An Elegant Lady for an Elegant Lady

The card I have for today I made for my friend's birthday last year.  As it is her birthday again on Friday I thought it was time I posted the pics of last years.  Mind you, I still haven't put up the pics of my nephew's wedding card, and he's been married three years in March, lol.  For today though, here's Andrena's birthday card :-)

This is one of those cards that looked much nicer in real life, I'm sure you know the type I mean, lol.  The cream background paper has a lovely pearl sheen to it.  The "lady" is black velvet... and the black filigree and silver backing the ladies dress up is glittery, the sentiment is too.
The trellis die and the lady die I used were all bought from AliExpress.  The rhinestone trim is from my stash, one of my many "treasures" brought back from Malaysia by my Mum, many happy moons ago
I finished the inside of the card much the same as the outside, the flower dies are MFT Plentiful Petals and the leaves are Sue Wilson Faux Quilled Leaves

Here's a bit of a closeup of the velvet lady....  that velvet paper is all gone now, I only had a scrap and another pic showing the glittery goodness of the black glitter paper 

I added a foam dot and a piece of Card Candi (I have so MUCH of this stuff, lol) to the centre of the flower to finish it off.
That's it for today's card. 
As You Like It has the theme: What is Your Favourite CAS or FAFF, and why... I love "fully loaded" cards, but I just struggle to achieve the look myself.  I like SOME embellies, so this card represents "my" favourite... tending to the CAS, but not exactly CAS

CAS(E) this sketch has this sketch

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge Use Patterned Paper

Pixies Snippets Playground Snippets

Addicted to  Stamps For a Lady/Girl

Cute Card Thursday Sentimental

Aud Sentiments Anything Goes + a Sentiment

Simon Says Challenge, Through the Craftroom Door, Digi Choosday, Crafty  Creations, Creative Fingers, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Polkadoodles, Gem of a Challenge, Creatalicious Challenges, Crafting With Attitude and Corrosive Challenge Anything Goes

Happy crafting until next time, Donna

Christmas in July... and Some!!

This is a long post, but it IS three cards, so, forgivable?  Hope so :-)
I live in Western Australia... where Christmas is HOT, being in the middle of our summer and all :-)  We regularly get over 37C (100F), but at least it's not in February which is the hottest month with numerous days over 40C.  (I have worked, outside with my husband back in our pool installing days on 44C or 118F - in the shade, which we were not... it was over 50C in the sun and, no it wasn't pleasant.
All that was just to explain why I LOOOOOVE Christmas in July; I love Christmas full stop, and getting to celebrate with "traditional" fare is nice for us, as I suppose Christmas at the beach (or around your backyard pool in our case) would be for you cold-climaters :-) 
Hence... today I have a few Christmas cards to share:-)) They're all pretty CAS, that's partly because I like them that way... and partly because I invariably run out of time to get all I need made

On the first one I used a Memory Box die (called Grand Merry Christmas) to cut white glittery (very glittery, just ask my craft room floor, though it didn't shed as much as the last lot I got!) card.  I think it looks really effective over the red card.  The ribbon is from my stash, it's really lovely in real life with a gold thread through it. 
As You Like It wants to know our Favourite: Ribbon or Buttons and Why: I like both, but use more ribbon because it's easy, stays flat (ish) for posting and can add, as in this case a nice patterned element without overpowering your card.  Aud Sentiments Christmas in July plus a Sentiment, I think Grand Merry Christmas has that covered :-)

The second card features a bit of ribbon too, yes it's wonky in the pic, I DID straighten it up before sending the card :-)  I used some of my (ginarmous pile of) white snippets for this one on kraft card... you know all those rather skinny white bits you end up with when you trim sheets of card down to make your bases.  The image is a digi from Bugaboo called Snowflake Reindeer Silhouette, available here, that I printed on my laser printer then foiled using my laminator... I did make quite a few foiled cards actually - got on a bit of a roll :-)  This was the first time I've used this image, though I've had it for a while. I printed it on linen card - I know it just looks bumpy in the pic, but actually looked pretty classy IRL.  
The top half of the card was embossed with a Die'sire folder called Let it Snow, the bottom half was embossed with a folder I got with a papercraft magazine... I've got to say it embosses so well - you have to make sure you don't chop right through your card actually!  Pixies Snippets Playground wants to see Snippets, so here they are :-)  The image panel was cut using Spellbinders Ovals, the kraft mat behind it with Spellbinders Scalloped Ovals
Now the third card, lucky last.... for today!

I made a little scene using some paper from a Kaisercraft pad (can't be bothered getting up to find which one, sorry) and some more of the white glittery card I used on my first card today, cut with Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside border dies to make the snow drifts.  I have the snow drifts at two different levels then the gold glittery reindeer (Cottage Cutz) on a layer above that; it hardly shows in the pic but did make a nice display IRL... which is just as well as it took forever-and-a-half to cut teeeeny little bits of foam dots to put behind their legs :-)) 
The Noel sentiment is a Sizzix die (Tim Holtz Script Holiday Words), the whole scene is mounted on gold foil card.  Little Red Wagon has Ice, Ice Baby as their theme, this is pretty much as close as we get at Christmas... unless you count the stuff in our poolside drinkies :-)
That's pretty much it for card three.

