We are Neet and Wendy and we would like to welcome you to our fortnightly challenge, ‘Artful Times’, where we are offering a variety of challenges to inspire you to create in whichever style or medium of crafting you enjoy. You never know, we might even inspire you to create something out of your comfort zone and try out something new.

Yes like all challenge sites we have rules and guidelines. We hope you will read and follow them, we have Oyster Stamps as our sponsor, and of course, a winner and runner up will be chosen each month. We may also have the occasional guest designer.



Friday 14 December 2012

We Have a Winner

This was particularly hard to choose a winner this time as there has been such superb work on our challenge site.  Just wish we could give you all a prize.  Every one of you is a winner in our eyes and we thank you most sincerely for entering our blog challenges.  So without further ado here is our choice of a winner and runner up for this month.  Hope the recipients display the blinkies with pride.

So the winner is ...

...

...


Wendy K

for her lovely vintage lace tag with those lovely flowers and print on fabric.

and our Runner Up, by a very narrow margin, is


Rita

who has made the most delightful cheery top hats we have ever seen.

Please email Neet (addie on her blog - RH side) for details of how to get your blinkies to display on your blogs.  Well done Ladies!


Friday 7 December 2012

Challenge 19 - A Recipe- and a Break

Hi There - Neet here!  I guess most of you are busy beavering away making your last minute "C" cards, doing your "C" shopping for gifts, thinking about what to do for the "C" dinner etc.  Don't know about you but I can't get my head around the fact that it is only just 18 days away.

For this, our 19th Challenge, I chose for you to follow a recipe.  In your creation you must use

Blue
A female (head or body will do)
Silver
Ribbon

Hopefully if you are still on "C"cards you can make one using the above recipe and submit, that way it does not involve you in any extra work.

Here are our submissions


Neet


 Now you have until after Christmas to do this Challenge as we are taking a break over the Christmas period so the next Challenge will not be posted until the 4th January.  May we wish you and yours a Happy Holiday and take care on the roads - until 2013!

Von and Neet x


Saturday 24 November 2012

Apologies and a Winner

Oh dear, where did the time go and where did our heads go?  Since Sam left us we don't have anyone to keep us on our toes and so we completely forgot about choosing a Winner and a Runner up for our Fur and Feathers and Orange, White and Brown challenges.  A thousand apologies to all our entrants, indeed to anyone reading this blog.

So without further ado, and an abundance of apologies, can we now announce that the winner is (or should that be 'was')

Drum roll ...

...

...

Lena for her lovely Fur and Feathers entry.  Well done Lena!


So who came runner up and can now display our logo with pride?

Drum roll again please ...

...

it was Janet for her entry in the Orange, White and Brown challenge.


Well done ladies.  Now you both need to contact me, Neet, via email and I will send you your winning blinkies and details of how to claim the £10 voucher for Lena.

Don't forget it's Anything goes for the next 2 weeks

Friday 23 November 2012

Challenge 18 Anything Goes

Hi to you all and welcome to our new followers.

We had a super standard of fabric tags made for the last challenge, even if the numbers were down, so well done those of you who rose to the challenge.

This next fortnight will be more relaxed with 'Anything Goes' and we do mean 'anything' so if you have made something you are proud of we would love you to share it with us.  We thought this would be a nice easy challenge for you all as we appreciate that quite a lot of you will be busy in the throes of getting ready for Christmas.

Here's what the DT have made so pop along to their blogs and get the low down on what they actually did.

Von has gone for texture
 

Whilst Neet was a bit practical
(and short of time)



Can't wait to see what you all get up to.

Please remember to read the rules for the challenge, some of you have had beautiful work entered that cannot be considered for the prize because you have not complied with the rules.

Friday 9 November 2012

Challenge 17 - A Fabric Tag


Delighted with what you have all been coming up with for the various challenges and seeing such a broad spectrum of media I got to thinking of something different for a challenge.   I decided that I would ask you all to make a fabric tag.  ie a tag made from fabric and decorated in any way you want.

Can have, or not have, sewing involved in it - it is entirely up to you but I know that whatever you do it will be a lovely example using fabric in some way.  Remember you have almost two weeks to produce something so there is no need to rush.

Here is what the two of us here came up with - notice Von has no sewing on hers at all:

and I certainly don't


just wonky pretend stitching.

