A New Home for Papercraft Challenges!

I wanted to let you know we have a new home for our weekly papercraft challenges.

From tomorrow (Wednesday 4th June) onwards, we're meeting up over on a dedicated challenge blog at Handmade Harbour Challenges and I would be delighted if you could join us.

In case you wanted a little heads up, our first theme will be pretty.  It's a theme which most papercraft projects would fit into...if you think yours does, then feel free to link up with us tomorrow.  There are prizes every week.

If your projects include digital stamps and you use something other than paper for your creative makes, you are more than welcome to join in - I love to see digis being used in creative ways!

Josie's pretty pencil case uses vintage caravan digital stamp for the applique

A Public Thank You

I think it's about time I said a public thank you to all the fabulous ladies who make up the design team here at Handmade Harbour and who use my digital stamps to make some very inspiring creations.

 Image: Elina using thank you girl with flowers

Every week, they come up between them with an amazing and awe-inspiring batch of goodness and loveliness.  They each have a commitment to make something once a fortnight, but I know that occasionally life gets in the way.  We have house moves, babies, illness and all sorts going on - and occasionally that means they can't get much done in the way of crafts...

Image: Teresa using thankyou in pots

But when that happens, something amazing happens. Because some of those design team members having a week off  often step into the breach with a whole lot of lovely makes!

Image: Emma using thank you girl with flowers

I'm so grateful to each and every one of you on the design team.  Not just for the amazing way you interpret my images and transform them into something inspiring to others, which in itself is a much, much bigger thing than you can ever imagine...but also for the way you step up to the mark, sometimes at very short notice, with your bundles of gorgeousness!!

Image: Elina using girl with thank you note

You can check out the design team on the dedicated design team page.  Each one of the designers has a blog of her own, and each blog is well worth reading - you'll find links to all of them.

And, designers, thank you so much for all your hard work, skill and loveliness!  You really are appreciated!

And the images used in this blog post are all yours - thank you so much!

Midweek Papercraft Party (38)

Welcome to this week's challenge.  Our theme is smile or laugh!

Last week's winners are:

Chrissy and Chris 

Well done!  You both win three digital stamps of your choice from the Handmade Harbour store.  Please email wendy@handmadeharbour.co.uk with your choices and I'll email them to you as soon as I can.

Moving onto this week,  we have are some gorgeous cards - and more - to show you!

Teresa used two digital stamps to make this card - the vintage camera and girl with bunting.  I love what you did here Teresa!

Rachel  made a really pretty card from the sixty is the new digital stamp.  Forgetful friends with episodes of senior moments?  At least you can both laugh about it with this image on a sixtieth birthday card!

Josie came up trumps again with another delightful and beautifully-made raw edge applique design using digital stamps for the image - this time she used a Christmassy digital stamp and discarded the seasonal elements!  I love how easy that is with digital stamps.  The result is this super pretty heart with a little owl, which would make a gorgeous gift.

Elina made a super sweet thank you card for her child's teacher.  I love this card Elina! The colours work beautifully. The image Elina used is girl with thank you note.

Last but not least, I'm editing this post to add Emma's adorable card... such gorgeous use of colour in this one too.  It certainly fits the smile theme - you couldn't help but smile if you received this card!

So, what have you made that might make someone smile or laugh?  We'd love to visit you and have a look, so please leave your blog link to join in.  Each week we choose two winners to each receive three digital stamps as their prize - a great way of starting or building up your digital stash!

An InLinkz Link-up

Midweek Papercraft Party (37)

Welcome to this week's papercraft challenge!  Our theme is having fun - and I think the design team have had fun while creating the having fun projects! It certainly looks that way - they've come up with some fabulous creations!

Before we move onto having fun, here are the winners from last week:

Leona and Monica

Well done! You both win three digital stamps of your choice from the Handmade Harbour store.  Please email wendy@handmadeharbour.co.uk with your choices and I'll get them to you as soon as I can.

Back to this week...

I love seeing how different people interpret the themes each week.  Teresa made this gorgeous card with toddler Emily feeding the chickens digi.  This image is based on a real-life Emily, who loves feeding my chickens - this definitely fits the having fun theme for me!

One of the great things about digis is how you can alter the image - and here, Teresa created a whole brood of extra chickens!

Josie used the butterflies and hearts stamp to create a gorgeous linen pouch with applique butterflies - definitely brings to mind summer fun!

