I'd like to be...under the sea

As promised; "Now for something completely different"

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge this fortnight is "Altered Food Containers".  While some may not consider a wine bottle a "food container" some - like me - do, lol.
I can't remember the name of the wine, it was something like Glass Mountain, and suffice to say, I have painted many of these bottles over the years...I only bought it for the bottle (yeah, right!) the same company bought out a red and gold coloured bottle, but I don't have so many of those gathering dust in the shed!!
I used Jo Sonja paints and Glass and Tile Medium, the bottle wasn't too slick to start with so I didn't have much trouble getting the paint to stick.  I saw the pattern used on a plate and added some details and adapted it to the bottle.
My husband had some family over from England recently, I painted the bottle for the parents, a photo frame for the little girl (Grace) and the trinket box with the crab on for Dan the Man!!  I used patterns from Susan Pirone's fabulous book Splash! for the frame and box.
My husband's niece went swimming with dolphins for her birthday while she was here; in fact the entire time they were here the whole family were in the water, so the gift seemed appropriate - they seemed to like it, anyway.  I had a cute photo of the little ones at the beach, so I gave them that for in the frame.
Anyway, that's about it; just thought I'd "share", and when I saw this challenge theme, and that it didn't have to be papercraft I thought I'd enter.
Fab'n'Funky Challenges has Summer Loving as its challenge theme - and it as it can be any craft project, I'm entering there too.
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Dee

 

Spots and Stripes at Here Come The Boys

A new challenge starts today over at Here Come The Boys, the theme is “Spots and Stripes”.  This card has both....stripy paper and embossed spots.

 Totally Papercrafts has Spots and Stripes too, so I’m entering there.

I’ve used an image from Whimsie Doodles “Paws I Care” collection…. proceeds go to an Animal Welfare Charity, so you get to use a really sweet image and get a nice warm fuzzy feeling at the same time. Delicious Doodles has Cute and Cuddly as its challenge theme so my little Cutie’s in there. There are quite a few images in this collection, and others from Whimsie Doodles that have this “stitched” look, this along with my “stitching” (yes, you can use faux stitching, I checked!!) means I’ll enter Creative Inspirations challenge too who's theme is, you guessed it, Stitching!

The sentiment is from the same collection…well the one on the front is, I didn’t want to hurt my male recipient’s feelings too much so I qualified the “Size Matters” comment with “but not in ALL things, you’ll be happy to hear!”  It’s only a little bit smutty if you think it is, lol.

Creatalicious Challenges had this  fabulous sketch for its challenge this time, you know I love a good sketch! 

I’ve used my Prismacolor Pencils to colour the image, again, I’m starting to view them as a viable alternative to my lovely Copics, maybe not an alternative – more an adjunct J  Some Royal Coat Gloss on his nose and eyes give my little dog a nice healthy look…there’s some on the heart too, Crafty Creations has Let it Shine as it’s challenge so I’m entering there.

The papers are from Kaisercrafts Rewind 6” pad, the stripes are – well The Stripes – for the challenge theme and to get the Spots I embossed the blue with Cuttlebugs Spots and Dots folder. I also used that lovely spotty orange ribbon, the slider is a button that came (with quite a few others) in a bulk pack from Spotlight. Crafts 4 Eternity has Use Embellishments beginning with R as its challenge theme, so my Ribbon gets me in there, maybe my Round buttons do too!

Go and check out the rest of the DT inspiration at Here Come The Boys...and why not have a go at the challenge too!

I'll be back soon with something a little different, Until then, Happy Crafting, Dee

The Missing Monkey

 This card is a remake....as I said in one of the other posts for this latest digi release from CC Designs, I dribbled glue all over the face of the original and completely wrecked it trying to get the glue off, what a silly monkey!   Well at least the baby's arrived now:

The image is "Baby Monkey" and is one of the collection being released at All That Scraps...TODAY!!  The Crafty Pad has Something New (New house, New baby etc) so I'm entering there.  I already entered the challenge but linked the wrong card, woops!

I started out using this months sketch from Crafting Lifes Pieces, but once I used my Lacey Circle Nestie to cut the image panel, I felt the need to keep it all a bit more basic....you don't get much more basic than the layout of this card! It leaves me a lovely sketch for later!                                        

The patterned circle behind the image was a circular card I bought in a pack of five - I bought them for the beautiful pearl envelopes in the set!  I pierced around the edge to add a bit of interest. The other papers are from my stash...(one is from DCWV Far East stack) I paper pieced the pram with some checked paper from Grace Tyler.  Craft Your Passion  has paper piecing as its challenge theme this time, so I'm there!!  I coloured the image with Prismacolor pencils, adding some shading to the paper piecing too.  I think I'm Prisma-improving - learning to use a light touch!

