Christmas with Trevor & Emma

This card is my first Christmas card for 2010, at least I've got a start!  I'm submitting this card to  Christmas Stampin' All Year Long for their challenge for this week, which is the sketch I used.  Simon Says Stamp's challenge for this week was "an easy no cook recipe of 3embellishments, 2 patterned papers and 1 image" so this card will be entered there too (the papers and the image are obvious, the three embellishments are; ribbon, brads at the top of the image and the sentiment which is a gel sticker).

The papers are from a pack I bought at a two dollar shop ages ago, the image is from of CC Designs Sugarplums collection, it actually is two of the images; Christmas Emma and Ornament Trevor.  I've coloured them with Copic and Bic markers, I sponged the edge of the image with some Ancient Page ink which adds a touch of nostalgia somehow.

I matted the image on to a piece of red card from my stash, then mounted it on foam dots.  I used another bit of the red card to stick the "Joy" gel tag on to and popped that up on foam dots too, the background of the tag matches the goldy coloured paper pretty well - but of course that doesn't show in the photo!  The "o" in joy is a Christmas ornament which ties in with the image.  The ribbon is two strips - one red one green.

Have a great day, Dee

Don't Just Sit There..........

This card is in response to All That Scraps Weekly Wednesday Challenge for this week, "make a manly card".  I used a sketch from Tickled Pink Stamps monthly challenge.  The sentiment says "It's your birthday  Don't just sit there....Celebrate"

I used cream cardstock for the card.  The teal coloured background paper is pearl metallic and has been embossed with the Woodgrain folder by Craft Concepts, in my cuttlebug.  The black and silver paper is kind of "fluffy" - very hard to cut neatly and putting glue tape on it was tragic - it just peeled off bringing fluff with it!  

This is the sketch I used, a very simple sketch but also very adaptable.  The image is one of the Sugarplums "Take a Seat" collection, by CC Designs, available at All That Scraps  and Tickled Pink Stamps.  This is Trevor and he is sitting on the Big Chair!  I coloured him with Copics and Bic markers.  The chair is paper pieced using some of the Le Chateau 6"x6" collection by Kaisercraft, the background of the image is from that collection too,  The rug is one of the tags that came in the collection cut down.  I made the arms and seat of the chair seperate and popped them up on an extra layer of foam dots so they look more 3D, I also went around the "inside" edges of the chair with shading to give more depth, I did the same under the chair on the rug. The green decorations on the chair arms are metallic pearl brads.  

I generated the sentiment on the computer and cut it out using Labels Four Nestabilities and my lovely pink Cuttlebug. I inked the edges of the sentiment plaque with a little Kaisercraft Jade pigment ink.  I used the same ink to sponge around the inside edges of the card where I also stuck some of the background paper from behind the image (cut to the pattern you can see), to bring the theme from the front in to the card.  The brightly coloured glittery sticker is to emphasize the contrast between "Just sitting there" and "Celebrating".

This was a fun card to do, and got me thinking about the different ways of using my "Take a Seat" images.

So, have a good day and "Don't just sit there......CRAFT!"  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!  

The Wizard's in his castle and the Witch is in..... - or is she out?

The title of this post may be a bit confusing - unless you "look at the pictures".  Both these painting projects were done as gifts for my sister Fiona, who loves all things mystical and has a particular affinity with witches (so you see I'm not being rude implying she is a witch, I'm just appealing to her sense of fun), the fact that she loves cats and that there is a cat on the piece adds to its' appeal.  My sister also has been known to have hair of this hue, and some of Witchy's legwear looks familiar too, gotta love Fi!

