Happy Birthday Dre

I have a birthday card today for my friend Andrena (aka Dre).  The main premise behind the sentiment is the fact that Dre has lost a staggering amount of weight (close to 40Kg, or 90lb) in the last year or so, by sheer hard work; she joined the "Spin" class at her gym some time ago and invariably describes it as "Evil", lol.

The image on the front is digi Li'l Perfect Match Christina from Tickled Pink Stamps, they have a challenge blog too, the theme this time around is Anything Goes, so I'm entering there.

The image on the inside is Maude Doodlebuns, Flab Fighter (how cool is that name?!) from Just Inklined, also a digi, both are coloured with Copics.  I've got to say I'm really happy with all my colouring on this card, it was just so easy and I didn't go out of the lines once (pushing that ink back sometimes is HARD! lol)  I've added some more Copics to my collection too, which does make it easier to add several shades.  The sentiment is computer generated, the sentiment and image panels and mats are cut with Nestabilities Classic Ovals and Nestabilites Classic Scalloped Ovals.

I've used papers from Kaisercrafts Magic Happens pad, I love the soft colours, and I'm not even "into" soft colours as a rule :-)  Fairy Fun Fridays challenge this time around is Sugar and Spice, I think this card is girly enough, but can't help having a chuckle when I think that Dre has morphed from "Maude" to "Christina" by staying pretty much away from the Sugar and Spice! 
The Cutie Pie Challenge this fortnight is a Bingo challenge, I've used the "Sentiment/Lilac/Punch Out" line to enter there.

Sketch Saturday has this great sketch to work with, I've flipped it but only because I thought Christina was facing the "wrong" way otherwise.  The only other change to the sketch is that I added some tiny buttons, to tie the colours together, Divas By Design has Button Up as their challenge so I'm entering there too.  I've distressed the edges of the card, image and sentiment panels but left the patterned paper un-distressed (only 'coz I'd already glued it on to the mats and didn't want to ink them, lol)  Stamptacular Sunday has Distressing as its challenge this time, so I'm in.  Love how the picture of the sketch is purple, colour coordinates with my card beautifully, hahahaha.

Crafty Cardmakers, One Stop Craft Challenge, Creatalicious Challenges and By The Cute and Girly all have Anything Goes challenges running at the mo, so I'll be entering in all of them.

I'd like to say Happy Birthday to my "little" friend Dre, and wish her many more...I get to make her fun cards, here's last years BTW.

I hope you like my card today, I also hope it means a return of (at least some) mojo...I've got a chest infection and it seems to be dragging the last of my motivation out of me; the joys of an asthmatic in Australian spring!!  Until next time, Happy Crafting, Dee

Before, During......

...and After, lol

Hope Your Day Is As Fabulous As You Are

Today’s card is my first as GUEST DESIGNER for Karber Digital Images.  Berenice, one of the owners asked if I’d like to be their guest for the month of July and of course I jumped at it….

This elegant lady is Denny, she comes in many guises -this is Cocktail Denny.  She is a digi (from Karber Digital Images of course!) and I coloured her with Copic markers.  Stamp Something's current challenge is its July Digi Day, so Dennys in….and Craft Your Passion has Anything Goes; so in there too!

The paper on the card base is from Kaisercrafts After Five collection, the one with the Deco style arches is from Kaisercrafts Shaken Not Stirred collection the black stripy paper is in fact corrugated.  The red panel is the last L of my fabulous textured pearl paper – I’ve made three or four cards out of one A4 piece, not bad!!  I’ll have to get into Starfish Lane and get some more, I LOVE IT!  The black card for matting is from my stash.

I used this sketch from Crafting Life's Pieces...the part of the sketch representing the flowers made me think of feathers….so that’s what I used! 

