December challenge - Your favourite thing from 2014

Merry Christmas!
I know that there is still a little time to go, but not long really!
On a personal note I would like to take the time to thank everyone who has played along with our challenges over 2014. You are all very talented and you have helped to inspire us every month.
I would also like to thank my design team - thank you for joining us and for all your wonderful inspiration every month. You are all uber talented and a joy to work with.
A massive thank you to all of our sponsors over 2014 - we hope you will all agree to sponsor us again in 2015 as we have loved working with all of your wonderful images.
And a special mention to my two team leaders, Dawn - who has been my right hand woman from the very start and sorts out all the sponsors for the team to work with and for you to win prizes from and Marlene - who joined us, stepped up when we needed a team leader and who helps the DT when they are stuck.
Without them, our sponsors and of course all of you, there would be no Crafting Cafe. So thank you!
Here's to a fun and crafty filled 2015!

So this month the challenge is for you to reflect 'Your favourite thing from 2014', that could be colours, creative mediums, and image or embellishment.
We can't wait to see the projects that you share with us.

This month there is no sponsor. This one is just for fun.
The design team will be popping back over the month to inspire you and show you some of their favourite things from 2014.....

Here are a few of my projects to get the ball rolling

 I have loved working with all our sponsors and I have loved getting creative with digis....

 I love, love, love all things die cut!

 Playing with pyrography...

 Having fun with fimo......

Now it's over to you.... we would love to see what your favourite thing has been this year - it's just for fun so really there are no rules....

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.
Happy crafting
Nikki & The Crafting Cafe Design Team x

An InLinkz Link-up

My 2014 faves...- Neil

It's been a busy first year of self-employment as a bona fide artist working from my home studio, complete with life's normal ups and downs. One constant has been crafting and sharing my enjoyment of all the different techniques and media with others - a great diversion and a true therapy!

Here are my favourite makes of 2014:

White on white is a classic - and this layered decoupage adapted from

a sponsor digistamp was one of the first uses of my new Silhouette Cameo.

The project still has pride of place on the hall chimney breast!

I thought this digistamp image was just so beautiful - I wanted to colour it sensitively and delicately, and thought the AquaMarkers helped me achieve that wonderfully.

And my final favourite is really the technique that ruled the ether during the year - tarmacing.

Who'd have thought a bit of bitumen could be so versatile for ageing acrylic paintings.

I've also immensely enjoyed working on the Design Team for Craftwork Cards - if you've not had chance to see some of my makes for their TV shows on Create & Craft, be sure to go over to their blog for some serious browsing!

As for 2015 - it promises to be just as busy, with demonstrations already in the diary, workshops planned in the studio and a whole set of online classes to plan, film and broadcast. Oh, and a monthly post for The Crafting Cafe - can't forget that!

I hope you've had a great Christmas, and wish you a crafty and successful New Year.

Neil

December- Favourite thing from 2014 - Angelie

Hi there

Hope you are all enjoying the festive season and the sales! Watercolour is something new I wanted to try this year and I've loved learning this medium - its my favourite colouring technique at the moment!

Hope you all have a lovely new years

My Favourite makes in 2014

This is my post for the Crafting Cafe blog DT for December, we have not got a sponsor, so this month its all about posting your favourite things from the year. So these are mine.

 

This was my husbands 60th Birthday card in October, i loved making it and he loved it too

this is a mixture of Graphic 45 and Tim Holtz

This is a favourite scrapbook page, my granddaughter Maia all dressed up in WW1 outfit.

the papers and embellishments are dragons lair designs.

 

And finally a shadow box House for my bestest friends 65th Birthday, with all her family photos in it

Happy Christmas everyone 

My favourite things of 2014 - Mags

Hi Folks

Mags here to share some of my favourite things from 2014.
This is just for fun and we would love to see your favourite projects.

My 3d christmas crackers.

Lots of distressing on this one

Using die cuts

My favourite colour and sparkle.

Thanks for popping by and hope you enjoyed seeing my selection of projects.

Bye for now

Mags

xx

My Favourite Things of 2014 - Dawn

Hi everyone, Dawn here with some of my Favourite Things From 2014

This month we are playing Just For Fun but we will still choose a Top 3

You don't have to make anything new, we know how busy you are already!
So here are mine!