Crafty Creations has Let It Shine as its challenge theme, not only is the star all glittery but I added gold stickles to the heart and the hubs of the pram wheels...Shine On :-)

Inside the card is decorated very simply, with my glittery little star and some swirls added with sticky back pearls....Totally Gorjuss has Swirls and Pearls as its challenge theme this time, I hope that mine being inside doesn't disqualify them. Paper Play Challenges has Stars and Stripes as its current challenge theme, my stripy paper is half of it and the funky little paperclip holding the sentiment (from Kaisercraft) is the other half...I was going to use the chipboard star that I used inside then remembered I'd bought these paperclips from Officeworks, they come in all different colours so no doubt you'll see them again, lol.

Delicious Doodles has Cute and Cuddly as its challenge theme this time around; I think you'll have to agree this little darling is both Cute and Cuddly, so I'm entering there.  Why don't you hop over to the All That Scraps Blog and have a look at the rest of the Digi Design Teams creations...it's well worth it!  if you havent seen my other offerings, you can see Latte Monkey here and Ladybug and Caterpillar Monkey here.

Well, it's bedtime for baby now, and pretty much bedtime for me! It's 11pm, by the time I have my cocoa I'm bound to be ready (has anybody else noticed that the "big night in" is so much more appealing than going out at all...no, surely I'm not getting old - it's winter here, that's it!

I'll be back on Sunday, with my Here Comes the Boys card.  Until next time, Happy Crafting, Dee

Time Spent With Friends Is Time Well Spent

"Time spent with friends is time well spent" is the sentiment I made for this card, and I really believe it to be true.  These little cuties are in the latest digi release by CC Designs, available at All That Scraps tomorrow.  This is my second post for today, the first (here) uses a different image from the same release; You can see more cuteness on the ATS Blog with the fabulous offerings from my talented teamies!

This scene uses two of the stamps, Ladybug Monkey and Caterpillar Monkey, I added a few extra toadstools by cropping one of the images down and flipping it (them??).  I just thought these little guys looked like they were friends, or maybe brothers, kicking back and sharing some quality time together. The font I used for my computer generated sentiment is even called BF Angels (if you look closely, those little red squiggles are in fact angels, coot!)  

I used the sketch from Sketch and Stash this time, turning it 90 degrees.  The new stash on the card is the stamps and that lovely spotty organza ribbon.  The Crafty Pad has "Something New" as its challenge theme so I'm in there for the same reason.  The papers are from DCWV, the Animal Crackers 8" stack, I've had it for ages but this is the first time I've used it.   The photo inspiration comes from Cupcake Inspirations, I am happy to say my card is inspired by this photo in so many more ways than just colour: look at those toadstools, ladybugs and caterpillars!!  Just look at those cupcakes too, WOW!! 

 Sweet Stampin' has Things With Wings as its challenge this time, so I'm entering my little ladybug there.  Crafts 4 Eternity has "Embellishments beginning with R", including red; my Red Ribbon will get me in there, even if the Red card I used for matting doesn't :-)  

Everything is popped up on foam dots, I DO love my foam dots, lol.

The image was coloured with Copics (yay), my other project for this release (here) was coloured with Prismacolor pencils - which I am determined to master - but you can't beat Copics for an intense finish, IMO.  Though, at least pencils don't run out at the most inconvenient moment, I am waiting for an order of refills for my Copics, but it can take three weeks for orders to get here so -Prismacolor to the rescue.

I finished the inside of the card in very simple fashion, such strong colours don't need much fuss!  I had another card all ready to photograph, then dribbled glue right across it, ruining it.  Well, trying to get the glue OFF is what really ruined it :-(   Don't you hate that....s'pose I should have had it well away from my glue, so no one to blame but myself!  I'm going to remake it and post it at a later date (I've recoloured the image, so it may be sooner than later)

Addicted to Stamps has Summertime as its challenge theme, Stamptacular Sunday Challenge is Fun in the Sun and Sundays with Chrissy has Here Comes the Sun, so my little guys are going to be entered in those challenges too.

Well that's about it for Ladybug Monkey Caterpillar Monkey and me!!  Have you checked out  my other post for today?  I'll be back on Sunday with my last GDT card for Here Come The Boys, hope to "see" you back here then.  Until next time, Happy Crafting, Dee

Sometimes You Need A Little Coffee

This is the first of two posts today showing the latest digis by CC Designs, available tomorrow at All That Scraps.  This is "Latte Monkey", ain't he cute?