I've never put feathers on a card before; I think it suits the style of the card.  Delicious Doodles has Flourishes and Bling as its challenge theme this time, along with my feathers I have flourishes cut out with a Marianne D Creatables die and pins I made up myself using quilting pins, beads and some Swarowski crystals with a crimp on the end to hold everything on (it’s the first time I’ve used pins too, I ordered some “proper” stick pins from the US but they seem to have got lost – I’ll have to chase them up)  

Totally Papercrafts has this Bingo grid for its challenge this week, I've gone with the  Ribbon/Glitter Glimmer/ Gems line.  Divas by Design has Die Cuts and Punches as its challenge theme, my die cut and the lace cut with a Nellie Snellen border die get me in there!  Crafty Cardmakers has Spots and Stripes as its theme my spotty ribbon gets me in there (as well as the stripy background paper, of course!) As Allsorts Challenges has Anything Goes, I'm definitely in there!!  I made the sentiment on the computer.

The inside of the card was finished very simply with papers from the front, with some bling added to the lace.  

That's it from Denny and Dee!  I'll be back  in a few days with a card for All That Scraps and a few days after that with one for Here Come The Boys....busy busy busy, lol.

Thanks for looking at my card, 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 :-)

Twisted Sister's Birthday?!?

I made this card for my purple-loving, cat-loving sister Fiona.  Appropriately enough, the stamp I used for this card is one of the "Twisted Sisters" from Sweet November Stamps....now all I need to work out is which one of us is the Twisted sister or is it both? haha 

These lovely ladies are available in rubber, but mine are digistamps and are available at All That Scraps and Tickled Pink Stamps (I can't remember where I got them!) The Twisted Sister on the left is "Oleander" and the one on the right is "Jessamine". Oleander has brown eyes, as do I, because she is the most conservative of the pair, as am I.  Jessamine on the other hand has green eyes as does Fiona and she is the more "out there" of the pair - as is my lovely sister Fi!  I used a combination of Copic and Bic markers and pigment inks to colour the ladies, the cat is a button and came that colour!

I used this sketch from   Card Patterns for their challenge this time.  My image is a bit  "out of scale"   but all the elements are there: I used tiny buttons as the embellishments at the top left of the card, the colour doesn't show that well but they are alternate green and purple.  Kaisercraft's "Lilac Avenue" 6" collection is where the paper hails from: I'm loving my Kaisercraft 6" collections, aren't I?  The sentiment is a sticker, which I over-coloured and outlined with Copic (V17)  I popped the two ladies up on foam dots, then did the same with the panel they are mounted on so the whole thing is pretty 3D - just the way I like it!
I did a simple bit of decorating on the inside of the card, using offcuts from the front and an EK Success "Hearts and Scrolls" border punch.  The purple Happy and Birthday are glossy stickers.
Allsorts Challenge has anything goes as it's theme this time, and Sweet stampin' has "Celebrations" so I think I'll enter this card there too. 
So here's wishing my lovely sister Fi, a very happy birthday and many more to come.
It was nice to have a little break from Christmas cards!  Until next time, Happy Crafting, Dee

Pinktastic

I made this card for my daughter in law's birthday - but didn't get it finished in time (I know, me bad) I gave her a modified one from my stash instead!

The quality of the photo isn't the best (again), as I still don't have my camera back (Chris!).  The paper is from my stash, it was el cheapo paper bought in a pack at Big W.  

I used the sketch from Simon Says Stamp and followed it pretty much exactly (easy really, all the work is done for you!).  I'll be entering this card in their challenge for this week.
The image is from Kenny K, she is "Movie Star" and I have used her before here. The theme for their Krafty Girlz challenge this week is "Monochromatic": this card is pretty much all pink, I don't know if it qualifies as monochromatic, but I'll enter it and see.
 I coloured her with Copic markers and pigment inks, adding stickles to her fur.
The flowers were from a big pack I bought and coloured myself, the little heart brads add a cute touch, don't you think?
I've left the card without a sentiment, but for some reason "Pinktastic" came in to my head, so I may add something like "Hope your day is Pinktastic", or I may not, lol.
Thanks for looking, 'til next time Happy Crafting and hope your day is Pinktastic! Dee

Butterflies and Lace

Hi, today I have a card that is unusual for me: it is pastel (well, not pastel pastel but pastel by my standards!) and has lace on it.  I've never done a card with lace, fabric lace, before - now I know it's not that scary!

