Iceskating Emily

Another pastel Christmas creation today - this time it's a card made with a very cute Digi Garden image.  This little cutie is called 'Emily's Iceskates' and you can find her here in the Christmas section of the The Digi Garden website.  The paper I've used is from Dovecraft and I've layered it with pink Bazzill.  

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Charisma Cardz - 'Christmas - no red, green or gold'

I Love Promarkers - 'anything goes'

Digital Tuesday Challenge - 'girls'

Crimbo Crackers - 'anything goes'

Holly Jolly Christmas - 'pink and blue Christmas'
Cute Card Thursday - 'snowflakes'
Natalie and Amy's Challenge Blog - 'winter wishes'
Jingle Belles - 'December to Remember'

Christmas Owls

Today I'm sharing three ATCs I made recently using the gorgeous new 'Christmas Owls' clip art set from Pink Gem.  There are eight owls in the set plus branches, decorations and sentiments - you can find the set here on the Pink Gem website.  They are pre-coloured and perfect for lots of different projects as you can easily re-size them as you want to.

I printed the owl images on to pearl paper and then die cut them with a label die.  The papers and card are from my 'bit box' and I added some gems to finish them off.

I'd like to enter my ATCs in the following challenges:

Charisma Cardz - 'Christmas - no red, green or gold'

Inky Impressions Challenges - 'pastel or vintage Christmas'

Dream Valley Challenges - 'non-traditional Christmas'

Polka Doodles - 'any die will do'

Crafty Ann's Challenge - 'birds or animals'

Crimbo Crackers - 'anything goes'

More Than One Fold - New Penny's Challenge

 This week our challenge on Penny's Paper-Crafting Challenge Blog is 'more than one fold'.  For all the details and to see the cards from my fellow Design Team members, have a look here at the challenge blog.

This week we've been sponsored by Crafty Sentiments Designs, Scrappers Delights and Milk Coffee.

For my card I've used the very pretty 'Tiffany in Wedding Gown' from Milk Coffee which you can find here on their website.  The paper I've used is from Craftwork Cards and I've used peel offs - a line round the large circle die cut and words on the corners of the cards.

Here's a view from above the card so you can see the folds in the card.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Digital Tuesday Challenge - 'girly'

Party Time Tuesdays - 'anything goes'

OLLCB - 'spots and dots'

Stamping Dragon Challenges - 'wedding'

Paper Pretties Monday Challenge - 'anything goes'
Come and Get It Challenges - 'more than one fold'
I Love Promarkers - 'anything goes'
Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge - 'girly cards'
Stamp n doodle - 'fabulous folds'
Simon Says Stamp - 'anything goes'

New Nutcrafters Challenge - Numbers

There's a brand new challenge on the Nutcrafters challenge blog today and this time our theme is 'numbers'.  For more details about the challenge and to see the cards from the rest of the Design Team, please click here.

I've used the very cute 'Jingle Bell Rock' digi stamp for my card - it's available here on the Nutcrafters website.  The date stamp I've used is from Lili of the Valley and the paper from Dovecraft.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Crafty Sentiments Designs - 'red, white and green'

Party Time Tuesdays - 'anything goes'

DYSU - 'numbers'

The Crafty Bloggers Network - 'Christmas anything goes'
Eureka Stamps - 'let the holiday fun begin'
The Paper Shelter - 'Christmas is Coming'
I Love Promarkers - 'anything goes'
Simon Says Stamp - 'anything goes'

New Cutie Pie Blog Challenge - Use a Doily

A new challenge has been launched today on The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog this time our theme is 'use a doily'.  You can find all the details plus see the inspiration from the Design Team here on the blog.

