Time to Use Two or More Dies

New challenge starting today at Di's Digis Challenge Blog (yup, another fortnight has WHIZZED by, lol), the theme is "Use Two or More Dies".  I've made a card for a Christening/Baptism

The image is called "Christening Day, Girl" ("Boy" is available too, of course) and it's available here
I took my colouring with me when we went away for a few days last week and I had great plans to colour up a bunch of images... of course when we got down to Margaret River I realized  I'd left my Copics at home - I'd remembered my refills, but not the pens, duh!  I had taken my pencils and solvent so I did get a few images coloured with them, this is one of them; it's not often I use only pencils, but I'm reasonably happy with the ones I did... even this one :-)

I always use coloured card for matting, so this was a bit of a departure... I used a really nice quality paper to cover the base of the card, I think it made a nice backdrop for the patterned paper; the paper on the top half of the card is from Starfish Lane (so of course it's really lush IRL, even though it doesnt' show on the pic) and the bottom half is from Kaisercraft - could be the Vintage Timeless collection, may not be, lol.
The diecuts are all made using cream pearl cardstock - it looks nice in real life, but hard to capture in photos

Now, the all important - for a dies challenge - are; Spellbinders Floral Oval for the image mat (actually I made a frame with the image panel glued behind it), Memory Box Magic Flourish to the right of the image and MFT Crochet border for the "lace" across the centre (I think it goes really well with the Floral oval)  The rhinestone and pearl embellishment was sourced from a Wedding supplies place on the internet.
The sentiment is from Craftworks Cards, I may change it for a personalized one when I need the card, I attached it with a pearl brad from my stash.  The pearl "string" - actually it's a thread of sticky backed pearls - is also from my stash... sadly these are the last I had, I'll have to get more SOMEWHERE, they're so easy to use!
As always I've used elements and papers from the front of the card on the inside, sorry about the quality (or lack thereof!) of some of today's pics... some  were taken with my photo tent, the paper didn't like the lighting, or the lights didn't like the paper!
Well that's about it for today's card, a little different in style for me, it was a nice chance to crack out some of my favourite dies... at which point I found all my "new" dies, it's already practically March and I haven't cut one thing with the dies I got for Christmas, even though I've made a few cards over the last couple of weeks, must try harder, lol.
I will be entering the following challenges: 

Stella Says Sketch Sketch 

Addicted to  Stamps Die Cuts

Cute As A Button Shabby Chic

Inky Chicks Ribbon and/or Lace

Great Impressions Any Celebration

The Paper Shelter Animal Magic

Little Red Wagon Furry Friends

Aud Sentiments Cute + a Sentiment

Creatalicious Challenges Favourite Colour Combo

Hanna and Friends Favourite Stamp

Craft Your Passion, Simon Says Challenge, Through the Craftroom Door, Simply Papercrafts, Crafting With Friends, Creative Fingers,  Art by Miran, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, That Craft Place,  Little Miss Muffet and Whimsy Inspirations Challenge all Anything Goes

Hope you get a chance to enter the challenge, it'll give you a chance to dust off those dies :-)  There's a great prize on offer as always, from the fabulous Crafty Ribbons this time around, and (again as always) don't forget that if you use one of Di's awesome digis, or a Candibean rubber stamp if rubber is your thang, you get extra opportunities to win, yeehaw!!
I'll be back in a couple of days with my Crafty Hazelnut's DT card, until then Happy Crafting, Donna