 I made the sentiment on the computer, it says "Sometimes you need a little coffee...sometimes you need a lot..." "...and sometimes you need a CUPCAKE!"

The little monkey inside the card is from a previous release at CC Designs, he's "Cupcake Monkey.

I used this sketch from Cupcake Craft Challenges; it's probably as close to Asymmetrical as I get, lol.  I'm working on it - honest!

The whole card was originally based around the lovely coffee colour of the pearlised card used to decorate the inside - originally it was going to BE the card - but it looked a bit flat so I made it cream instead; that goes with coffee perfectly anyway, right?  I cut the scalloped oval out with my (wait for it) Scalloped Oval Nestabilities, using the die cut for behind the image and the "negative" for  the panel inside  The image panel is from my Classic Oval Nestie, I lined the inside oval with a classic oval of blue. Totally Papercrafts has punches and Dies as it's challenge this time around so I'm entering there.     

The other papers are from Kaisercrafts Homemade collection (the 6" pad) and MME.  Digital Tuesday has Your Favourite Ice Cream flavour as it's challenge this week, and Mocha is seriously my favourite flavour in anything - coffee and chocolate, what could be better :-)

The cherry on the cupcake is another fave flavour, this one looks very appetising with its Glossy Accent.

I distressed the edges of the textured card on all the mats, again something I don't "do"....okay they're not very distressed, but it's a start!

Even more "out of the box" for me is the fact that I've coloured the images using Prismacolor pencils,  I have been practising and I am getting better - though still felt a Copic withdrawal so used them for my next card, which you can see here.  I've made a card for the Here Comes The Boys challenge that I'll be posting on Sunday, I've used Prismacolors for that (do you know how hard it is for Aussie me to misspell "colour", yes we use "the" English spelling, lol) ...and I'm happier with the result.  You'll have to pop back then and see what you think ;-)  

I added some ricrac to the edge of the blue lace border, which was precut in the Kaisercraft pad, Crafts4Eternity has Use Embellishments Starting With R as its challenge theme this time, so I'm in!  My Time to Craft  has "Xtra images, use more than one image" so I'm in there too!  

Anyway, that's about it for Latte Monkey.   Why don't you pop over to All That Scraps Blog and have at look at what the other DT ladies came up with for this very cute set of digis.  I have another post too, I'd love you to have a looksie. Until then, or the next time you swing by, Happy Crafting, Dee

A Study in Green

This is the first card I've done in a while, that is just "because"....

This gorgeous girl is "Flora" a Sugar Nellie digital stamp from Funky Kits.  They have quite a few stamps in this style...I'm working on my collection :-) Today's photos may be a little dark, as we actually got some rain today (yay, we SO need it) and so it was a bit overcast where I take my photographs.
The Sugar Bowl, which is the challenge blog for Sugar Nellie Stamps, has a sketch this time around, I do love a good sketch! and this is a good sketch ;-)
I used Copics to colour Flora and distressed the edges of all the strips with Kaisercraft Teal ink.
The paper is from Kaisercrafts Chapter One 6½" pad, it's a beautiful collection with blue/greens and some blacks....I've stuck with the greens because Craft Your Days Away has Monochrome as its challenge theme and I wanted to enter there: I've never done a monochrome card before (I have tried, but always end up adding other colours, me bad!)  The sentiment is from the same pad, it had "I am" on it and I stamped "thinking of you" in black Stazon ink, which was a bit too strong, so I daubed some white chalk ink over it to soften it down a bit.
Stamp Something has Something Punched as its challenge, I used my Labels Nine Nestabilities to cut the image panel,and cut a butterfly using my Martha Stewart's Large Monarch punch inking both of them with the Kaisercraft ink. I cut the leaves with a Martha Stewart punch and folded and inked them too.
Totally Gorjuss has Flowers as its challenge theme, I added some green ink to the centre of "my" flowers (which were bought on a stem from a discount store, bargain!!) and some green stickles to them and the butterfly, curling the wings for a more realistic look.  I also cut a couple of pieces off the pearl sprays I used in the flower arrangement and used them as antennae for the butterfly.
The Crafty Pad has Just Because as its theme, I didn't even realise that until I just checked their blog so I can enter there - I Love happy accidents!
Whoopsi Daisy has Free and Easy as its challenge theme, so I'm in there too!
I finished the inside of the card with a piece of Flavia scrapbooking paper, it had exactly the right shades of green on...and is still light enough to write on.  The strip at the top is from the Chapter One pad and the pearls around the edge are on a strip...another Martha Stewart butterfly, duly inked and glittered finishes it off.
I really enjoyed making this card, the image was a breeze to colour; most of the shading's been done for you!  Hope you liked it too. 
I'm off now to work on some DT cards for next week....All That Scraps has another digi release coming up...cute! and Here Come The Boys will be done with "Myth and Magic" (have YOU entered yet?!) and will be on to their next challenge!  So you'll have to pop back and see wassup, lol.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Dee