Emma used the girls celebrating stamp to make this gorgously girly card - and these girls definitely look like they're having fun, don't you think?

So much fun that Elina used the same girls on her card.  Elina created the background with Tim Holtz faded jeans distress ink and added drops of water - really effective and gives the impression of flashing lights in the background.   I love it!

Frezja made a journal page with the pair of foxes stamp - I love how she dressed this pair and added the wording fur can be elegant.  It certainly can - on foxes, it's definitely elegant.  They may cause a nuisance at times but they are beautiful creatures.

Are you inspired?  Have you been having fun with cardmaking, stamping or papercrafting?  If you think it fits the having fun theme (perhaps you had fun making it!) please feel free to join us this week!

An InLinkz Link-up

Handmade Monday 167

Hello - welcome to another Handmade Monday!

This week I've had my sewing machine out, busily stitching for Sewing World magazine.

I can't show you too much yet - but it has something in common with the bag I made for my sister a little while back...

Quentin News...
Well, people keep telling me how much my (no, no, I should not think of him as mine!!) gorgeous little guide dog puppy Quentin has grown, and it's clear he's getting bigger (he tries to squeeze under the coffee table and seems to surprise even himself how big he  now is!).  I ordered his second batch of food this week, and got to compare pictures of him next to the food!  This was Quentin at eight weeks...

and here he is at sixteen weeks...

It was also interesting to compare his behaviour each time.  The first time it was just pure luck that I got him to sit still for a photo.  The second time I had complete confidence that he would sit and wait at least long enough for a photo!  I think he knew what was in the bag though - he was very interested in it and gave it a good sniff!

If you use Facebook, don't forget we now have a Facebook group for Handmade Harbour - you can share your own makes as well as get news and updates about the Handmade Harbour shop (digital stamps, party printables and sewing patterns).

It's time for Handmade Monday now and it's over to you...

An InLinkz Link-up

Midweek Papercraft Party (35)

Welcome to another papercraft challenge!  This week's theme is Happy Days!

Last week's winners are

Donna and Jennyfer

Well done! You both win three digistamps of your choice from the Handmade Harbour shop.  Please email wendy@handmadeharbour.co.uk with your choices and I'll get them to you as soon as possible.  You also get to grab the winner's badge for your blog, which you'll find in the left hand sidebar if you scroll down a little.

Moving on to the design team creations with our Happy Days theme, I love how Teresa cleverly combined two stamps to create this cat with a candy floss (cotton candy) stall.  It conjures up summery, fun days in my head - definitely meets the happy days brief!

The candy floss cart digi is one of my favourites and I love seeing it all beautifully coloured here (I really like how Teresa created the 3D effect on the canopy with colour).  Paired with the cat digital stamp, it creates quite special card.

Oh, now here we have a card after my own heart!  I have quite a thing for seaside beach huts and this card just speaks to me of happy days - summer at the seaside!  The beach hut digital stamp is just a simple, single beach hut with a little note on the door (life's a beach) - but look how a bit of background and some fabulous colour can really bring it to life!

Elina used a homemade embossing paste for the sand - very effective, I think.  I love it.

Emma at the Sparkly Fairy created something quite simple but very special.  I love how just a touch of colour (and maybe glitter, too) on a digital stamp creates a wonderful image - a purrfect card! 

This might be a papercraft challenge, but we can't leave out fabric creations using digital stamps (digis are perfect for applique designs, especially raw-edge techniques with free machine embroidery).  This adorable notebook cover was created by Josie using the elephant and bird digital stamp. What a superb gift this makes!

Josie combined it with a tiny scrap of elephant fabric from her stash - the perfect finishing touch!

I hope you find something from this post to inspire you this week - whether it's one of the design team's designs or the theme, or colours... whatever, it's always good to find inspiration!

If you'd like to join in our challenge this week, it's easy.  Please add your link below so we can visit you.  We're looking forward to seeing your creations!

PS: Handmade Harbour has a brand new Facebook group!  Please follow the link if you'd like to join us on Facebook!

An InLinkz Link-up

Midweek Papercraft Party (34)

Hello and welcome to the latest papercraft party!  Sorry I'm late this week - I can't blame anything except chaos from magazine deadlines and Easter getting in the way.  Still, it was nice to have a break, even if it did create a backlog of work!