Catch The Bug has a Bingo Challenge as part of it's Christmas in July week-long challenge (for Day 4) I've covered seven of the square in this - if you count Gold Blue and White as three colours; using Texture, Die Cuts, Sparkle, Patterned Paper, Bugaboo Christmas Image, 3 Colours and Ribbon... of course getting three on one line was still a challenge, but I made it with my first card (Texture, Die Cut, Sparkle or Sparkle, Use 3 Colours, Ribbon
Jingle Belles have this fabulous Blog Header to inspire us, I have the reindeer, more than once in fact :-) and the snow
Now, the other thing I like about Christmas in July is all the lovely challenges that are around at this time; 

Fab'n'Funky Challenges, Hiding in- my Craft Room, and Sasayaki Glitter all have Christmas in July so I'm entering there.  A Snowflakes Promise, Merry Christmas Challenge, Crimbo Crackers and Sweet Stampin' Christmas are Christmas Challenges that all have "Anything Christmas" themes as is  Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge which has the option to "Add Some Red", which I have done
The other thing is that, as a lot of DT's are on Holidays, there's a lot of Anything Goes challenges... and right at the time I'm tucked up in my cozy craft room with time to craft - summer being our busy season with work... win/win I say.  All the following are Anything Goes challenges
Simon Says Challenge, Through the Craftroom Door, Digi Choosday, Crafty  Creations, 4 Crafty Chicks, Crafting With Friends Challenge #72, Creative Fingers, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Polkadoodles, A Perfect Time to Craft,  Create and Inspire, Creatalicious Challenges, Simply Papercrafts, Crafting With Attitude, Corrosive Challenge and Card Mania Challenges 
Phew, that's it for today.  I'll be back soon with some more cards... probably Christmas, possibly foiled, then again it could be with one of the 38 still in my drafts.  Until then, Happy Crafting... or sun-soaking or family-funning - whatever you're up to, Donna

... and now for something completely different....

Well it's something a bit different, at least for me!!  

Less is More wants us to make a One Layer Card and include Doodling.... so that's what I've done!  I've used a lovely cream pearl card.  The first one I made was actually a lovely warm grey pearl card... but that's in the bin - along with the second one and there's no more grey, so.... it's a nice CREAM pearl card.

My Mojo is still woefully absent, so I thought a nice Clean and Simple One Layer Card wouldn't tax me too much; HAH!!  I took absolutely ages fiddling around with the digis on this card to make the silhouette ("Lovers" from Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps) fit into the Fancy Circle from Bearly Mine Designs, which I've had for an age!  It would have been much easier if it wasn't a One Layer Card challenge... I would have just cut the centre of the circle out.  Anyway in the end I got there and only used Word to do it.  Crafty Sentiments has Use a Digi as their challenge, I've used a couple so I'm in! 

I kept the inside simple to suit the outside, by adding a strip of sheer gold edged ribbon with black sequins.... that's it!!

The sentiment is a new stamp I got for $1 in Lincraft the other day. stamped with Stazon ink.  I added extra doodling to the circle and added swirls and doodles to the sentiment too.   To give a more "finished" look, I embossed some lines as a border to the card, I added a rhinestone earring to the lady as there was a "white" one on the silhouette which didn't look quite right... hope that doesn't make it a two-layer card!  Stamptacular Sunday Challenge has an Anything Goes theme, so I'm entering there.  Lisa's Waste Not Wednesdays challenge to use up our stash is just about ALWAYS appropriate for me... so much stash, so little time, lol.

Well that's it for my OLC... with doodling.  I'll be back in a day or so, hopefully my Mojo will be back in town!  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Time has NOT Dragged On

I thought I'd post a couple of photos of  projects with a dragon theme today.  When I looked through my photos, I realized that it is already nearly nine years since I painted the key and box for my eldest son's 21st birthday - in fact he and his wife are planning his "Big 3Oh" already for Feb 2011, so as I said in the title of this post time has NOT dragged on (drag-on get it?) Oh stop groaning, you love the corny puns really ;)

The card was also for my eldest son's birthday, but this year.  I figured he used to like dragons, so......  I cut his name using my Silhouette and welded the letters together before cutting them as one word.  The paper I used is that sort of rice paper that you get, which is lovely to look at but not that easy to work with, especially in this sort of application; once you added the glue to the back it was like working with fairy floss! I learned from it though, and will use attractive sturdy paper next time!  I used the same principle for his name on the envelope, but as I had used a chunkier font didn't have the same level of difficulty working with it.  The image is a sticker, as is the sentiment.

This box is called "Dragon Ladies" and was painted from a pattern by fellow Australian Donna Gilbertson.  I have painted quite a few projects using this very talented ladies' patterns, go and have a look at her site and you'll see the appeal! I painted this box for my sister as a Christmas gift a few years ago, she loves it as it ticks all the boxes as it were: it is purple, it is cute, it has dragons on it and is whimsy!