Fairy Happy Birthday

Well, as "promised" here is the card I made for my Sister-in-law's birthday....bit of a long post 'coz I love this card and really want to share :-)
This beautiful fairy is "Ariana", she is a digi from Anita Be Stampin' who's challenge this fortnight is Show Us Your Layers.....loads of layers here!!  edited to add: Missed the cut off time!! Ariana is cut out and popped up on foam dots in front of the great background image "Whimsical Mushroom" from Make It Crafty, which is, in turn, foam-dotted over the horizontal panel.  I changed the colour of the sentiment, which is part of the ABS Fairies Sentiment set,  to purple then cut and embossed it with an oval Nestie in turn mounted on a Scalloped Oval Nestie.  Stamp Something has Something punched as it's challenge this time, so I'm in there.Digi Stamps 4 Joy has "On the Wings of..." as it's challenge theme and Ariana with her gorgeous sparkly wings is definitely in there!
I used the sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday, at first I thought the diamond shape would be too hard - turns out it wasn't!  
The papers are from Kaisercrafts Magic Happens 6½" pad, don't you just love all those flourishes?!  Conveniently, Creatalicious Challenges has "Flourishes" as its challenge theme...until tonight!! Craft Your Passion has "It's Magical" as its theme; with my fairy and paper by that name...you guessed it!!
Flutterby Wednesday has Polka Dots as its challenge theme so the combo of my fairy and my dotty paper means....I'm in!!  
I used watermelon colour pearl card for all the matting, mainly because the pale pink stockings my fairy started with just looked like skin so I had to brighten them up a bit leaving the pink hanging out on its own!! 

Copic Oz has this colour inspiration for its challenge, I've used BV00, RV13 and RV17, and G21 and G28 along with some other "Gs" and "YGs" hopefully it's close enough!   
The purple ribbon threaded through the lace is what my perfume and skin care supplies come wrapped in when I buy them online....as I buy all my family gifts from there as well, I have a LOT of purple ribbon (my three bottles of perfume a year probably wouldn't keep me in ribbon!!)  Bizzy Becs has Its All About Lace as its challenge this time, this card has lace inside and out (which is, for me, a lot of lace!) so I'm entering there.  
The Pink Gem Challenge this time around is "Bloomin' Charmin" Flowers and Charms, I don't know if the little flowers on Ariana are enough, but I do know that the little heart charm (which I glued metal numbers on, can you tell how old my SIL is? lol) is Charmin', so I'll enter there but be totally understanding if it doesn't qualify :-)  Whoopsi Daisy Challenge is Free and Easy and Papertake Weekly is Anything Goes, so no issues there! 
Totally Papercrafts has Summer and By the Cute and Girly has In the Garden/Outdoors, my lovely little fairy sitting out in "her" garden get her into those challenges.  I'm kicking myself that I missed another couple of "garden" challenges with this card, not a theme I use a lot!

The inside of the card is finished in the simplest way....or would have been had I not cut the paper short!  I used more of that great Kaisercraft paper - it doesn't show but the flourishes are shiny - and covered the join with some of the lace/ribbon from the front and glued a few tiny watermelon colour rhinestones on to bring the pink from the front.
Well I don't know how many of you survived the journey to the end of this post, if you did you get points for stamina, I made the most of my hubby going to work for the first time in a couple of weeks.  I really will make a "short" post one day (I am only 5'2" in old money, so I can DO short, ha ha). Until then, Happy Crafting, Dee

Wishing You a Wizard Birthday

Starting today over at Here Come The Boys is this fortnights challenge "Myth and Magic". 
It's my Uncle's birthday, so it looks like he gets a card with a Magic theme, lol.  
The sentiment (which I made on the computer) says "I'm Marvo the Magician, when you open this card you'll be 21 again.....Mmmm, I never said I was a GREAT Magician"

Fab'n'Funky Challenges has "Magnificent Men" as it's challenge theme this time, and while Marvo, by his own admission is not Magnificent, he gets entered there.   ABC Challenge this week is "W for Wish", so I'm entering there, Crafty Creations has "Over the Rainbow" as it's challenge theme, methinks a Wizard fits the bill perfectly!