Our theme for this week is birthday or best wishes but before we get to that, let's announce last week's winners...

Carol and Lori

Congrats, ladies - could you please email wendy@handmadeharbour.co.uk with your choice of 3 images - thanks so much for taking part, it's always appreciated and it's always great to see what you've made!

It's always great to see what the design team has been making too!  Here we go...we have a slightly depleted team this week, but hopefully we'll be back up to speed by next week!

Lynne made this lovely card, using the new girls celebrating digital stamp - perfect for a birthday!

Lynne didn't stop there though and made another!  I love all the sparkle in these - it really adds to that party atmosphere!

Rachel made this beautiful birthday card for a thirtieth.  The cat and chicken digistamp was originally designed for my niece's 30th birthday, but I thought it might be worth sharing!

If you've been making cards for birthdays or just sending some best wishes, we'd love to see them!  Feel free to join in with the papercraft party this week... 

An InLinkz Link-up

Midweek Papercraft Party (31)

Hello!  It's time for another papercraft party!

This week our theme is Spring or Easter!

We've had some gorgeous spring weather here in Cheshire, UK, although it's a bit grey again today!  I love spring when everything starts to grow again - blossom on the trees and daffodils lining the roads!  So I'd love to see some cards with a spring feel!

Last week's winner is:

Laura Le

Well done!  Please email wendy@handmadeharbour.co.uk with your choice of three digis from the Handmade Harbour shop.

As always, I love seeing what the design team has been making.  Let's take a peek...

Teresa made a gorgeous Easter gift bag.  I love this - so pretty!  Teresa used the cute bunny with flowers digi for this (the sentiment with lots of love at the top of the gift bag comes with the image).

Elina went outside the box with this project! She used the Cute Easter Chick image and mod podged it onto a plain puzzle base. She thought this would make a cute Easter gift to put in her daughter's basket this year. She loves doing puzzles! The two pics to show the puzzle before it was completed and the finished product.

Emma at The Sparkly Fairy used the stripey chicken stamp to make a lovely Easter card! 

Josie has wowed me again with her digital stamps turned into super cute little egg cosies!  These egg cosies will be perfect for Easter celebrations and gifts - I know Josie has made a lot of these! Josie adapted the owl waiting for Santa digi (one of the great things about digital stamps is how you can alter details quite easily) and the flower is from the flowers on the hill stamp.  The butterfly is from the butterflies and hearts stamp.  If you love raw edge applique, you'll love Josie's blog!  Aren't they adorable?

  

Frezja's card makes me think of spring - lovely bright flowers and sunshiney colours!  This is a card that would brighten anyone's day!

Have you had spring or Easter in mind with your papercrafting projects?  We'd love you to join in the party if you have!  Just leave your link below, and enjoy browsing the other links!  There are digital stamps of your choice to be won every week!

An InLinkz Link-up

Midweek Papercraft Party (28)

Welcome to this week's papercraft challenge - the theme is Lots of Love.

Before we peek at what the design team has been making, I want to announce last week's winners:

Hazel and Katie

Yay! Both of you win 3 digistamps of your choice from the Handmade Harbour store.  Please email wendy@handmadeharbour.co.uk with your choices.  You also get to grab the winner's badge for your blog - you'll find it in the left hand sidebar (you may have to scroll down a little).

Back to this week's cards and the Lots of Love challenge theme...

Look at the super cute card Aleksandra made... just adorable!  The cute bunny digital stamp she used is one of the new releases (perfect for Easter and spring-themed cards).

Lynne made this gorgeous card with a heartwarming quote about family love... this owl and baby digital stamp is already proving popular - it's a great one for Mother's Day!

Rachel's pretty pastel pink card uses the new Do What You Love digital stamp - I love that lovely hand-knitted embellishment!

If you'd like to join in this week, it's simple - just leave a link to your blog post by clicking below.  We'd love to see what you've been making and you could become next week's winner!

An InLinkz Link-up

Midweek Papercraft Party (25)

Hello and welcome to another papercraft challenge!  This week's theme is

Put some Ribbon on it!

Your make can be anything you like: a card, tag, scrapbook page or even something else entirely.  But we'd like to see some ribbon on it this week!

Last week's winners are...

Sue and Ginger


Well done both!  You win three digistamps of your choice from the Handmade Harbour shop.  Please email wendy@handmadeharbour.co.uk with your choices and I'll get them to you as soon as I can!