My First DT Card For Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge

Well, as I said the other day... not that anyone was probably listening - 'tis the story of my life, lol - Hazel has decided to gather a Design Team for her Patterned Paper Challenge. 
As she gets a HUGE number of entries (it's so easy to enter, all you have to do is use some patterned paper on your creation!) I can see why she needs a DT!!  Here's my offering; not as "uncluttered" as my usual, it was in fact my first Criss Cross Card, I made it for my Mum's birthday last August (geez, we're nearly there again!) and it's been sitting in my Drafts waiting for a special occassion - which I've deemed this is :-)
My Mum LOVES these sweet images from Sugar Nellie.  This is one of the Vintage Adorable Collection (Digital of course, I'm a Digi Kinda Gal!) available here.  I printed the image on linen card, it just seems to say "vintage" to me better than smooth card, and coloured with some Copics and mainly Prismacolor pencils.  I've coloured her with "my" hair and eye colour... well when I was this age my hair was naturally this colour... now I have a little help :-))
I made the card base with Kraft... for its vintage feel... The all important papers (and there's a LOT of paper on this creation, trust me) are from Kaisercraft's Vintage Timeless pad and a Digital set "Basic Vintage", there's this and lots of goodies at Michelle R Designs I bought the matching insert set, but ended up just mix and matching my papers instead.  I can't believe how many times the word "vintage" is coming up in this post... so NOT me, lol.
The scalloped mats are Nestabilities Scalloped Circles, the rest of the mats are all cut from Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Circles dies.. there's so many in the set you can get very narrow mats - but it is a a lot of cutting (it was for my lovely Mum, so it didn't matter) 
The lace is from my stash, as are the pearls.  I used Viva Pearl Pen to add the "pearls" around the scalloped circle... I didn't have that many pearls left - and the pen is QUICK!

The gold embellishments are chipboard, from Make It Crafty... but Zoe doesn't sell them anymore, lucky I stocked up! - I embossed them with some Vintage Gold EP from Ranger
I added a sheer bow with a pearl brad to the insert, so you could pull it out (it was a bit snug, lol) I put a smaller version at the bottom of the image to tie it in.

I added a die cut from the Kaisercraft pad to some more of the nested circles and stamped Happy Birthday on it (ancient stamp of unknown origin) more of the Pearl pen... then I added MORE circles to the back of the insert and a jotting panel, finished the scalloped circle with, you guessed it, more Pearl pen.  There are "only" 12 circles cut for this card, but I kept trying to get more out of my coloured cardstock so I was cutting middles out and all sorts... like I said, a lot of cutting - glad it wasn't by hand!!

I added a stand to the back of the card to help it stand up "nicely", I didn't take a pic but it's the same as the one I used on the last Criss Cross card I posted here (which was actually made AFTER this one - I used the stand from this card as a template)

Well that's it for my inaugural Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge DT card.  Pop over to the blog and check out the rest of the new team... plenty of talent there, I am honoured to be in such "good company".  I hope you get a chance to enter the challenge as well... it runs for the whole month and all you have to do is use Patterned Paper... TOO EASY!!  As a bonus, there's always a great prize on offer too, woohoo!! 
I am entering the following challenges:

Sparkles Monthly Challenge Vintage or Shabby Chic

Cuttlebug Mania Use a Sentiment

Crafty Cardmakers Sentiment

Whimsy Inspirations Challenge Ribbon, Lace or Twine

Creatalicious Challenges Ribbon and Pearls

That Craft Place Layers

Papertake Weekly Take Your Pick (Product: Pearls)

Sugar Bowl Challenges Anything Goes (with a SN image)

Through the Craftroom Door Anything Goes

Art by Miran Anything Goes

Simon Says Challenge Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps Bingo Board:I've used Lace Sentiment/Ribbon, or Ribbon/Punches or Dies/Layers or Lace/Stamped Image/Layers ... depending on whether a digi is a "stamped image" or not :-) and/or if the two bows and a loop qualify as "ribbonrow Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

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

Pearls In Her Hair

I have a card today that I made for a friends birthday... then I gave her a different card that's been sitting in my stash, so I suppose this is now a card for my stash!  For some reason, I'm really happy with it... I mean REALLY happy :-)

