Challenge 75 Birds

Well we managed a few more entries with our last challenge, Romance, now we are wondering if our next one which is "Birds" is going to match up to it in entries.

It's certainly interesting seeing the little birds at home coming to the feeders so it is about time we had a challenge featuring them.  What you do is entirely up to you, a card, a bookmark, an atc, a postcard or something else - go on surprise us.  Here is what we have on offer:

Neet made this little card to send to someone and then couldn't find it.  It was still under the scanner cover!!

We are so pleased that we still have Chris, our Guest Designer with us - this is what she made and what she said:

"Hi I'm back with my second guest DT card for the wonderful Artful Times.  I went really busy last time so this one is clean and simple, but still inky which is my favourite style.  I just want to say thank you to Neet and Wendy for an awesome month being part of the team, I had so much fun!"

Wendy decorated a box

Hope you join in with us over the next fortnight, we would love to see some of your work grace our pages.

An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge 74 Romance

Here we are, back at the time of the year when the shops are decked out in red and hearts abound everywhere.  Yes, folks, Valentine's Day is upon us - well tomorrow it is.  Will a secret admirer be sending you a Valentine card, will the love of your life be giving you chocolates, roses or maybe even a diamond!

Did you know that the day we call Valentine's Day is named after a Christian Martyr and dates back to the 5th Century.  Or so they say.  If you want to read more about it go here and read about it, or here where you can find out lots more and see some video presentations.

In the meantime why not join in and show us something you have made that is romantic - it needn't be a Valentine card, it could be an engagement card or a wedding card or simply an "I Love You" token.

Now I promised you some exciting news last week and here it is - we have our first Guest Designer here with us for this month.  Please give a lovely warm welcome to Chris Smith  who has been one of our faithful followers for quite some time now.

"Hello, my name is Christine and I started cardmaking just over eight years ago when I had to leave work due to illness.  My daughter actually got me into it and I love it!  I love stamping and getting inky and also trying new techniques.  I am so thrilled to be guest designer for Artful Times, this is the first of two challenges I will be GD for.  Thank you so much Neet and Wendy for letting me be a temporary member of your fab team!"

Here is the card which Chris has designed especially for you for this challenge. I just love the bright colours she has used which makes a real change from the usual reds, blacks and pinks that we so often see.

Unlike Chris I (Neet) just stuck to black and red for my Valentine gift which is a pencil box for my man.  Thought he could display it on his desk and use it for his pencils and things - probably upside down so nobody sees the mushy cover LOL.

Wendy used a heart shaped perspex box, and covered it with "mushy stuff" and lovely visions of Paris, the City of Romance.

Hoping that we get some lovely entries for this challenge as we are still running thin on the ground and both we and Oyster Stamps would love to offer a prize again should entries start to increase to a level that makes it possible.

Although we are saying Chris is our first Guest Designer we would hate for Sam to feel she was not a Guest Designer when she has popped in in the past. Truth is we don't regard Sam as a Guest but as a valued friend who helps us out willingly whenever we needed help, and we hope this continues Sam.  We really appreciate You.

An InLinkz Link-up

Winners - Challenges 71 & 72

Thanks to everyone who entered our challenges.  We now have a winner and a runner up who can display our blinkie on their blogs when they contact Neet.  (Neet's email address is on the right hand side of her blog - Hickydorums).  Please try to do so within the next 7 days and your blinkie will be sent to you.

So who was declared our winner?  Well we chose Pawsitively Creative Crafts entry for our Time Challenge.  She has done such a detailed write up as to how she made the finished, beautiful creation, that you really should go along and read about it.

Our runner up was Julia, of Azenor Artwork for her recycled inchies which are in the all time Christmas favourite 'tartan'.  Such a happy looking card.

We hope you will join in with our current challenge which is waiting for you on our blog and next week we launch a new challenge and some exciting news!