We've been sponsored by Pink Gem and I've used one of their super-cute digi stamps for my card.  She's called 'Nativity Phoebe' and you can find her here on the Pink Gem website.  The sentiment I've used is also from Pink Gem, from the 'Christmas Circle Sentiments Set 1' which you can find here.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Wags and Whiskers - 'Christmas'
Emergency Crafters - 'anything goes'
Cute Card Thursday - 'girls only'
Top Tip Tuesday - 'kids and teens'
Hooked on Craft Challenges - 'Christmas'
Crimbo Crackers - 'anything goes'
Paper Makeup Stamps Blog - 'Christmas/holiday'
ABC Challenge - 'anything goes'
Lexi's Creations - 'Christmas'

Little Claire Class Let's Celebrate' - Part 2

I'm back today with the final two cards from my Little Claire class yesterday.

First of all, a birthday card made using the 'Oh Man' outline sticker sheet which you can find here on the website.  The sentiment was stamped from the matching stamp set which you can find here.

Then our last card was a new home card using the 'At Home' stamp set which you can find here

If you'd like to come to one of the classes in the New Year, you can find all the details here on the Little Claire website.

I'd like to enter my cards in the following challenges:

My Time to Craft Challenge - 'domestic pets' (first card)
My Mum's Craft Shop - 'inspiration from a song' ('There's No Place Like Home' - second card)
Artistic Inspirations - 'anything goes'

The Corrosive Blog Challenge - 'anything goes'
Joanna Sheen Challenge - 'anything goes excluding Christmas'
That Craft Place Blog - 'no squares' (second card)

Little Claire Class 'Let's Celebrate' - Part 1

 I've just got back from my second Little Claire class at the new Design Studio - another great group of ladies and a really fun class!  This week the class was called 'Let's Celebrate' and so I designed five cards to celebrate different occasions.

The first one (above) was a baby celebration card made using the 'Changing Tree Baby Embellishments' which you can find here on the Little Claire website.  The circular baby sentiment is from the 'Dictionary Definitions' set which you can find here.

Next we made a Christmas card:

For this card we used 'The Magic of Christmas' set which you can find here on the website.  The door was stamped twice and then a piece of the 'Glitter Sparkle Sheet' was put over the second coloured image, cut out and then put on the base.

Next was a birthday card using the 'Ever So Lovely' stamp

This one was stamped on kraft paper for a different look and the sentiment is taken from 'A Little Bird Told Me' which is here on the website.

I'll be back tomorrow with the final two cards.  

There are lots more classes coming up in the New Year - click here for more information.

I'd like to enter my cards in the following challenges:

Hiding In My Craftroom - 'Christmas' (second card)
Moving Along With the Times - 'let's go dotty' (third card)
Delicious Doodles - 'something that flies'
Fussy and Fancy Fridays - 'feeling blue'
Crafts and Me Challenges - 'circles' (first card)
Crafty Creations Challenges - 'Christmas is Coming' (second card)
Papertake Weekly - 'ribbons and pearls' (third card)
Loves Rubberstamps - 'use a ribbon'
Christmas Cards All Year Round - 'shaped or fancy folds'
Passion for Promarkers - 'colouring on kraft' (third card)

Digi Garden Blog Candy Winner

Many thanks to everyone who left a comment on my last blog candy post.

The lucky winner of the £10 voucher for The Digi Garden is ........

Aussie Annie

Congratulations!  Please e-mail me (address in the sidebar) to claim your voucher.

More Celebration Blog Candy!

Many thanks to everyone who left me a comment to win the voucher from Little Claire - I'll be announcing the winner on Saturday so please keep an eye on my blog.

This week I'm offering the second part of my Celebration Candy which is a £10 voucher for the wonderful Digi Garden.  If you haven't come across The Digi Garden before, they sell a gorgeous range of very cute character digi images.  I've been a Digi Garden Diva (don't you just love our name?!) for several months now and love working with their images.

You can find The Digi Garden website here and from the website you can link to the blog and customer challenge.

So, this week I'm offering a £10 voucher for The Digi Garden and if you'd like to win the voucher, here's what you need to do:

1. Post a picture of The Digi Garden badge on your blog with a link back to this post.

2. Leave me a comment on this post.

3. Be a follower of my blog, if you aren't already one of my blog friends.

The blog candy will stay open until 11pm on Thursday 22 November and I'll announce the winner on Saturday 24 November.

Good luck!