I've made an easel card, just 'coz I like them!  The image is Pearls In My Hair from A Day For Daisies, I love the ethereal vintage feel of it.  The Paper Shelter has a Vintage or Shabby Chic challenge and Bizzy Becs and Corrosive Challenges have Vintage themes; while this is not Shabby Chic I think it's Vintagey enough, hope so!  The Joanna Sheen challenge is "Remember When", I think this is perfect for it... I hope they do too   :-) 
I also hope the birds in the image make my card suitable for the Bearly Mine Challenge this time around ; the theme is  "Animal Kingdom", the image is listed at ADFD under the Animals category, so I should be alright! I'm sure it will let me in at the Crafty Calendar... their theme is Things With Wings
I coloured with Copics and added (unsurprisingly) some pearls in her hair, they're from my stash.
The papers are from Starfish Lane (where I get my "special" papers from) the patterned paper ("Chiyogami Abstract") is glorious in real life, it has a real vintage/deco feel to it; the gold outlining gives a lovely enamelled effect.  The turquoise and garnet coloured card are heavily textured, they're from Starfish Lane too, as are,you guessed it, the ribbon and the garnet trim I've used as a stop for the easel (birthday gift voucher courtesy of my son, I had a ball picking out all my goodies!) Totally Gorjuss wants us to use  "Something New"... they said it would be an easy challenge, how right they are, lol.
I cut the image panel with an Mpress die (Petal Frames), then distressed the edges with Versamark ink, which I used to stamp the sentiment (embossed with Ruby Glitter EP) The Cutie Pie Challenge is to use dies or punches and 
The flowers and berries are from my stash, so I'm entering Lisa's Waste Not Wednesdays challenge to use Stash.  I bought a bough of the blossoms from Spotlight for $2.49, there were about 15 on it as well as leaves and buds... bargain!  I've inked them up to match and cut a couple of leaves down to suit.  Paper Play Challenges has Double Delight; Use Two Of Something, as does My Time to Craft, I've used two flowers, two leaves and two sprays of berries, so I'm entering there.
Not much more to say about my card :-) Crafty Sentiments, Divas by Design and Simon Says Challenge all have Anything Goes themes, so I'll be entering there.
I've been using my crafting time to tidy up my hard drive, print samples of all my digipapers (very time consuming to make "samplers" up, hope it pays off in the end!) organize my digi images and that sort of thing.  I did manage to print off a couple of images while I was at it, so I hope to get some colouing time in when I have finished repainting my front door (boring "real world" sort of stuff) and reassembled my office after the minor flooding we had in a thunderstorm earlier this evening (it doesn't rain often here, but when it does rain it's often very heavy, lol) On this occasion the water came down one of the office walls where my printer paper was touching... and funnelled straight into the printer itself - I picked the printer up to wipe under it and inky water ran out - can't be good for it, but it still seems to be working :-)  I'll be back in a day or so with the fruits of my labours!  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

I'm Not a Little Girl Anymore....

I'm Not a Little Girl Anymore... But You're Still My Lovely Mum.  That's what I wrote inside this card I made for my Lovely Mum for Mother's Day, I'm not just saying it either, my Mum is a really lovely person and I'm proud to be her not-so-little-girl.

Deep Ocean Challenge has What a Wonderful Woman as their theme, how apt! and The Secret Crafter has I love you Mum - I do so I'm in!!

