mess! The tag and stamps are all from PaperArtsy and in case you were wondering I do not have shares in PaperArtsy but I am starting to think that maybe I should!

                                                                           Astrid

The recipe I used for my page is; yellow, paint, white space and ribbon. The yellow was so bright, but so was the seahorse at the aquarium, lol. I always love to work with bright colors, they are my favorite. Let's see what recipe you will choose :-)

  Eleni

 Recipes challenges are so much fun! I've used white space, yellow, paint and a bit of fluff!

Lisa

I knew instantly that I wanted to do a paint printing background for this card.  I also decided pretty quickly to finish my recipe with a banner and ribbon.

 Chris / Doodle Pieces

I created a Flora Art Tag and used Yellow, Ribbon and Paint from Kerry's list. I wanted the color yellow to be the most prominent feature in this project so all the elements I used have various shades of this color.

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To enter this month please click the inlinkz button below and follow the instructions.



May Winner

Congratulations to KT Fit Kitty with this entry

Ok so blogger isn't playing ball today with adding photos but if you click on the link above to her blog you can see her lovely index card.

Your prize is on its way.

May Challenge

Welcome to May.

This month sees the Tour de Yorkshire bike race inspired by the Yorkshire start to the Tour de France last year.  Your inspiration this month is to be inspired by our lovely Yorkshire countryside to create a project.

 Our challenge rules are:

• your project must be created during the period 1st April and 30th May 2015
• your project can only be entered into this challenge and 2 others
• we must be able to see clearly how you have been inspired by the picture/theme
• you must enter using the inlinkz button during the period 1st - 30th May 2015
• you can submit a project using any crafts you like. We are not just about paper crafting
• you must HAVE FUN and ENJOY your crafting

The prize this month has a Yorkshire theme and the winner will be selected using random.org on 31st May and announced that day.

I made a brooch with a green bike theme

and here is what my lovely design team created

Helen

When someone says 'Yorkshire' to me I think of two things; Emmerdale and green. I am a huge fan of Le Tour but as I live near Cambridge that is my association with Le Tour (so I guess it depends on where you live! It was an amazing sight to watch all those bikes come whizzing through a quiet little Cambridgeshire village) Anyway Emmerdale and green and the wellie brigade so it was inevitable that my project was going to be green! I had been given a paperweight that required you to add something decorative to it, the display one showed a photograph but I thought Borrrinnggg (as Judge Rinder would say) so I set about making something green with a nature theme. The words are a stamp from Darcy at PaperArtsy and the leaves are from Jofy. I made the background using Gelatos, a mask (also from PaperArtsy) and baby wipes. A tutorial is on my blog HERE. 

Astrid

Inspired by the lovely landscape I used some photo's from our vacation in France.

Lisa

As soon as I saw that the photo had to do with a cycling event I knew I wanted to use a bicycle stamp.  I made the background in colors inspired by that in the photos.  The gold sequins are the extra pop I felt it needed.

Chris / CS Designs

There was so much to choose from with this months theme but I chose to focus on the Tour de Yorkshire bike race and created a simple card from a woman riding a bicycle which is from an old Victorian advertisement and used some of the natural colors from Kerry's inspirational photos. The main focal point was colored with Prismacolor pencils and the textured background was created by running a piece of linen card-stock which has a white center and sanding it lightly with an emery board to give it a distressed look.

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If  you feel inspired to join us this month please submit your project (complying with the above rules) via the inlinkz button below.