Now what will you do?  Sewing - Transfer techniques - Rubber stamping - Painting - can't wait to see.

Friday 26 October 2012

Challenge 16 It's Orange Brown and White

As you know now Sam has chosen to leave the challenge blog but before she left she chose the theme which we are using this time.  She decided on a colour scheme of Orange, Brown and White so without further ado here is what Von and Neet have made:

Von has made an Atc



Neet has made a card


We have had some super entries in our challenges and thoroughly enjoyed our time looking at them,visiting your blogs and generally making new friends along the way so we look forward to seeing what you make with the chosen colours.

Please do check the rules, remember to tell us how you made your creation - without the rules being adhered to we cannot count you in for the voucher towards something from our sponsors at Oyster Stamps.


Friday 19 October 2012

Challenges 13 & 14 Winner and Runner Up

Another fantastic array of entries for the last couple of challenges, thanks so much for joining us again, your support is much appreciated.

So without further ado, this months winner is ..............


Alison (Craftytrog) for her wonderful postcard










And the runner up is ...........................


Julia and her gorgeous tree




Well done ladies, both stunning entries, it really is getting so hard to choose from all your wonderful creations, keep them coming, we are loving it and loving visiting all your blogs.

To claim your prize and/or blinkie which we hope you will proudly display on the sidebar of your blog, contact Neet.

Sunday 14 October 2012

A Goodbye & Thank You

Hi everyone

Just a quickie post from me (Sam) to say thanks for all your support whilst I've been privileged to be a  part of this challenge blog, but I now feel it's time for me to move on.

I hope you'll all continue to support Neet & Von.

I'll see you all around, I'll still be visiting blogs.

Thanks again.
Sam xxx

Latest challenge HERE


Friday 12 October 2012

It's Challenge 15 - Fur or Feathers

Hi everyone, Neet here, cannot believe we are up to the 15th of our fortnightly challenges here on Artful Times.  Seems like yesterday we were discussing starting a new challenge blog.  This time it is my choice and I said "Fur or Feathers" which means you choose something with "fur" or something with "feathers" as your main topic.  Or you may choose both.

Cannot believe the whole DT kept away from "birds" although with Sam's tag you could say the image is a (slang for female) "bird" and she has used a feather.




Von, on the other hand, went down the avenue of some sweet felines on her card


Whilst I used a favourite stamp of mine, one of my little Cavalier King Charles, Oliver.  Sadly he is no longer with us but he was immortalised in rubber when he won a competition for his cute photograph.  Who could not love my little dog?


We have had some super entries in our challenges and thoroughly enjoyed our time looking at them so we look forward to seeing what you make of 'fur or feathers'.  Please do check the rules, remember to tell us how you made your creation - without the rules being adhered to we cannot count you in for the prize.

Friday 28 September 2012

Challenge #14 - Postcard

Thanks for all your fab tree entries last week.  This week we are moving on to postcards (6" x 4") with letters or script.  You can display any images or theme you like but you need to remember include some alphabet letters and/or script.

Here's what we came up with:





Sam


To find out more details about each one, click on a name to be taken to their blog.

Friday 21 September 2012

Challenges 11 & 12 Winner & Runner Up

Thanks to everyone who has joined us again over the last 4 weeks and played along with the acetate and inchies challenges.

So to the winner and runner up then .......


Well done to .......... the winner




Kerstin with her fabulous mooinchies





And to ........... the runner up



Rosie with her gorgeous acetate tag



To claim your prize and/or blinkie which we hope you will proudly display on the sidebar of your blog, contact Neet.

Friday 14 September 2012

Challenge 13 - A Tree as the Main Focus


Well here we are at the end of another fortnight with autumn in the air and the start of a new challenge. So for the next two weeks we would like you to think of "trees" and make them the main focus of your creation.  Here are the ones made by the Design Team, we hope they inspire you.


A lovely card from Neet


an inspiring tag from Sam



and I (Von) still have metal on the brain and made a "tree of life".

Please remember to follow the rules, just link up to your creation and not your blog, do not enter into more than 5 challenges with your one piece in order to be in with a chance of winning the £10 voucher from our wonderful sponsors Oyster Stamp and do give us a general run down of how you made it.  (Full details are at the top of the page under rules and guidelines.)