Mum loves these Simply Adorable Sugar Nellie images (this is Victoria), digital of course (you know I love my digis!) I love them too!  The Sugar Bowl Challenge this time around is to use our Favourite Sugar Nellie stamp (or digi) and this great sketch: using the sketch was no problem - I love a good sketch -  but deciding which is my favourite image was a lot harder as I love them all the same... as any good Mum should with her children, lol.  Let's say that Victoria is ONE of my favourites.  
I coloured with Copics using the pinks and creams of the photo inspiration at Pollycraft  challenge.  Going for a vintage feel that I felt matched my image, I distressed around the edges of everything (except the pink velvet background paper, which was lush enough IRL!) with some Kaisercraft ink.  Bizzy Becs has a Vintage  challenge theme and Creative Craft Challenges has Distressed, so I'm entering there too.
The paper on the cream panel has a lovely soft glittered pattern on it, and is a translucent sort of paper, I got it and the velvet from Starfish Lane, love their speciality papers :-)  The patterned paper is from my stash (I think it's Basic Grey's Indian Summer) as is the peal card used for matting, the flowers, pearls and rhinestone trim, so I'm entering the Waste Not Wednesdays stash challenge - again!!
Copic Oz  and Sweet Stampin' have "Flower " challenges and Papertake Weekly has In the Garden, I think there's enough of a reference here, with my flowers, leafy paper and the sunflowers on Victoria's hat so I'm entering there.
I cut the image panel and the sentiment (which is a digi from Crafts 4 You) with Standard Circles Nesties, I embossed the image panel with the next size down inside it to give the ridged look; I quite like it and will use it again.  The mats (and the inside jotting panel) were cut with Lacy Circles Nestabilities.  Bearly Mine Challenges wants us to use Dies which I have, so I'm in.


I finished the inside very simply... don't worry, I stuck that horizontal panel on straight before I gave it to Mum, lol.  I kept this photo underexposed because it shows the cream paper's glitteriness off better :-)
Crafty Sentiments has a Bingo challenge:  I've used Patterned Paper, Coloured Image, Die cuts, Crafty Emma's Store and 

Colour Me Copic both have Anything Goes challenges so I'll be entering there too.

That's it for today, I'll be back in a day or so with a card using one of my recent purchases... hopefully using more than one, lol!!  So many digis, so little time!!
I hope you like my card, my Mum loved it.... but then again, she's my Mum and would probably love anything I gave her :-)  Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

Vintage Feel at Here Come The Boys

Here Come The Boys  has a new challenge starting today with the theme "Vintage Feel"  As it was my son Matthew's birthday on Friday I used the opportunity to make a card for him.  He loves all things mechanical and he's feeling old (he's only 31!) so I thought he'd like the "old timer" look of this card.... and he did!

The fabby steampunk image is from Tickled Pink Stamps, he's Li'l Victorian Steampunk Lad Eric (what a mouthful!) and he's coloured with Copics... I meant to put gloss on his goggles, but I forgot - oh well it looks alright without.  I've had the image for quite a while (I bought it as soon as they were released) so I'm entering Digital Tuesday's challenge to "Use your stash" and Waste Not Wednesday's to do the same (it's good to be using some of my horde of digis!)

I've used this yummy sketch from Sketch and Stash, as well as using a digistamp from my stash I've used the fabulous chipboard cogs that I won -along with a bunch more - from Make It Crafty, thanks Zoe :-)  I grunged them up a bit with Ancient Page ink, which I used around the edges of everything else too.

The background paper is a digital freebie from Free Vintage Digistamps, they have masses of vintage and ephemera... for free! I've never "done" steampunk before (I think of it as the masculine version of vintage, or lace-less vintage!) so I'm entering the Fab'n'funky Challenge to Try Something New.  The stripy paper is from Kaisercrafts Up, Up and Away 6" pad and the brown card for matting is from American Crafts.  I used my new MFT Open Zig Zag border die to cut a more-masculine scalloped edge.  The twine is from my stash, I grunged that up with Ancient Page ink too!  Cupcake Craft Challenges has Entwined (use twine) as its challenge theme, so I'm entering there.

The sentiment is from Bizzy Becs, it's from the Vintage Tag Sheet (loads of different sentiments on an A4 sheet, easily cropped out in Word).  Sundays with Chrissy has Birthdays as its theme so I'm entering there.  There are three or four layers on this card, it looks so much chunkier in real life!!
I fiddled around with buttons on the corners of the image for ages, but the plastic ones I had didn't "fit" and I the wood ones were too big, in the end I just added four brass brads and they seem just right (sounds like the three bears, lol).