My Sock Snowman

Dirty Harold

Spring Swing Rebekha

Just click on the links if you'd like to know more about any of them!

2014 Favourites

This month's challenge is to share your favourite makes of the year.  2014 has been quite a special crafting year for me for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, it's the first year I've done any significant amount of scrapbooking.  I've always wanted to scrap, and becoming a Mum in 2011 gave me an extra reason to do it, but I hadn't managed more than the odd isolated project.   At the start of the year I set myself a target of creating one layout per month, and I'm happy to say I exceeded that, not least because I think that's the first time I've ever kept to a new year's resolution!  My top 3 favourite layouts for the year are these:

"Bob's Bumpy Bark Rub" (this was my first of the year, and incorporates a bark rubbing):

"Great Minds" (think alike), made for a sketch challenge on the do crafts scrapbook forum:

and "Bob's First Proper Christmas", my first 12x12 double page layout:

The other reason 2014's crafting has been special is that my little boy has very recently become interested in making things :-)  To capitalise on this, I made an activity advent calendar that included some crafting and cooking projects.  Despite the fact I spend all of every day with him, I think we're both really benefitting from this more focussed 'time in'.  This is my favourite of the things that we've made so far - partly because Bob stayed interested from start to finish, and partly because I managed to resist the temptation to neaten it up!

I hope you like my faves.  Thanks for reading and Happy Christmas!

Amanda

Just for Fun

This is the last challenge of 2014 at the Crafting Cafe and if a lovely one to join in with because the theme is 

Just for Fun, Your favourite things from 2014.

My favourite things are lovely warm colours, pretty embellishments and getting back to using my Polychromos pencils that I have coloured this image in with. 

So come back soon and see some lovely inspirational ideas from my fellow DT members.

Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Janet x

Winners & Top 3

Hi everyone, it's time to announce our Winner & Top 3
from last month's  NOT A Card challenge!

A big thank you to everyone who played along, the entries were all brilliant!

We always wish we could give everyone a prize,

but, we can only have one winner per sponsor!

First up, our Artbmiran Prize Winner

#21 Carol Dunham

Congratulations Carol,what a fantastic little gift box!
You have won your choice of 3 images from the Artbmiran shop

Now, our Delicious Doodles Prize Winner


#42 Sarah-J W

Congratulatins Sarah-J, a fantstic little wreath!
You have won your choice of 4 images from the Delicious Doodles Shop

Ladies, please send us an email to craftingcafe@hotmail.co.uk

with Winner in the subject line to claim your prizes.

Don't forget to collect your winners badge & wear it with pride!

Now on to our Top 3 in no particular order.
We had such a hard time choosing but here they are


  #27 Michelle


#28 Coops


#21 Carol Dunham

Fantastic creations ladies, we all loved them!
Collect your badge from below & wear it with pride!

Thanks again to our wonderful sponsors &
thanks to everyone who entered, without you, there would be no challenges!

Don't forget to enter this month's challenge
Your Favourite Thing from 2014
We don't have a sponsor prize this month as it's Just For Fun,
but we will pick a Top 3
You don't have to make anything new this time,
Simply link up something you've made that you particularly like, from this year....
 colours, projects,techniques, it's your choice!

Hope to see you there!
Keep on crafting!
Hugs
xx Dawn xx

My favourite things of 2014

Wow. I can't believe that we're nearing the end of 2014 and my first year on the Crafting Café Design Team. It was really fun to look back over the last twelve months at the things I had created. It was difficult to pick, but I finally came up with a couple of favourites. Hope you like them.

 

A chance to play with my inks again

 

Docrafts Roald Dahl collection

and finally, my favourite.

I hope you join in and show us your favourites from 2014 and want to wish you all a very merry Christmas and see you in the New year.

November Challenge - Not a card

Hi everyone, it's time for a brand new challenge here at 

The Crafting Cafe

A huge thank you to everyone who took part in last month's Think Pink challenge

 & to those of you who visited the design team blogs. 

We really enjoyed visiting your blogs too.

This month we have a different kind of challenge for you. 

The theme is

'Not A Card'

 Always a challenge for those card makers among us!