The base of the card is corrugated pearl card, I love this sort of texture on men's cards. though I hardly ever use it!!  
I used this sketch from Sketch and Stash, it "suits" me as I really like symmetry.  The three stars on the lower right are glittery brads, the blue ones were white and I coloured them with my Copics.  It's a really easy way of getting a match, and you don't lose the glitter finish either. 
I inked around the edge of the image and sentiment panels to tie them in.

I've used another great digital image from Just Inklined, this is "Wizz Doodles" - isn't he cute?  He's coloured with Copics...as is the paper on the right hand panel; I just couldn't find anything to go with the stripy paper from Kaisercrafts Rewind collection (which I really liked) so I coloured up some black and white paper from a pad I've had for ages.  It means I could match the papers and the colours on the image perfectly.  
I used some Ice Stickles to add some magic! and some Gloss to his eyes.
Cards for Men has "blue and black" as its challenge theme and   Make It Colourful has Blue, so my blue and black card is "in" there.

 I mounted all the panels on blue foil card, it brightens the card up without fighting with the image and papers. They are all, including the one on the inside, popped up on foam dots -as usual, lol.  
Some of the stripy paper and a couple of strips of the blue foil complete the inside.


Creative Inspirations challenge this time is to make a card for a man, as is Crazy 4 Challenges and The Secret Crafter.  Papertake Weekly and Craft Your Passion have Anything Goes....the easiest of challenges!  So I'm entering there.
Well that's about it for my card today, I will be back in a day or so with a card for my sister-in-law....all I have to do is make it :-)  Getting the time to myself, especially with my darling husband still unable to work is a bit of a trick.  We're trying all sorts of things, but I do think that ultimately it will be Time that is the healer....he has to work onTuesday, so I'll let you know how he goes!
Thanks for looking at my efforts today, hope you like Wizz Doodles aka Marvo and that your day is full of magic.  Until next time, Happy Crafting, Dee

Hip Chick by Day

Well what a couple of weeks I've had: My husband has been completely incapacitated with a bulging disc...and my son and his wife have gone to Europe for five weeks, so we are (supposed to be) covering his work too, suffice to say "scramble" doesn't begin to describe it.  We've been living at Doctors and Therapists trying to get poor hubby to the stage where he can at least walk to his excavator, hoping that once he gets there, operating it won't be a problem!  I can operate it, but can't load or unload it....and anyway I'm so SLOOOOOOW!! 
It hasn't left a whole lot of time for crafting, but I have managed to make a couple of cards. Here is today's:

The stamps are the new CC Designs release from All That Scraps "Shopping Lady" and "Party Lady" they are available from Friday 10th June.  Get over to the ATS blog and check out the rest of the DT projects.  These are Digis, of course! I AM a digi girl! Stamp Something has it's regular Digi Day challenge on, so I've entered there. 
I used paper from Kaisercrafts After Five Collection - "stripes" is the challenge at The Crafty Pad this week- and used Copics mainly from the RV's. so it fits Stamptacular Sundays colour challenge this time which is to use ONLY Black, White, Hot Pink and Tan.  The "tan" is a bit more grey than the photo inspiration, but hopefully close enough.
The brads are from my stash, as is the ribbon, the slider is part of my birthday gift from my youngest son...it has been great, a sort of lucky dip!  
I used stickers as borders around the images and around the edges of the inside panels of the card...I have an expanding file full of these things that I never use any more; maybe now I will as I'm happy with how it looks.  I used Nestabilities Labels Nine to cut a hole in more of the Kaisercraft paper to leave a window to write in.  I used the die cut to embellish the other panel which I had to line to cover the join of the ribbon.

I made my own sentiment, it says; "Hip Chick by Day, Urban Sophisticate by Night...........are you TRYING to make the rest of us look bad????"  We all know someone this sentiment would suit don't we? lol.  I used a font that I felt matched the image and paper for each "style" of lady.
Make It Colourful has Cast Your Shadows as it's challenge theme this time, I've cast some but chickened out and used a front-on light source to make it simple! Hope it still counts!
Craft Your Passion and Papertake Weekly both have Anything Goes as their current challenge theme, at least I don't have to worry if it "fits' there :-)
That's about it for what is essentially a very simple card.  I'll be back in a few days with some more cards including one that I've made for my GDT spot at Here Come The Boys.  Until then, Happy Crafting, Dee......oh, and look after your back - you've only got one and it's a real pain (literally) when it "goes" on you :-)