 The last project for today is that mentioned in the intro!  I designed both these pieces myself, even cut the key out using my trusty jig saw.  I used a (tiny) picture of a blue dragon I saw years ago on the web somewhere, I think it was on a site called "Dragons Be There" or something similar, on the box and an equally tiny black and white drawing of the yin/yang dragon for the key. The back of the key was painted flat white so all the party guests could sign it as a memento, then sealed. I used the black because Matt had always wanted a black room (don't they all) and black curtains and accessories was the closest he got; I thought the red and gold gave the pieces a touch of class!

All the paints for these projects are from Jo Sonja, the sealer on Matt's gifts was Automotive Sealer, which gave a level of gloss that I liked but proves impossible to photograph without reflections causing problems. 

Thanks for looking, hope your day doesn't drag-on and that you'll be back to see some more of my scorching stuff  (Sorry, couldn't help myself)

Love is in the air

Thought I'd upload a few cards with Love as the theme, though ALL my cards are made with love - of course!

 This is in response to the Allsorts Challenge from digistampboutique, this "Love Owls" image is one of their digistamps. The colouring was done with watercolour pencils, the patterned paper is from Adorn -its Owls All Around and the background papers from Inque Boutique Cabana colletion.  The orange mat is from Die Cuts With a View "Endless Summer" mat stack (I think!) 

The second card is one I did for my husband for Valentines Day, The word Love isn't enough to describe how I feel about him - even in our 35th year together, aawww!!  I made it with black cardstock, the stripy paper is from DCWV All Dressed Up mat stack I punched a border with a corner punch to add interest. The white  is a beautiful flocked heavy paper; "Love" is cut from red cardstock with my Silhouette, as are the heart used in place of the letter "O" in Love and the other red heart .  The heart in the centre of the "O" in Love is a brad and the one in the centre of the "O" in YOU is just drawn in with white gel pen, as are the tiny dots on the peaks of the border.  The gold heart is foil covered thick card.  YOU are black stickers, black ribbon finishes the card.

Winter at last!

Winter is here at last - at least the COLD bit is (15c today only 2c last night) ....but still no rain.  We are nearly 130mm behind in rainfall to date for the year, probably means even worse restrictions come this summer.  It has given me a bit of time to spend uploading photos from my archives, so here are some more cards, starting with a few "Baby" cards....

The first card is a card for a baby girl, I used my Silhouette to cut out the words from "so sweet" pink paper, I coloured the background (that showed through) with Metallic pink pen, added a flower from Die Cuts With a View Pretty Posies collection and a chipboard pram - with tiny buttons on the wheels.  Some doodling with the metallic pen helps tie the colours together.  The cut-out letters were then used for the scalloped edged card finished with little flowers with pink rhinestone brad centres; inking the edges of the card helps soften the whole look - especially with such strong colours on the strip of paper at the bottom of the card (which helped "ground" the word Girl. 

This card for a baby boy was so simple to do - cards like this are great to have on hand.  The chipboard elements came from a ($2 shop)doorhanger set that I cut down; add a bit of ricrac some metal star shaped brads and a bit of blue metallic pen and presto

This card, while technically not a "baby" card could easily be adapted for that purpose.  The image is from a digikit by Bev Luedecke that I strengthened the colour in (using Photoshop).  The background paper has a few butterflies on, one of which matches the colour of the giraffe beautifully - even though that doesn't show in the photo! I used marker pens to colour the white sticker that says "Ella's" in the same yellow - once again hard to pick in this photo!!  The scalloped circle was cut out using a Fiskars punch, as was the plain circle inside it.  The sentiment was a sticker bought in a pack in BigW!  Another nice easy - and inexpensive card

Mothers Day 2010: The Cards!

Mothers Day card for my lovely Mum!  I started with a  nice cream gate fold card with scalloped edge, covered the "base" of the card with paper from DCWV Mat stack "Endless Summer".Basic Grey's "Indian Summer" on the flap. "Mother" cut out with my lovely Silhouette from Indian Summer paper, some pink fabric flowers with a punched flower cut from scraps of Indian Summer paper held together with a pink rhinestone brad.  Pink heart shaped and cream round flat backed pearls decorate the flap.  I fixed a bit of Endless Summer paper punched with my fiskars Apron Lace punch to the inside of the card so the card still looks attractive when standing (these cards "fall" open and it looks nicer to see decoration inside than writing, well MY writing anyway!)

Decorate the inside, they look better when standing up!

The purple card was for my Mother-In-Law.  I used Kaisercraft "Lilac Avenue" papers and the tag came from the same 6"x6" collection: coupled with the sticker sentiment it was an easy bit of labelling!  The centre of the fabric flower was a gold coloured (though not metallic) button with a flat back pearl stick on in the centre.  Once again I decorated the inside of the card so that it looks nice on display