Friday 31 August 2012

Challenge 12 - Inchies

No prizes for guessing the instigator behind this week's challenge!  Yes, it is "inchies" and it's me, Neet, who chose it.  Think I am turning into a bit of an 'inchie freak'.

Thank you for your continued support of our challenges, it is lovely to meet you all each time we put up a new challenge and nice to make new friends when someone new joins in.  We really do appreciate the effort you all put in to make something on the theme we come up with.

Can I just ask that you all check the "Rules and Guidelines" above as sometimes we come across an absolutely fabulous entry but because it does not fulfill the criteria we cannot count it as a prospective winner.  Remember there is a £10 voucher from our sponsors, Oyster Stamps, for the winner plus they can then display our logo on their blog to let everyone know they won one of our challenges.

Now to see what my fabulous colleagues came up with:

Sam used clay for hers


Von made a keyring


and me, Neet who stuck to a card


We would love to see your creations so please link (direct to your entry, not just your blog - see above for instructions if you are unsure) and then we can call in and see you and what you have done.  So looking forward to it.

Cheerio for now!

Friday 24 August 2012

Winner and runner up challenges 9 & 10


Well once again you all set us quite a challenge in choosing a winner and runner up with so many wonderful interpretations of the theme, we take our hats off to you all :)
so with out further ado the winner is
...
...
...

Butterfly with her wonderful travel tag incorporating a wonderful mix of stamping and and printed images:



Well done Butterfly please contact Neet within the next 7 days for the code to redeem your £10 voucher to spend at Oyster Stamps and you will also be given the winners blinky which we hope you will display on your blog.  Please be sure to read the above page entitled 'sponsor' so you are aware of the terms and conditions of the prize.  If the prize is not claimed in 7 days it will be withdrawn.

The runner up is Keren with her mesmerizing mix of UTEE and images




Again Congratulations and please contact Neet for your runners up blinky which we hope you will display on your blog.

Apologies for the lateness of this notification - a slight technical hitch occurred at 6 pm today.

Friday 17 August 2012

Challenge #11 - Using Acetate

A big thank you to everyone for your much appreciated continued support throughout the past challenges.  We hope you will join us again this week and show us your great creations 'using acetate as a layer'.  You can make anything you wish, as long as it has at least two layers, one of which is acetate.

Here's what we came up with ~


Check out Von's blog to see how she made her card.


Sam made a postcard, check out her blog for the different layers.


Neet made a card incorporating pan pastels.  Check out her blog to see how she attached the acetate layer.

Please remember to follow the rules, just link up to your creation and not your blog, do not enter into more than 5 challenges with your one piece in order to be in with a chance of winning the £10 voucher from our wonderful sponsors OYSTER STAMPS. (Full details are at the top of the page under rules and guidelines.)



Friday 3 August 2012

Challenge 10

Good afternoon to all you talented crafters and thank you all who managed to take part in the "Travels in Europe Tag", some very inspirational tags.   :)


Are you all enjoying the Olympic Games ? If not then welcome to a sports free zone lol .


Von here taking you back a few years to when Mona Lisa was one of the most popular images, but she hardly gets an outing these days so thought it would be nice to bring her back into the spotlight. You can make anything you like.  Here are the pieces from the Design Team:


    Von a hanging

  

 Neet a bookmark


    Sam an atc

Please remember to follow the rules, just link up to your creation and not your blog, do not enter into more than 5 challenges with your one piece in order to be in with a chance of winning the £10 voucher from our wonderful sponsors Oyster Stamps.  (Full details are at the top of the page under rules and guidelines.)

Friday 27 July 2012

Challenges 7 & 8 Winner & Runner Up Announced

Oh this one was so hard for us to choose a winner and a runner up.  There were so many really lovely entries that it was almost impossible for us to choose one to be the winner but in the end we went with an entry from Von's theme "Oh I do Like to be Beside the Seaside".

Now you all want to know who the winner is ...

Don't you ...

Well the Winner who receives a gift voucher to the value of £10 from our wonderful Sponsors, Oyster Stamps, is ...