To make it even more fun, we have two amazing sponsors this month

Delicious Doodles

Who are offering one lucky winner their choice of 4 images from their shop
Here' my inspiration project

I added Teri's awesome Bark At The Moon image to a candle

Here it is packaged with a little matching gift tag!

Artbymiran

Who are offering one lucky winner their choice of 3 images from their shop

Here's a bit about the company:-

Hello I am Mi Ran artist and owner of Artbymiran, I was born in Seoul, South Korea. I grew up with Korean and Japanese Manga. In my childhood, I loved drawing and making my own little stories. I moved to Canada in my late 20s, where I reside with my husband.

I have worked on a variety of publications, ranging from children's to contemporary adult genres. I have contributed as an artist and colorist. I also worked as a graphic artist and layout designer for non-comic publications. For several years I was able to share my passion through teaching art to elementary school aged children. These experiences have influenced my recent artwork.

I am excited to have been kindly received into the community of digi stampers and crafters.
I love to share my art. I love thinking of new images, and it’s so fabulous to see others take them and make them into beautiful works of art.

My designer’s creations can be seen on my blog 

My Facebook page 

 Now, on to my inspiration project!

I've made a wine bottle tag with a little pocket on the front

 

the image, supplied by Artbymiran is 

Christmas Elf isn't it scrummy!

More about this on my blog

Remember, the DT will be posting their projects over the next month 

so there will be lots of different ideas to inspire you!

Happy crafting

xXx  Dawn, Nikki & the Crafting Cafe Team  xXx

An InLinkz Link-up

Not a card, by Amanda

Hi everyone, Amanda here with my inspiration post for November's "Not a card" challenge.  I've used a lovely elf image from Artbymiran to turn a plain notebook into a Christmas gift planner/diary. You can find the image here.  For more info on the project and what I used, please see my blog here.

I hope you like it!  The result is a bit too much like a card really!

Happy crafting

Amanda

Not A Card - Janna

Hi, Janna here with my DT post for November.

I am using a fabulous Artbymiran image on a canvas.  You can find her here

This woud be ideal for a little girls room decor.

You can find the store here

Not a Card - Sammy

Good morning all, Sammy here with another project for you.

I was so excited about the Not a Card theme, as I love to alter things and make decorations and such as well as cards. So, seeing as it's almost St Andrew's day, I chose a lovely Celtic frame design from our sponsor Delicious Doodles and made this:

Details can be found on my blog. Hope to see all your lovely entries too!

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Sammy-x

Wreath Tag

Welcome to my inspiration for this months challenge which is
Not a Card.

My image is from one of our sponsors Delicious Doodles.

This image is Rose hip and Holly wreath,
I've cut it up and decorated a tag with it. 

Join in our challenge this month and you could possibly win 4 images from our sponsor.

See you all again soon

Janet x

Not a card challenge

Hi Everyone.

This month's challenge is Not A Card

So, the idea is to make anything but a card. 

I chose an image by one of our sponsors, Delicious Doodles. 

The holly wreath is brilliant because I'm not very good at colouring in and shading,

but the shading on this image is all done for you! 

I simply used my Artiste marker pens and, hey ho, a perfectly coloured image.

I added some ribbon and a fabric sentiment to the middle to make a lovely little tree decoration. 

I hope you like it, now it's over to you.

Milk Carton Gift Box - Mags

Hi Everyone

Mags here with a little inspiration for our current 'Not a Card' Challenge.  I have used a fab image from Delicious Doodles and created a little milk carton gift box.

I kept it quite simple.  The image was coloured in promarkers and some distress ink added around the edge before matting onto red cardstock.  The backing paper with writing on is from Papermania.  I added a little bow to the corner of the image and some stickles for the berries on the image.  I used a couple of little pegs as fasteners.

You still have until the end of the month to enter the challenge.  Look our for more inspiration from the design team during the rest of November.

Bye for now

Mags

x

Not a card - delicious doodles DT post

Hi all, this month at The Crafting Cafe,we have 2 sponsors! 

I have blogged my projects separately for you.

The theme for this month is Not A Card and my first project is

made using an image from Delicious Doodles

The image I have used is Rosita

As the image is deliciously dark, I went a bit gothic

to make this little wall hanger!

Such a gorgeous image

A side view to show the dimension

Here's what I used for my base!