Helen x

A Couple of Decoupage Cards

Over the weekend I needed to make two cards for family friends who are in hospital so I decided to make some decoupage designs for a change.  I've had these floral decoupage sheets for a while - they're perfect for simple cards and relatively quick because they're die cut.

Here's the second one:

I'd like to enter my cards in the following challenges:

Totally Gorjuss - 'plain and simple'

Oldie But a Goodie Challenge - 'anything but Christmas' (decoupage is more than 6 months old)

Shopping Our Stash - 'use one or more leaves' (second card)

Lady Anne's Challenges - 'anything goes'

Forever Friends Monthly Challenge - 'anything goes'

New Challenge at Penny's - So Thankful

Today we've got another challenge for you on Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog and this week our theme is 'so thankful'.  You can find all the details about the challenge here and also see the cards from my fellow design team members.

For this challenge we've been sponsored by Digi Darla Designs, Dustin Pike and Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps.

For my card I've used 'Snail Mail' which you can find here on the website.  The paper I've used is from the Back to Basics range and I've layered it with kraft.  My sentiment is from Hero Arts.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Crafty Sentiments Designs - 'thanks'

Sweet Stamps - 'thank you'

The Pink Elephant Challenge - 'giving thanks'

Love to Create - 'give thanks'

Lollipop Crafts - 'we're thankful'

Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog - 'thanks'

Crafting for All Seasons - 'thank you cards'

Little Claire Class - Owls in the Barn

Last Saturday morning was the first Little Claire class in the new Design Studio in Ledsham here on the Wirral.  Our first class was 'Owls in the Barn' and we made five owl themed cards using stamps, stickers and a very cute die.  As I'm repeating the class in the New Year, I can only share one of the cards at the moment - this one will be replaced the next time I do the class as I think everyone will have had enough of Christmas cards by then!!

Details of the class on 19 January are here together with more information about the other classes in January and February and some great all day workshops both here on the Wirral and in Kent and Crawley.

This card was made using the very cute 'Christmas Owl Tree' which you can find here on the Little Claire website.  I've also used one of the die cut sentiments from the Christmas set which you can find here.  The holly paper is here on the website and we also used kraft paper which is here.

The new Design Studio is perfect for classes - there's a great classroom on the ground floor with plenty of natural light.  Here are some photos of the class:

 For more details about the Design Studio, please have a look here on the website.

I'd like to enter my owl card in the following challenges:

 Sparkles Forum Challenge - 'Christmas is Coming'

Paper Shelter - 'easel card with Christmas theme'

I Love Promarkers - 'Christmas trees'

Corrosive Challenge Blog - 'flutter by'

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - 'use something more than 6 months old' (my paper)

Christmas Cards All Year Round - 'shaped or fancy folds'

Southern Girls Challenge - '46 Days to Go'

Paper Creator's Crafts - 'all about Christmas'

New Challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox - Anything Goes!

Today we've got a brand new challenge for you on The Squirrel and the Fox Challenge Blog and our theme is 'anything goes' - nice and easy!

Our challenge is sponsored by Bugaboo Digi Stamps and the prize for the winner is 7 digis.  For all the details and to see the cards from my fellow Design Team members, please have a look here.

For my card I've used 'Girl With Bow Kid Pocket Topper' which you can find here on the Bugaboo website.  The paper I've used is from Doodlebug and I've layered it with some dark brown and white paper.  The sentiment I've used is from Craftwork Cards.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Patties Creations Design Challenge - 'birthdays'

Happy Campers Craft Collective - 'use bright colours'

Stampin' With the Dragon - 'so cute'

Simply Create Challenges

Little Claire Blog Candy Winner

Many thanks again to everyone who left a comment on my Little Claire Blog Candy post.  

I've used random.org to draw the winner

and the lucky person is ................

Lynne in NI

Congratulations Lynne - please e-mail me (my address is in the sidebar) and I'll put you in touch with Little Claire.

