Seas the Day

This is Current Ebbtide, from CC Designs Sweet November collection, isn't she GORGEOUS!

I used pearl cream card as a base, the patterned papers are from Kaisercraft Gypsy Sisters 6"x6" collection. The sentiment is computer generated.  I painted Ms Ebbtide with Jo Sonja paints and highlighted her hair and headpiece with white gel pen.

The starfish were from a $2 shop: there were all sorts in a packet including starfish, butterflies and hearts - all of which I will get to use, the air bubbles are pearls from a different set of embellishments from the same shop. 

 I DO love a bargain!!!  The rhinestones on her belt add a bit of glamour.  I added glitter to the tail by mixing embossing powder and glitter together , sprinkling it on to the tail (which had a light coat of adhesive spread on it)  then heat setting - as described  here on Tori Wild's Blog. Once she was finished I cut her out and pop-dotted her on to the card. The border at the bottom came in the Gypsy Sisters collection, I punched it with a corner punch manoeuvred around to fit the "bumps" and embossed it with the Textile embossing folder from Cuttlebug, all the different textures on this card make it quite interesting. My son Chris bought me some vellum for Mothers Day that has starfish printed on it, just perfect for the inside of this card, I must get some more as I am just going to HAVE to make more mermaid cards, I had such fun!! 

Nurse Nora visits Keith

This is a card for our dear neighbour and friend, Keith who is in the final chapter of his fight with cancer.  He was lamenting to my husband that his life has become one medico after another, all asking the same questions, so I thought I'd do him this card.  The sentiment reads: "Just what you need..... .....another %*@$# NURSE!"

I used deep red cardstock for the body of the card and for the tag, the patterned papers are from Die Cuts With a View All Glittered Up Mat stack.  The image (on pearl paper die cut with Nestabilites Labels 4) is another one of CC Designs Swiss Pixies collection, available from All That Scraps, this is Nurse Nora, and I think she is another real cutie.  I gave her a mouth because my son said she looked as if she needed one, but in retrospect I think she looked fine as she was! I coloured her with a combination of Copic Markers, ink, Jo Sonja acrylic paint and even gel pens.  The main thing I learned from using this "mixed media" approach is that the ORDER is important, primarily you have to use the copic markers FIRST (as they sort of stain the paper) and the gel pens LAST as nothing sticks to cover them up; all in all though it wasn't difficult and was the only way I could get the colours I wanted with my very limited range of copics (soon to be expanded, I hope!)  The red polka dot ribbon finished the card off (and covered a rather dodgy join of the two patterned papers, which are actually card so they don't overlap well - you have to get the "butt" right!!) The white dots around the sentiment are Signo gel pen, definitely one of the better white gel pens I've used.  I can see me using Nurse Nora quite a bit more, not just for get well cards, watch this space!!  Hopefully the card cheered Keith up a bit, I know he "got" it, so that's all I can do.

Butterfly Birgitta

I have made this card in response to the Wednesday Challenge at All That Scraps.  The challenge was to use fruit in the design.  The Kaisercraft pad I used ( the Hey Birdie 6"x6" collection) had this beautiful paper with foiled apples on it.  The image is Butterfly Birgitta from All That Scraps, it's by CC Designs - her Swiss Pixies collection.  They're all really cute, this is the first time  Birgitta has featured on one of my cards, but I can see that it won't be the last!!  I may put this card in Two Peas in a Buckets Finally Friday Challenge too, as that challenge is to make a Thank You card - which this is ;)

I used cardstock from  DCWV Neutrals collection in a sort of buff colour.  The tag for the sentiment came from the Hey Birdie collection, as did the border paper at the bottom and the top of the card (both these came off one sheet with loads of border type prints on it - great value, apart from being so perfectly matched!!)  The little flowers on the top border match those on Birgittas pants, tying the images together nicely.  The image is coloured with a mixture of Copics (the three I have at this stage, lol), pigment inks and some felt tipped pens I've had lurking about for ages!!  The mat is from DCWV Neutrals Mat stack cut and embossed with my Cuttlebug and Large Scalloped Ovals Nestabilities.  Mounting the elements on foam dots really helps give the card some "dimension".  Thanks for looking and happy crafting, Dee

Brighton Beach Houses

I was "chatting" with someone the other day about a road trip my husband and I did a few years ago along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria.  It brought to mind some of the things we saw on that trip, one of them being the famous changing rooms on Brighton Beach in Melbourne.  These little "houses" are decorated in bright colours and make a fabulous scene, here's a photo:

Beach "Houses", Brighton Beach, Victoria. Australia

These beautiful little bits of cheer inspired me to create a wooden tissue box when I returned home.  I made a pattern from a box I bought in a discount store and my lovely Dad got cutting and gluing for me, then I drew up a pattern for the decorating, here's the finished result -