"The Witch is In" project is a wooden piece she keeps by her door,  the plaque can be turned over to read "The Witch is Out", but I'm not sure she ever turns it over.  I used a pattern by DeLane Lange in her book "DeLane Paints Your Special Day" and Jo Sonja Acrylic paints. 
I cut the piece out myself, using the trusty scroll saw my husband bought me for Christmas last year, I have over the years received a few non-traditional Christmas gifts all of which have been entirely appropriate for me and invariably associated with craft: This year for my birthday, my eldest son bought me a heat gun -  as he doesn't know craft but does know tools it is a chunky industrial model that will outlast me, and as it was given and opened in a busy restaurant at my birthday dinner, to much excitement by ME, we got some very interesting looks "why is that woman so excited to get a drill" (that's what it looks like) and so on.  I don't know, there was the same fuss when I got my Dremel (specialist cutting tool), my framing tools, my bench grinder.......anyway, I digress.
 The second project is "Red Castle Wizard".  This plaque I also made and it was, as I recall, the first one I did using my router.  When I say "first" I should say this completed project is the end result of about fifty efforts with the router, the first 49 "ending in tears"  mine.  M-an, routers are hard to use!  It is from a pattern by Joy Vagg, which appeared in "Australian Folk Art & Decorative Painting, Vol 12 #10.  The technique used is known as pen and wash, whereby you start with a very light background (these become your highlights), draw in all the lines with a fine permanent marker, then wash the base coats of colour in.  The last step is to apply the shading, primarily with stronger applications of the base colours, strengthening them with darker shades.  Some pen and wash projects have the shading drawn in with the pen, this one didn't.  It is very much the idea behind colouring stamped images, particularly if you use copics or similar.

 Anyway, that's it for today. I hope that this isn't the only post I make with a Halloween theme before the end of the month, but if it is, at least I got these characters out there.  Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget I'll be "witching" you and have a "wizard" time crafting.......again, I hear you all groan, but I KNOW you love the corn really, Dee.

Clearly Hard to Photograph!

Today's offering is a clear card made in response to this week's All That Scraps Wednesdays Challenge which was to make, well, a clear card!  The real challenge, however, was PHOTOGRAPHING it!

First I made a 15cm square card from acetate, I was going to have it see through front and back, but decided to cover the inside of the back with orange cardstock from DCWV so that the embossing I did on the front panel showed up better - which it did.  I used the "Cupcakes" embossing folder from Craft Concepts, this is the first of this brand I have used and found it excellent, with really crisp deep grooves; and they're a cheaper alternative too, so I can get more of them!!

I took the photo on the left from the inside of the card to get a better idea of the embossing, I don't know if it gives a better idea or not!  

The photo to the right is just a close up in different light to try - again - to show the embossing up.  It was really effective in real life - TRULY. 

I used Inque Boutique paper "Cabana" on the strips.  I initially was going to stick the image, "Balloon Trevor" one of the Sugarplums from All That Scraps, straight on the acetate, but it looked pretty ordinary from the inside of the card, so I stuck the strip of paper down the edge (which I hadn't embossed so I had a flat area for the image) and pop-dotted Trevor to it.  It still looked a bit ordinary from the inside, so I stuck another strip on the inside backing on to it.  The strip with the sentiment on is the same size as the one on the front, the letter stickers are from a huge packet from BigW, El Cheapo strikes again!  I put a narrow strip down the left of the orange to bring some colour onto that side of the card .  

Trevor is coloured with a combination of Copic markers, Bic markers and pigment inks, I washed the area around him with grey to exaggerate the shadows created by having him sit up on pop dots.  I also gave his balloon a coat of clear gloss but it's a bit old and no longer that glossy - time for a replacement methinks! 

Now I had the issue of where to actually sign the card, so what  I did was emboss a strip down the side of  a piece of white card with the cupcakes, and stick that to the back of the card.  I then made an envelope large enough to hold a banknote from the patterned paper and stuck it to the back of the card.  As this card was for a friends' nine year old I simply stuck a number 9 on the flap of the envelope, there was still plenty of room underneath to write (though I'm sure the banknote held far more appeal than the sentiment anyway!)  

I know there's lots of photos of this really very simple card, but you know how it is trying to capture something on "film".  All I can say is thank goodness for digital photography or this would have been a very expensive card!  Thanks for looking, and I'll "see" you soon - quite possibly through an acetate card :-)

It's Practically Magic

Just thought I'd post the fact that I WON the "Practical Magic" blog hop over at Crafty Chaos Designs  Thanks to Susan for holding the hop and for the lovely prize : my choice of not one, not two but THREE items from the shop - choosing only three was the hard part!  Now I'll have to get busy printing and using the lovely digital papers I chose, I'll post the end result when I am done, Dee