Kraft and Blue for You, Mum

Today I thought I'd show you the card I made for my Mum's 83rd birthday recently. 

I'm really happy with the card generally but couldn't get the hair right (I was going for a particular shade of red/blonde that my hair was when I was young... when I couldn't get it I bailed on the "mini me" theme and gave her blue eyes - mine are brown!)  I've ended up over blending, but as I was going for a soft look it's not too bad.  The image is "Rachael", one of Sugar Nellie's Simply Adorable range, available here.  Sugar Bowl Challenges have an Anything Goes theme, so I'm entering there.  I've used Copics for colouring, adding gloss accents to her earrings and glitter then gloss to her hair slide.

I love the Kraft colour with the wispy sort of background paper, which is digital; from Bearly Mine Designs - Spring Blossoms set.  I said in my last post that I was going to be using Kraft a lot more... but I had in fact already made this card, so I had insider knowledge, lol.  Sweet Stampin' want us to Use Kraft, Great Impressions want a Square Card, and Bearly Mine Challenges have Anything Goes, so I'm entering them all too!
The off-centre panel is blue cardstock from my stash, embossed with Cuttlebug's Divine Swirl folder.  I distressed over the embossing with Cloud White ink, it really lifted it.  Cuttlebug Mania have an Embossing challenge so I'm entering there.  Paper Crafting Journey have Distressed or Vintage for their challenge, so I'm in.
The image panel was cut with Nestabilities Standard Circles and the mat cut with Nestabilities Lacey Circles.  The horizontal strip was cut with Martha Stewart's Double Edge Punch "Diamond Fence".  
The swirl is a laser die cut I got from Make It Crafty... Zoe has decided to stop selling her laser cuts, boo hoo, I had a few sets of these and bought a whole bunch of others to stock up - in fact when I went to put my latest order away, I found whole sheets I forgot I had - could be the curse of the tidy crafter, putting things "away", lol.
I coloured it with some Kaiser ink, several coats, then embossed it with iridescent EP - my favourite type :-)  It's very glittery IRL;  Creative Belli have Glitter for their challenge and both Card Mania Challenges and 2 Sisters Challenge have "Favourite Embellishment" as their theme... I don't use a lot of embellishments, but I do like die cuts... oh, and pearls - I've used teeny tiny ones here at the top and bottom corners, they're actually silver and look really nice (it's the first time I've used them since I put them in my "stick ons" storage box the day I received them from Bunny Zoe Crafts, again, I sort of forgot about them!  The sentiment is from Sentiments 4 U and the little blue heart is from my stash.  Crafty Cardmakers has 1 image, tick, 2 papers (well I have 2 patterned papers) tick, and 3 embellishments (die cut, silver pearls and little blue heart) tick - I'm in!!

I decorated the inside to match the front, as usual :-)  softening the edge of the jotting panel with a little blue ink but not popping the layers up like the front. Simon Says Challenge and That Craft Place both have Monochrome challenges (I hope my Kraft card doesn't make it NOT monochrome!) so I'm entering there. Through the Craftroom Door, The Crazy Challenge and Crafty Calendar have Anything Goes challenges running so I'm entering there and Seize the Birthday has Anything (Birthday) Goes, so in there too.
Well that's about it for today's card, my Mum had a lovely day celebrating her birthday - my youngest son gave her a pamper package and taxied her around for the day (Mum loves spending time with Chris!) and then he took her to the Hyatt where we were waiting to have "high tea" with her;  Matt and Elaine brought the twins, which was a surpise for us as Chris has a bit of a cold and they didn't want him to share it with the babies.  Any of us being there was a surprise for Mum, and she loved it!  Dad even managed to dress appropriately, without her overseeing every step, lol.  I didn't take my camera, but snapped a couple of pics on the iPhone... not great quality but better than nothing :-)  If I can get them off my phone (it's not playing nice, lol) I'll add them next time.
I'll be back tomorrow with my DT card for Di's Digis Challenge.  Until then Happy Crafting, Donna