This week we have some fabulous new members on our design team, and these are their first assignments - and rather lovely they all are too!  You can find out more about them all on the design team page.

Emma made this gorgous card in pastel colours using the campervan digital stamp.  I love how the ribbons are holding up the stamped bunting!

Teresa used the thank you topiary digital stamp to create this bright and happy card ... or is it a canvas?  I can't quite tell from the photo - it looks like it might have some depth to it - but whatever the finished product is, I do love it!

Josie came up with something completely different!  This needlecase is made using the bird and nest digital stamp - Josie used the stamp as a pattern for applique.  I just adore this!  OK, so it's not papercraft, but I do love how edges can be blurred and one craft can transfer to another.

Frezja made this adorable journal page - how gorgeous has she made the momma and baby owls look?  That little one is so sweet with the ribbon in her hair!

and a close up!

Last but definitely not least, Elina created this oh-so-pretty card which would make a gorgeous birthday card for a special little girl.  She used Toddler Emily birthday Princess digital stamp for this.

If you want to join in and play along with our challenge this week, all you have to do is put some ribbon on it!  If you use a Handmade Harbour digital stamp, you increase your chances of winning  (there are some free digital stamps you can use).

We'd love to see what you've made!  To join in...

An InLinkz Link-up

Midweek Papercraft Party (24)

Welcome to another papercraft challenge!  This week's theme is BRIGHT AND HAPPY!

Congratulations to last week's winners:

Naomi (Mad Moose) and Very Belle Makes

You both win your choice of three digital stamps from the Handmade Harbour store - please email wendy@handmadeharbour.co.uk with your choices and I'll get them to you as soon as I can.  You also get to grab the winners' badge for your blog- you'll find it in the left hand sidebar.

This week, Lynne has made a gorgeously bright and happy card, using the vintage caravan digital stamp - I love what she's done with colour and pattern here!

Rachel played with the funky monkey digital stamp and created this very impressive napkin fold card that opens up when you pull the tab!  I'm full of admiration for the skill and time that went into this card - a true feat of engineering!

Bright and happy is a theme I can warm to - a feeling that might cheer some of us up in a damp British winter - and those of you in a warmer(or indeed drier) climate could perhaps share some of your sunshine with us via the internet!  If you haven't got sunshine, then the bright and happy theme might mean you can fake it!

As I type, I'm bundled up in scarf, duvet and blanket, waiting for an engineer to fix my central heating boiler - it's just 5 degrees outside and possibly slightly warmer inside!  So do please share your bright and happy cards or other projects with me!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Midweek Papercraft Party (22)

Welcome to another papercraft challenge!  This week's theme is

Hearts and/or Flowers 

You can see where we are going with this, can't you?  It's a perfect theme for those Valentine's cards, but maybe some other projects could make it in, too...

Without any further ado, last week's winners are:

Teresa and Tamie

Well done! Both winners get to choose three digital stamps from Handmade Harbour.  Please email me with your choices, ladies!  A very special mention to Teresa, whose card used not just one but two Handmade Harbour digis and is just super cute (click her name above to see it).  Teresa, you have probably won too many of these challenges now but I  just couldn't resist picking you again this week!!

Let's have a peek at what the design team has been making...

Lynne has made a batch of cards with the heart theme.  In fact they are all from this hearts within a heart digital stamp.  In fact, all the cards the design team has made this week use the same digital stamp!  I love it when that happens (it wasn't planned that way!) because I love seeing the variety of creativity that can come from one single image.

LYNNE'S favourite - because of the Crackle Medium she used on the hearts!

Zoe used the same image (below) and made a very different but equally beautiful card...  I love the subdued colours and of course the buttons.  I'm a sucker for buttons as a decorative touch.

Rachel's card (below) has hearts and flowers in abundance - you can't mistake the message here!  She also added the do what you love digi to create a very pretty, shimmery and blingy hearts-and-flowers card.

A quick reminder: if you'd like to be part of our design team, there is an opening right now!  There is more information about the design team call here!

Are you inspired by our hearts and flowers theme?  Have you been creating cards or other projects that might fit in nicely?  If so, we'd love to have you join in our challenge.  Two winners every week get three free digi stamps of their choice from the Handmade Harbour store. 

If you are joining in...