As usual I finished the inside of the card with elements from the front, the background paper is from the Kaisercraft pad too.  I added a brad to the centre of the cog on the inside, looks okay - maybe a bit like a wagon wheel :-)
Well that's it for my first steampunk style card, I've got some more of this range of stamps in my stash so it no doubt will not be my last, and it was fun!
Don't forget to check out the rest of the inspiration over at the Here Come The Boys Blog, and why not enter the challenge too.... as long as your card is suitable for a guy, young or old, and has a Vintage feel - you're in!  There's a great prize on offer too; a voucher from Digi Doodle Shop.
I'll be back tomorrow with another one of the cards I've made that are patiently waiting for posting :-)  Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna

Christmas with Trevor and Emma

Here I am again with more Sugarplums.  I love these little guys by CC Designs you can see more inspiration over at the All That Scraps Blog, or grab your own at the ATS shop.

Today I have Ornament Trevor and Ornament Emma on show.  They are so easy to colour and are sold separately (Trevor comes with the ornaments, Emma with the wreath)  I coloured with Copics adding gold detail to the ornaments before adding loads of gloss to them and Stickles to the berries on the wreath; you can just about see in the pic!  
Cupcake Craft Challenges has Two's Company for its challenge, these little guys are in!  My Time to Craft has Take Two (use two of something), as well as two little Sugarplums I have used that fabby embellishment along the top, which came in quite a long string from my LSS for $2.50!, with two Christmas lights and two stars, so I'm in there too.  Sundays with Chrissy has Christmas in Non Traditional colours, I'm hoping this is non-traditional enough, lol.
The paper is from Kaisercraft's collection and the sentiment is from a set of clear stamps I've had for years and have hardly used, having never used this particular stamp (you know I'm more comfortable going digi!!)... I'm making the effort this year :-) it's stamped using Kaisercraft pigment ink.  Christmas Stampin' All Year Long has Never seen ink as its challenge this time, this qualifies so I'm in! Bizzy Becs  wants us to use Circles, plenty of circles on this paper so I'm entering the challenge.
I used the sketch from Card Patterns, my little Christmas lights embellishment covered the element at the top perfectly, I think!  The snowflake on the sentiment has been in my findings box for quite a few years, it was a spare from when I made a fabergé egg for Christmas years ago to give to my Mum - then couldn't part with it.  I still have it and it is in fact out on display all year, I open it to reveal the little Christmas tree inside over the festive season.  I will post pictures of it soon as it is a piece I consider among my best bits of craft ever... and it took FOREVER to make!!
I digress.... the inside of the card is simple, the snowflake stamp on the purple tag is from the set I just bought from Tickled Pink Stamps (it's a sentiment set that came with a few little extras) stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with glittery EP; see more "proper" stamping!!
I'll have some more Sugarplums to show over the next few days as well as some really sweet Sweet November images.
Until then,why not pop over to the ATS blog to check out the rest of the DT's fabulous projects using more of the Sugarplums in review. Happy Crafting, D4Donna 
BTW, I'd like to thank the one lady who has contacted me re the mix up of Dee's, to the "naughty" Dee (you know who you are!) all I can say is I'm glad to no longer use the name Dee if you are representative of it

More Pixies than you can poke an icicle at

I know, THREE posts in twelve hours... it's those Swiss Pixies, they've been keeping me up at night with their cries of  "colour me", lol.  If you didn't see my first two posts for the Swiss Pixies review that's happening over at the All That Scraps Blog, you can check them out here and here.  In the meantime let's meet Nora....

If you'd like your own Nora, you can get her at the All That Scraps Store as a digi - like I have - or as rubber.  I've shaken it up a bit this time... I've coloured with Prismacolour pencils! - didn't want to go too radical, lol.  I added little gems for her earrings, then decided to cut the image out with my Nestabilities Labels Twelve.  Of course I didn't even think of the pressure put on the gems, so they've become sort of embedded in the paper!  I actually quite like it, they don't look so "stuck on", though they've lost a little of their shine (well, who wouldn't in the circumstances!)