Meggymay (Meggy's Way)


Well done and now please get in touch with Neet within the next seven days (email address on the side of her blog) and she will give you the code for this month's winner.  Neet will also send you the blinkie which we hope you will proudly display on your own blog.  Just check the terms and conditions of the prize above - read "Our Sponsor" - so you are aware of the terms and conditions.

OK, so you all know who the winner is, guess you want to know who is our runner up.  Funnily enough that comes from the other challenge that was Sam's choice - "A Mode of Transport".  Again a very difficult decision but this time we decided to go with Valerie (Bastelmania) who should now get in touch with Neet for her Blinkie.

Here are the two entries chosen - well done ladies!

Winner




Runner Up


Friday 20 July 2012

A Trip to Europe on a Tag

First of all can I remind you that we do have RULES and I would urge you to read them as we have had some super entries that we would maybe have liked to have made into "winners" but because they did not follow the rules we couldn't.  Just spare a minute or two to read them please - then you can be in with a chance to win a prize from our Sponsors, Graham and Tracey at Oyster Stamps.

It is the holiday season, the time we all used to have "Annual Wakes Week", do you remember those (showing my age here)?  Nowadays people go off at different times but owing to children not being taken out of school most people have an annual holiday July/August time.

Well, the weather has been atrocious, worse June in 100 years or so they say, July is not that much better as yet so with that in mind I thought we should all venture overseas and visit somewhere in Europe.  I've also tied you into a "tag" for this Challenge, hope you don't mind.

Here's what the team have made


Sam went all Red, white and blue with her Pan Pastels for her trip to France's capital city.


Von had a little tour and took in some of the sights of France, Italy and the Netherlands.

And I (Neet) joined Sam in Gay Paree with a vista of the city.


I wonder where you will take us?  We are all looking forward to having a journey with you, afterall, if this weather does not buck up we need something to cheer us.  Hope to see you joining in, we have had some super entries in the past and we have over 100 followers now.  Thank you one and all.

Friday 6 July 2012

Challenge # 8 - A Mode of Transport

Thanks to all of you who took part in the last challenge, it would have been nice if the sun had come out and we could have gone to the seaside, but alas this British weather did it's own thing again and mostly rained!!!


Also a huge thank you to all that follow us as we have just hit 102 followers, which is a fabulous target in such a short space of time.


So onto challenge #8.  I've chosen 'a mode of transport' for the theme.  It can be any method which suits your purpose, using any medium and displayed how you would like.


So here's what we created:


Von made a tag with her collections of bicycles!!




Neet went for a Penny Farthing die cut card




And lastly I went for T!m's old jalopy!!!



Please remember to follow the rules, just link up to your creation and not your blog, do not enter into more than 5 challenges with your one piece, in order to be in with a chance of winning the £10 voucher from our wonderful sponsors OYSTER STAMPS.  (Full details are at the top of the page under rules and guidelines.)

Friday 29 June 2012

Winner and Runner Up Announced

Well thank you for all your wonderful contributions to challenges 5 & 6, ribbon and lace and men.  Again you made it difficult for us to choose an overall winner from both the challenges, but in true form we've come to a decision, so the winner is ..............








Ann B with her wonderful vintage deco book pages

         


Well done Ann, please contact Neet within the next 7 days for the code to redeem your £10 voucher to spend at Oyster Stamps and you will also be given the winners blinky which we hope you will display on your blog.  Please be sure to read the above page entitled 'sponsor' so you are aware of the terms and conditions of the prize.  If the prize is not claimed in 7 days it will be withdrawn.




And the runner up is .....................








WendyK's ribbon and lace tag





Again please contact Neet for your runners up blinky which we hope you will display on your blog.

To contact Neet by email, just click on her name in this post.

Don't forget, to be a winner you have to keep within the rules!!!


Friday 22 June 2012

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

You all sure turned up trumps for Neet's Men's challenge making such a variety of masculine cards and things that we all find hard to make.

Now on to the the new challenge for the next two weeks "Oh I do like to be Beside the Seaside" is the prompt for you to create something sunny and bright and make us believe that it really is summer and please visit our individual blogs if you would like to know how each was made.

I (Von) still had men on my mind and a day on the beach



Neet was enjoying the view



Sam went all out for a paddle



So come and join us and bring out the summer in your craft room and if you follow the rules you could be in with a chance to win £10 to spend from our sponsors at Oyster Stamps