I used Prima paper from the Fairy Flora collection for the card front.  The image is Butterfly Birgitta, one of CC Designs Swiss Pixies collection (available here).  I love her, where I was brought up, pixies were not this pretty!  I used my usual combination of Copic and Bic markers, with a bit of ink in for good measure, to colour her. I just about always colour her little wings the same as the wings on the butterfly, on this card I added some Stickles after I'd taken the photos, I added them to her hair bobbles too - it looks cute (no point in photographing it again, I can never get the sparkle to show anyway, lol) I cut a pink circle as a mat then used my Lacey Circles Nestie to cut the panel for the image, technically it's not mine yet - I put it away for Christmas but just had to make sure it worked first ;-) 
As the image has a butterfly on it, I am entering Flutter By Wednesdays challenge for this week "Thanks"
I used the Sketch For You To Try at i heart 2 stamp, loved it.  Normally I would have put a contrasting strip of paper down the side, but this image seemed to lend itself to something softer so I sponged some Kaisercraft Orchid ink on the edge of white lace and used that instead, I think it worked well.  I used the same ink on the sentiment and sponged some around the edge of the sentiment mat too, which is punched from a 2" scalloped Fiskars punch and Sullivans 1.5" circle punch .
Sweet Stampin' had Buttons and Bows as it's theme this week, this card has one bow -I'm sure one is enough :-) using ribbon from my stash, and the three flowers at the bottom have tiny pink buttons in their centres. I inked the ends of the petals with the Orchid ink to tie it all together.
Bizzy Becs, a great Aussie site, has "Cute and Sweet" as its theme this week and Delightful Challenges has "Flower Power" as its theme , so I'll enter it there too.

I cut two strips of pink paper with "oh sweet" printed on it for the inside of the card, punched the edge with an EK Success border punch.  I backed the punched out area with the offcuts of the paper from the front as it looked a bit "bald" with the white showing.

Thanks for looking at today's offering, and Happy Crafting, Dee.

Naughty or Nice?!

Well, a bit of both really, don't you think??

 This is the first card I've made using Kenny K's "Mrs Claus" digi image.  My husband and sons all loved it, so it won't be the last. I think the fact that the guys in my life liked this card makes it eligible to be entered in Pixie Dust Studio's challenge for this week "all about the men/boys in your life", so in it goes.
Obviously I've used a Kenny K image, so I will be entering their challenge for this week with the theme "sparkle and spots": Mrs Claus' fur edging has JudiKins Iridescent Sparkle embossed on it (I added texture paste for a bit of extra depth first), and the spots are on the black mat and the rhinestone "snow" - so even the spots on this card sparkle, lol.
I used the sketch from Eat Sleep Stamp for this week's challenge (#108), what a great sketch it was to work with!  I used red cardstock for the card and paper from Kaisercrafts "Shaken not Stirred" 6"x6" collection, cutting the pattern for the border from one sheet and using a different sheet for the background. I love the James Bond reference and I've thought of a few sentiments to use next time I combine this image with this paper, you'll have to come back and see what you think!!
I stamped the sentiment on one of the tags that came in the paper collection with a Paper Xtra stamp and Stazon ink.  I embossed the red semicircles with JudyKins Ruby Twinkle to give them a bit of a lift.  
The image is raised on foam dots, as is the sentiment.  The rhinestone on the garter is red, in place of the holly berries.  
The other challenges I'm putting this card in are: Stamp Something "use something digi" (always the easy for me as 95% of my stamps are digis!), Cute Card Thursday "Anything Goes" (surely the easiest for Everybody!) and Totally Gorjuss "Traditional Christmas Colours" (now I grant you, black isn't really a traditional Christmas colour, but the red is and I have green - I DO, her choker and the holly on her garter!! See it, get you magnifying glass out, lol) so it's going in!!
Hope your liking Mrs Claus, you should pop over to Kenny K's and have a look at some of the great kinda-grown-up images they have on offer.  I used one, "Movie Star" recently -here, and the recipient really liked her card!
Once again, thanks for visiting, see you next time, Dee

Just Because I'm a Lady

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!  

Découpage or Paper Piecing

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.