I added red glitter (heat set, of course) to her scarf, but it's not the usual glitter it's sort of long strands... it looks so much like a wooly scarf IRL, I'm rapt.  Crafty Calendar has Winter Wardrobe as it's theme this time, so Nora in her coat  and her scarf are in there.

I used the sketch from Crafts 4 Eternity this time, I like nice sketches - but you know that :-)  Bonus use of the sketch is Christmas Stampin' s theme with is to use a favourite sketch, so I'm in there too. The papers are from Kaisercraft's 'Tis the Season and Basic Grey's Jovial collections, mounted on red card I got in a pack from a newsagent when I was on holiday - it's great, and of course there's nothing like it near home!  

The blingy (is there such a word?) ribbon/embellishment came in my budgie-sitting reward pack from my Mum and Dad, the sentiment is a sticker from a sheet of what I think must be (to any non-card makers, at least) envelope seals...there's about thirty in the pack so they'll be available to me for some time, lol.  Gold Dew Drops on the corners finish it off.  By The Cute and Girly has Christmas Girls as its theme and the Gem of a Challenge theme is Cold and Frosty so I'm entering both of those.

Well that's it for today... I will be back later at 7am CST (which is 9pm my time, which is why it's a bit confusing when I say things like later today, or my second post for today when it may not be the case in your time zone, lol) with a blog hop.  So tune in then, in the meantime why not pop over to the All That Scraps Blog and check out my teamies lovely Swiss Pixies - they've been working hard to inspire you!  Hope you call back for the hop, until then, Happy Crafting Dee4Donna

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

Diamonds are Forever

Today is my Mum and Dad's 60th, or Diamond, Anniversary.  Whichever way you look at it, THAT"S a long time :-)  I made this card for them, with love.

It's been hard to get time to blog, February is a busy month: Not only is it my folks' anniversary (for which I am decorating a cake as well as this card. oh and celebrating with a wine cruise on our beautiful Swan River), it is our (33rd!!!!) Anniversary on the 17th, my sons 30th Birthday on the 18th (cake, card and celebration!) and of course Valentines Day is in there too!  On top of all that, we're still trying to finish the decorating we started during the Christmas break - oh and did I mention that it's silly season for the swimming pool industry?  I have a few projects in the pipeline too for All That Scraps new digi release next week: They're super cute, you won't want to miss them!

Anyway, back to this card.  I used a textured pearlised cream card, the texture doesn't show up much in the photo but it is very nice - it looks like linen.  I embossed the centre panel with Cuttlebugs Argyle embossing folder, I thought the diamond shapes were very fitting.  The crystals are Swarowski AB, hard to capture the sparkle but as close to Diamonds as they're going to get! - appropriate too, as we all chipped in and bought a beautiful Swarowski sculpture as their anniversary gift.

The lace border is made from pink pearl card using Martha Stewarts Doily Lace border punch, embossed with Cuttlebugs Swiss Dots embossing folder.  I inked the edge with slightly darker pink to add a bit of dimension.  The frame around my parent's photo is cut from the same paper using Nestabilities Labels 12.  I used a photo I took at my mum's 80th birthday, they look pretty good for 161 years old, don't they? :-)  The sentiment is computer generated and the "forever" embellishment is what gave me the inspiration for the card in the first place!  Some ribbon and flowers from my stash completed a straightforward card.  

I've got to say though, that this card took some time to complete - I decorated the inside front cover (which I don't usually do) because I wanted to finish the ribbon off nicely and threading it through is the best way (if you're not wanting bows on the front of the card, which I didn't) - in the end I didn't need bows anyway as the joins are quite neat!   I haven't given them the card yet (tonight) and I'm still toying with adding bows, "to bow or not to bow, that is the question" :-)

I was left then with finishing the inside back of the card neatly - same problem, didn't want joins/bows there so threaded the ribbon through and  had to finish the outside back of the card.  Oh well, it got finished in the end, and it is for my parents special day, so "worth it".