Don't forget I have more blog candy on offer this week - have a look here for all the details: http://craftinghelen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/more-celebration-blog-candy.html

Helen x

New Little Claire Challenge - Christmas

Today we're launching a new monthly challenge on the Little Claire Blog and this time our theme is 'Christmas' - nice and easy for everyone!  Have a look here on the blog for more details, the winners of last month's challenge and also some gorgeous inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

And here's what the winner will receive:

I've made my card using one of the images and the circular sentiment from the 'Delivering Christmas Wishes' stamp set which is one of my favourites.  You can find it here on the Little Claire website.  I've used some red and white spotted paper and red card to layer the image and finished with some Card Candi from the Holly Berries pack which is available here.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

SJ Crafts Shop Blog - 'Christmas'
Sparkles Monthly Challenge - 'Christmas is coming'
Crafty Sentiments Designs - 'Christmas'
That Craft Place Challenge Blog - 'red for remembrance'
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - 'use something more than six months old' (my stamps)

Gem of a Challenge Reminder - Ribbon and Lace

This is my first proper post as a member of the Pink Gem Design Team and today I'm posting as part of Team Gem for the mid-way challenge reminder.

Our current challenge is 'ribbon and lace' and you can find the original post here with all the details and lots of inspiration from Team Pink.  The mid-way post is here with more some more inspiration.

For my card I've used the gorgeous 'Angel Jodie' digi stamp which you can find here on the Pink Gem website, digi paper from the Coconut Ice pack which you can find here and one of the sentiments from the Christmas Circle Sentiments Set 1 which you can find here.  I've also used some pale pink card, some white glitter card, gems and of course lace and ribbon.  I've highlighted the image with Glamour Dust.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Polka Doodles - 'square card with a round element'
Crafty Catz - 'let's have sparkle'
Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog - 'tic tac toe' (gems, glitter and lace)

Crafts and Me Challenge - 'untraditional Christmas colours'
Corrosive Challenge Blog - 'flutter by'
Sparkles Forum Christmas Challenge - 'contemporary colour combo'
Moving Along With the Times - 'seeing stars'
Passion for Promarkers - 'moon or stars'

Celebration Blog Candy!

I've reached a milestone this week and now have 200 followers on this blog!!  A big thank you to all my followers and to everyone else who leaves me such lovely comments - blog land is such a great place!

As a celebration and to say thank you, I'm going to be offering some blog candy over the next few weeks and the first candy on offer is a £10 gift voucher for the wonderful Little Claire Designs, very generously donated by Gill and Steve who run Little Claire - thank you!

If there's anyone who hasn't come across Little Claire Designs before, they produce a gorgeous range of high quality stamps and also sell digis, papers, ribbons, card blanks, dies and everything else that you need to make great cards.  They run a monthly club and also now have an amazing Design Studio located on the Wirral - a real haven for card makers and great for a day out!  The Little Claire blog has a monthly challenge and lots of gorgeous inspiration from the Design Team.

The Little Claire website is here, the blog can be found here and you can find details about the Design Studio here.

If you'd like to win the gift voucher, here's what you need to do:

1. Post a picture of the voucher on your blog with a link back to this post.

2. Leave me a comment on this post.

3. Be a follower of my blog, if you aren't already one of my blog friends.

The blog candy will stay open until 11pm on Thursday 15 November and I'll announce the winner on Saturday 17 November.

Good luck!

Helen x

***NOW CLOSED - WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON 17 NOVEMBER***

New Challenge at Pennys - Anything Goes

Today we've got a new challenge for you on the Penny's Challenge Blog and this week our theme is 'anything goes' - nice and easy!

We've been sponsored by My Heart Pieces, The Paper Shelter and Make It Crafty.