The sand along the bottom of the piece is sand from my garden - all I did was wash it and mix it with glue then plaster it on, it worked really well.  The hooks for the towel are just painted on, I think it would have looked good with little brads stuck on as hooks, but I wasn't card making at this stage, and hadn't even heard of brads, lol.  I couldn't quite get the shape of the thongs (flip flops if you're in England, jandles if you're in New Zealand!!) right, so I "buried" them in the sand :)  I have done a few tissue boxes in this sort of birdhouse style, but using other peoples patterns not my own, I always intended to paint more of these little beach houses in different patterns, I haven't got around to it yet, but maybe one day I will - when I haven't got anything else to do Ha Ha!!I

Love the new Sugarplums kit "Take a Seat"

Just a lightning fast post to say how much I LOVE the new Sugarplums kit "Take a Seat".  I am going to have to get it, but  I have spent my crafting budget and some this month, can only hope to win it: I suppose it's only fair to share the info that you too have a chance to win it at http://www.kelliewinnell.com.au/,
Go and have a look at the kit, it really is a cutie and the seats are such a great idea, they make your images look somehow more friendly!!  If I don't win I'll just have to buy the digistamps, though they are in limited edition, so I may have to make my decision quickly - never my strong suit!!
I'll be back later to post some more photos of my "stuff", Dee

What's a Birthday Without a Cake?........

As I posted previously, 7th August was my Mothers' 80th birthday, one of the things I did for her special day was make a cake.  Pink frangipanis are one of her favourite flowers and make a nice bright splash on what is here in Australia, a winters birthday.  Mum has been one of my staunchest fans ever since I started my life in craft, with cake decorating, 28 years ago and has always loved icing lace, so of course this cake has icing lace!  I've gotta say, the cake tasted good too and I baked an extra one at the same time - it's put away for Christmas - can't wait!!

The flowers and leaves are made of icing,
airbrushed with food colouring

The Lace is icing, the Pearls and crystals...... aren't!

Happy 80th Mum

Well, Saturday 7th August 2010 was a special day in our family, my lovely Mother was 80 and we celebrated in style: First of all my sister and myself took her to be primped and pampered with hair, makeup and manicure then a stretch limousine to a winery restaurant in the hills for a fabulous lunch, then home in the limo for candles and cake.  I don't usually put family photos on this blog, but here is a photo of my sister, me, my mum and dad outside the restaurant.  My husband, sons and daughter-in-law were there too, maybe I'll post a photo of them one day :)

Of course I made my Mum's birthday card, here it is:

The photo is of my mum when she was 19.  My dad carried it around for years, so it was quite creased and a bit dog eared - nothing a bit of Photoshopping couldn't fix!!  I used Kaisercraft Devonshire Tea 6" pad for the background, with the bird,  flowers and butterflies cut from a piece of Christine Rea paper. The cream mat is heavily embossed pearl paper. I added lace, flowers and fern leaf, gold brads and trim and finally the gold filigree butterfly with a diamante strip for a body.  The "80" is a rub-on.  The envelope has the more of the Christine Rea paper on it, I made the envelope a bit 3D to fit the flowers in, but I could have made it a bit MORE 3D!

The inside of this card was obviously personalised for my mum, but the principle is easily applied to all cards, it is lovely to get a card that you know is just for YOU.

Anniversary Wishes

This is a card I did for our friends anniversary......they're new at it compared with us, 23 years vs 32, so they look to us for tips!!  We spent the weekend away with them and their dogs, and apart from one (of the dogs, that is !) peeing on our bed -changing the bed at 2.30am after several bottles of wine, not the highlight of the weekend - we had a good time together.

I used mustard coloured cardstock, the image is "Spring Couple" from All That Scraps, printed on watercolour paper coloured with Jo Sonja paints .  The background paper is from Kaisercrafts Peachy Keen Collection 6" paper pad, as is the mat, the tag and the punched border (the border was precut in the collection and I punched it with my smallest heart punch.  Polka dot ribbon and a slider from a bag of buttons from Spotlight along with some teal coloured brads finish the card off. 

An exploding card??!!

My sister loves all things fantasy, you will see on these pages many things that I have created that have "for my sister" in them; she is such good value - if it's a fairy or wizard, pixie or butterfly she loves it.  She also loves purple, oh and cats!  For her birthday last year I decided to go the purple-and-butterflies route and made her the exploding box and card set below

The butterflies suspended on the acetate strips are 3D stickers available on sheets.  As they have acetate wings they dance beautifully in the slightest breeze.  The butterfly on the lid I cut from a piece of patterned paper and enhanced the colour with some iridescent paint and clear sealer (this gave the butterfly some strength as the paper was el cheapo and a bit thin!!)

I used a template  from "the net" for this box, and adapted it to suit my theme. I have created a PDF with the instructions  (and a few drawings)  if you would like a copy I will email one to you; just email me at "donnap1604@gmail.com" refer to the PDF or Exploding Box in the subject line so I don't ditch your email!