I'm entering this card in Pink Gem's challenge for this week "Ribbon and Lace", now you can use any image for this challenge, so I'm hoping my parent's beaming faces is image enough, lol, and Crazy 4 Challenges has a Vintage theme: this card, while not so shabby chic, has a real vintage feel - (no, I don't mean my parents are Vintage, though perhaps that IS the case?!)  Totally Gorjuss has "As You Like It" - and as I did this card from my heart (without themes or sketches in mind) this is obviously as I like it!!  Happy Anniversary Darling Mum and Dad.

Thanks for visiting me today, until next time Happy Crafting, Dee

Bye Bye 2010

First of all: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  I hope it is a happy and safe one, bringing all that you wish for.  I thought I'd make this post the last one about Christmas 2010.  These are some more of the simple cards I made.

This card uses Candy Cane Cherrie, available at Tickled Pink Stamps.  I used her on another couple of cards this year, here is one of them.  I coloured Cherrie to match the mat behind the image which was from Kaisercrafts 6x6 pad "Carnival Christmas".  I cut and embossed the mat using my Spellbinders Nestabilities Scalloped Oval, I use this a lot!  The image was cut and embossed using my Classic Oval Nestie, which I also use a lot!!  
Bizzy Becs has a competition for her Australian customers to win a Spellbinders Grand Calibur machine, all you have to do is make a card using a Spellbinders die - which is absolutely no hardship, I love mine and I got THREE new ones for Christmas which I can't wait to crack out- and you can enter as many times as you like "earning" a token (entry) each time, or buy a Spellbinders Die (which are on special what's more) earning three tokens per order.  Pop over to her site and check it out.
I didn't "fussy cut" the image as I normally like to do: I was running out of time!  I just foam dotted the matted  image instead.  The strip on the left of the card is ribbon,  I inked the edge of the card to soften the effect.  This really was a simple card to do, as was this next one.
For this card I used a tag from Graphic 45's "Christmas Past" collection.  I embossed some gold board with Cuttlebug's Divine Swirls embossing folder, then mounted the tag on it then cut it out leaving a narrow border.  I used tartan ribbon from my stash in the punched hole which I had meant to put an eyelet around then remembered I don't have an eyelet setter, lol.  
The papers are from Kaisercraft's 'Tis the Season and Dear Santa 6x6 collection, the band in the middle is ribbon from my stash.
I used papers from the same pads for the card pictured below,last year. All I added to this card, which came with the scalloped edge, was some gold stickers.
 I've got to say these pads have been an absolute bargain, I reckon I've still got years of cards left in them (especially if I maintain the same efficiency as I did in 2010 and resort to "shop" cards  because I run out of time), lol.  

The other two cards below, using a different type of window card than I used here, are even MORE simple, if that is possible!!
The "Joy" card has a panel of green embossed with Cuttlebug's Snowflakes embossing folder, how different it looks in green!  The Joy is a pre-made 3D sticker I got in a pack from a $2 shop, some of them weren't bad! The only other decoration on the card is some flat backed pearls from my stash.  
The inking around the edge is a bit heavy - you know how it goes, I was in such a hurry to get these last few cards finished, I got a thumbprint on the card then had to spend five extra minutes trying to build the ink up to cover the thumbprint: The old adage "haste makes waste" at work here, methinks! 
The last card has some offcuts in the small cut outs and filling in the edges of the window. The sentiment is a sticker and the border is a multicolour braid/cord/ribbon that I bought for something else, but found fitted this card perfectly - and again SO easily ;-)
Anyway, that's my offering for today.  We've nearly finished our decorating but my darling hubby is home for another week so my crafting time is somewhat curtailed as we rush about "having" a holiday - something of a contradiction in terms, sometimes isn't it!  Until next time, Happy Crafting (do some for me!!) Dee