For my card I used the gorgeous 'Angel Singing Carols' digi stamp from Make It Crafty which you can find here on their website.  The paper I've used is from Lili of the Valley and I've finished the card with some Card Candi and peel offs.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Corrosive Challenge Blog - 'flutter by'

One Stop Craft Challenge - 'anything goes'

Allsorts Challenge - 'young at heart'

Crazy 4 Challenges - 'Christmas Carols' (Silent Night)

My Heart Pieces Digital Stamp Challenge - 'cute'

Divas by Design - 'anything goes'

Joanna Sheen Blog Challenge - 'cold and frosty'

Crafty Sentiments Design Challenge Blog - 'Christmas'

Holly Jolly Christmas - 'inspired by a carol' (Silent Night)

New Nutcrafters Challenge - A Christmas Present

Today we've got another brand new challenge on the Nutcrafters Blog and this time our theme is 'A Christmas Present'.  All the details are here on the blog where you can also find the creations from my fellow Design Team members.

For my card I've used the 'Sweet 16 Cutie Pie' image - you can find it here on the Nutcrafters website.  The paper I've used is from the First Edition Stocking Fillers paper pad and the sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Forever Friends - 'use ribbon and or twine'

Dream Valley Challenges - 'anything goes'

That Craft Place Challenge Blog - 'red for remembrance'

Happy Campers Craft Collective - 'use bright colours'

Crafty Sentiments Design Challenge Blog - 'Christmas'

Lady Anne's Anything Goes

Happy Birthday Pink Gem and Some More Exciting News!

 Pink Gem Designs has just celebrated its fifth birthday - congratulations to Janet on her continuing success and gorgeous products!

And I'm also very excited to say that I'm now a part of the Pink Gem Design Team!!  I received an e-mail from Janet last week asking me if I'd like to join the team and of course I said yes - no question there!  

I'm part of Team Gem which means my first official post as part of the design team will be next Saturday but in the meantime, here's a very simple birthday card I made recently using the 'Crocus' digi stamp which you can find here on the website.  I've decoupaged the flower heads and then added stamped sentiments and of course some pink gems!!

 I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Craft Your Passion - 'clean and simple'

Dream Valley Challenges - 'anything goes'

Raise the Bar - 'birthday'

Pattie's Creations Challenges - 'birthdays'

Oldie But Goodie Challenge - 'anything but Christmas' (the digi and sentiment stamp are more than 6 months old)

My First Cutie Pie DT Card

A couple of weeks back I was very excited to receive an e-mail from Lisa at The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog asking if I would like to be part of their design team!!  Of course I said yes straight away and now I'm enjoying being part of the team.

Today there's a new challenge and it's my first one with the design team - the theme is 'brown and cream Christmas' and we're sponsored by Floppy Latte Designs.  The winner of the challenge will receive a $10 gift certificate - you can find all the details plus the gorgeous creations from the rest of the design team here on the challenge blog.

For my card I've used 'Bird and Bauble Ornaments' from Floppy Latte Designs which you can find here on their blog.  The paper I've used is from the Krafty Christmas pad from Lili of the Valley layered with dark brown paper and the sentiment I've added is from a My Favourite Things stamp set.

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Don't forget - I still have celebration blog candy on offer - the draw is for a £10 Little Claire voucher.  All the details are here.

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 I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Corrosive Challenge Blog - 'flutter by'

Dream Valley Challenges - 'anything goes'

One Stop Craft Challenge - 'anything goes'

Totally Gorjuss - 'pastel Christmas'

Crafty Catz - 'anything goes'

Sweet Stamps - 'Christmas'

Christmas Stampin All Year Long - 'anything goes'

Sparkles Christmas Forum - 'contemporary colour combo'

Tammy's Scrapin' Corner - 'anything goes'

Blast from the Past and a Competition!

This is a bit of a blast from the past - a card I made back in August of 2011!  The stamp I've used on the card is called 'Daisy Pitcher' from Little Claire and you can find it here on the website. I've also used pink spotted and kraft paper and a sentiment from Personal Impressions.

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COMPETITION!!

If you like the stamp then there's a chance to win it plus the gorgeous 'Flowerhead' stamp on the Little Claire blog.  All you have to do is leave a comment telling Little Claire what YOUR favourite Little Claire stamp or stamp set has been so far.  All the details are here on the Little Claire blog and you can also find out where the Little Claire stand will be at the NEC.

