A new challenge starts today over at Here Come The Boys... it's a Recipe - a nice easy one; we'd like you to use 1 image, 2 brads or buttons and 3 papers. Here's what I came up with.
I've made a gatefold card, my blog mate Joey has been making a few of these recently and I thought what a good idea! Paper Play Challenges has Fancy Folds for their challenge and My Time to Craft has More Than One Fold (but no easels!) for theirs, so I'm entering there.
I used the sketch from Sketch and Stash this time, you know I like a nice sketch. I added "extra" panels to the front of the card so it overlaps more than a gatefold normally would. The gold stars are on a "string", they're from the stash I bought earlier this year in Malaysia, the two brads are also from my stash, I think they are by Bella.
The image is Alf With Beer from Digistamp Boutique, so I'll be entering the Digistamp Boutique monthly challenge. Cards for Men wants to see our "digital images and paper", I'm not sure if this means both, I've used a digital image I'm going to enter there and see if it's enough :-)
I paper pieced Alf's jacket, which I don't do very often, but couldn't find one challenge with paper piecing as the theme... no doubt they'll all come up next week, lol. I've coloured with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, adding gloss to his eyes and Liquid Pearls to his lovely "frothy", which is an Aussie term for a beer :-) and his buttons.
The papers are from DCWV La Creme 12" pad and Kaisercrafts Le Chateau (La, Le, talk about The French Connection, lol) 6" pad, the paper on the horizontal panel (which is the one I used for his jacket) has flocking on it, which I've discovered is even harder to capture in a picture than glitter! The brown cardstock is Bazill. I softened the edges of all the paper panels with Bark Versamark ink; Crafty Calendar has Browns and Creams as their challenge theme, so I'm entering there.
I made the sentiment up on the computer, mounting it on a little hand cut tag, attaching it with a brad means it moves around - men like moving parts, even on cards, lol. Paper Crafting Journey wants us to Use a Sentiment, Bizzy Becs has For a Male (include a tag) and Creative Craft Challenges has All About the Boys as their themes, so I'm in! Bearly Mine Challenges have an Anything Goes theme... definitely in there :-)
That's just about it for today's card, why don't you pop over to the Here Come The Boys blog and check out the rest of my teamies creations... there's loads of inspiration to be found, and you can check out the great prize for the challenge, which is such an easy recipe it shouldn't even be called a challenge, lol.
I'll be back in a day or so, until then, Happy Crafting, Donna
Well, hello! I haven't posted anything for over a week! It's been a combination of my Mojo going AWOL and making "stuff" for DT work that won't be posted for another couple of days, along with work being crazy busy (for this time of year). I made this card yesterday with the challenge at Less is More in mind.....then immediately made it More is More, but as it was a nice easy card that didn't demand too much of me in the Mojo department I like it!
I've used DCWV paper from the
"Mariposa" 12" collection....I love this paper, it's so rich! I used two sheets (luckily the pad comes with two sheets of each print) and cut the large and small butterflies from one sheet and glued them onto the base card. Flutterby Wednesday has an open theme this week, so my butterflies are all that I need to enter there! I also layered up the yellow bud and some of the leaves, but that simply doesn't show in the photos (trust me, I took LOADS and it still didn't show up) so you'll just have to trust me it looks quite effective IRL.
Some of the black flourishes were on the paper, I used parts of a Kaisercraft Christmas stamp to stamp more flourishes in the other corners to "bring" it together. Creatalicious Challenges has "flourishes" as it's theme this time around, so I'm in there too.
I used more of the paper, with the flourishes printed on it, for the back of the card too: I felt it needed "more" finishing. Still feeling a little guilty about how little time I'd invested in this card, I used yet more of the paper to line the envelope!!
Okay, that's it for today....sorry about all the photos, I admit it was the lazy way of describing my card, lol
I'll be back at the end of the week with something I've done for All That Scraps...I think it's pretty cute, you'll just have to pop back over to judge for yourself :-)
Until then, Happy Crafting, Dee
The card for today is a "Just Because" card; This elegant lady is being entered in the Flutterby Wednesday's challenge for this week "open theme" (though there still have to be butterflies, angels or fairies involved), this card has butterflies aplenty!
The card itself is made from one of the Die Cuts With a View Mariposa mat stack, the orange was just the right shade for the butterfly on the image. The background paper is also from the Mariposa stack, it's hard to see, but the bodies of the butterflies are glittery, the close up photo shows it a bit better though really doesn't do it justice. The image is a downloadable decoupage piece from toptoppershop I printed it on photo paper and then decoupaged (paper pieced?) it using foam dots (and on the really fine parts, bits of foam dots - fiddly but fun!) The brown paper the image is mounted on is from Basic Grey's Indian Summer 6"x6" collection. I can't remember the origin of the sentiment stamp.
I used some pigment ink on the edges of all the bits of paper to bring the colours together (it began as a way of toning the orange of the card down a bit, and just went from there. I used the same blended colours around the inside of the card, which I do a lot as I think it softens the whole effect.
The envelope is pearlised brown, I love these envelopes (use them all the time) but it is very hard to write on them and have it show up, so an address label is a good idea. This one has a label made up of the butterfly paper (inked around the edge, of course!) cut and embossed with my scalloped oval Nestabilities, and a plain cream one (you guessed it, also inked around the edge) cut and embossed with my plain oval Nestie. I even brushed a little ink on to the edges of the ladies dress, and on the inside of the oval frame, I know it probably seems like overkill but I do find these little touches take hardly any time and can help give the card a "finished" look. What's more, in this case, I think the Elegant Lady in Cream and Brown would have been most peeved had I not been attentive to her presentation!
Here are a few cards using a technique referred to here in Australia (and in the UK at least, I think) as découpage. This technique is referred to as paper piecing in the US. This is a set I did for my Daughter-in-laws' birthday, I can't remember where I got the template for the gift purse, if I find out I will post it here.
Anyway, as you can see the picture is built up in 3D by cutting and mounting the areas that would be closer to you in "layers". In the first picture,the initial layer is the whole of the picture, the next layer just the lady, then the face and hat and the collar, then the brim and finally the bow (in two stages itself). You can include as many layers as you like: all you need is enough copies of the picture. You can mount the pieces using silicone, which is a more traditional approach, or you can - like me and most others- use foam dots. Découpage pieces look particularly nice in a frame. The other card pictured was done using another image that came on the same découpage sheet, employing the same principles.
I used the sketch from Sketch and Stash this time, you know I like a nice sketch. I added "extra" panels to the front of the card so it overlaps more than a gatefold normally would. The gold stars are on a "string", they're from the stash I bought earlier this year in Malaysia, the two brads are also from my stash, I think they are by Bella.
The image is Alf With Beer from Digistamp Boutique, so I'll be entering the Digistamp Boutique monthly challenge. Cards for Men wants to see our "digital images and paper", I'm not sure if this means both, I've used a digital image I'm going to enter there and see if it's enough :-)