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I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Papercrafting Journey - 'anything goes'
I Love Promarkers - 'pretty in pink'
Cupcake Craft Challenges - 'get krafty'
My Time to Craft Challenge - 'pink and brown'
Addicted to Stamps and More - 'addicted to flowers'

New Challenge at Penny's - Lots of Layers

Today we've got a brand new challenge for you at Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog and this week our theme is 'Lots of Layers'.  The challenge is sponsored by Sassy Studio Designs, Robyn's Fetish, Digi My World and The Stamping Boutique so there are lots of great prizes on offer.  You can find all the details on the challenge blog here.

The image I've used is from Sassy Studio Designs and is called 'French Maid' - you can find it here on their website.

The paper I've used is from Craft Creations and I've added a flower, gems, a sentiment from Craftwork Cards and some die cut photo corners.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly - 'anything goes'

Bearly Mine Challenges - 'anything goes'

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards - 'stripes'

Card Crafter's Circle - 'patterned paper'

Natalie and Amy's Challenge - 'colour me happy' (pink and brown)
Inky Impressions Challenges - 'birthdays'

Cupcake Tree

This is one of Little Claire's older stamp designs but still one of my favourites.  It's called 'Cupcake Tree' and you can find it here on the Little Claire website.

I've used it with some kraft paper and some pink tartan paper from Craft Creations plus a Martha Stewart border punch and some pink peel off borders.  The peel off is a Little Claire one and I've also added some gems and Card Candi.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

The Crafty Pad - 'anything goes'
My Time to Craft - 'pink and brown'
Papertake Weekly - 'anything goes'
Passion for Promarkers - 'in the garden'
Bearly Mine Challenges - 'anything goes'
Loves Rubberstamps Challenge Blog - 'anything goes'
Cupcake Craft Challenges - 'get krafty'
Natalie and Amy's Challenge - 'colour me happy' (pink and brown)

Black and White Birthday

This is a very simple shutter card I made recently for a friend's birthday - no stamping on this one for a change!  I've used paper from Craft Creations, paper flowers and a die cut frame and sentiments from Craftwork Cards.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Unstampabelles - 'monochromatic'
CRAFT Challenge - 'birthday'
Come and Get It Challenges - 'monochromatic Sunday'
Lexi's Creations - 'special birthdays'
Corrosive Challenge Blog - 'know when to fold them'
SJ Papercrafts - 'birthdays'

New Challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox - Horses, Hats or Flowers

Today it's time for another new challenge on The Squirrel and the Fox Challenge Blog and this fortnight our theme is 'horses, hats or flowers'.  For those who are wondering about the challenge title, it relates to The Melbourne Cup in Australia!  You can find all the details about the challenge here on the website.

We've been sponsored by Make it Crafty who also provided images for the DT.  We were able to choose from the website and I picked 'Tulip Garden' which you can find here on the website.  I've kept my card very simple - just some paper to layer the image and a sentiment from Hero Arts.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

The Crafty Pad - 'anything goes'
Raise the Bar - 'anything goes'
Forever Friends - 'anything goes'
Bearly Mine Challenges - 'flowers galore'

November Club Stamp from Little Claire

The new club stamp for November has just been added to the Little Claire website and it's a great stamp called 'Let's Bake'.  You can find it here together with a gallery of great creations from the Design Team.

For my first card (above) I stamped the image on kraft card which I then layered on to white and dark brown paper.  The patterned paper I've used is from Craft Creations and I've added photo corners cut from kraft paper.  I've edged all the layers with brown ink to add depth.

My second card was simply stamped on white card and coloured.   I don't know who makes the blue heart flower paper as there was no name on the back.  I've also used some little white paper flowers with gems in the centre to finish the card off.

I'd like to enter my cards in the following challenges:

CRAFT Challenge - 'birthday' (second card)
Inky Impressions Challenges - 'layers'
My Mum's Craft Shop Challenges - 'bold and bright' (second card)
Love to Create Challenge Blog - 'lots of layers'
Natalie and Amy's Challenge - 'colour me happy - pink and brown' (first card)
A Gem of a Challenge - 'polka dots/spots' (first card)