Fantastic Gymnastic

The card is another of the CC Designs Honey digis being released this week at All That Scraps.  This is "Gymnast Honey", though really I suppose it's "Gymnast Honeys", lol.  

 I can't believe my luck in the timing of getting this image, my son Chris's friend Tam has just spent two years coaching at the Danish Gymnastic Academy (or whatever it's proper name is, lol) and came home this week after fulfilling commitments there; we are very pleased to get her back and even though she loved it she is glad to be back - as one of our national songs says "no matter how far or how wide I roam, I still call Australia Home".  
I coloured the Honeys with Copic markers, and after cutting them out pop dotted them onto mirror card, I may be mixing my references up here, do gymnasts use a mirror, or is that only ballerinas?  No, apparently (after consultation with Tam) mirrors figure strongly in gym-world, oh and the little bit of eye shadow tickled Tam's fancy too!

The background paper is more of the lovely textured pearly card that I used on my Drummer Dave card.  The patterned paper is from Kaisercrafts Peachy Keen 6" collection, and the plain card that the mirror card is matted on and the circle (cut using Lacey Circles Nestabilites) are self adhesive (good and sticky, that textured card is quite hard to get a grip on, lol) from DCWV Brights mat collection
Pink Gem Challenge had a sketch challenge this time around.
It was in a square format, but to fit my two little Honeys on I stretched it out to a rectangle.  Does anybody else have the problem that cards folded this way don't "sit" properly, well, DON"T sit at all really, they sort of lay flat!!)?  Ha Ha.  If you know a "fix" let me know - I'd appreciate it!

The inside of this card, in complete contrast to the Hippie Honey card I did also from All That Scraps latest release, is super simple.  I just cut a strip from one of the Peachy Keen borders, mounted it on mirror card and stuck it in the middle of the card, it says "The road to a friends house is never long", though in this case of course the road for Tam to her friends house was about 20,000 km!!  Maybe it's nice that 20,000 km is not too long!  A blue flower brad each end, and some sponging around the edges of the card, "fini"!!
Stamp Challenges has it's Digi Day challenge this week, (now that really IS easy!) and Totally Papercrafts has "Friendship" as it's challenge theme so I'm entering these little fitness fans there.  
I used Hippie Honey for this card, she's a sweetie go and have a peep!
Until next time, which will be my final Honey from the release- and my fave - (Here's a link) , Happy Crafting, Dee

Hip Hippie Hooray for Honey

Today I get to share photos of the cards I've made as the February Guest Designer for the All That Scraps Digi Team.  This is my first foray into the world of Design Teams, I am really thrilled to be part of it and hope my efforts are up to the standard set by this great team in the past.
The images we got to work with this month are all Honeys, no, REALLY - they are all CC Designs Honey in various guises.  They are available in the All That Scraps store on February 11th

The first little lady is "Hippie Honey", giving us a "peace" sign.  How cool is she??!!!!  I love her little necklace too.  I coloured her with Copics, love my Copics, getting a bit obsessed with my Copics.......

I used sketch#87 from Sweet Sketch Wednesday , I love a straightforward sketch - they leave you so much more room to manoeuvre in the paper department!!  The paper I've used here is Kaisercrafts Hey Birdie 6" collection.  I thought it had a real retro feel (interesting term that "retro"; my kids use it about a lot of our stuff, it's funny how "retro" is acceptable now whereas it was just plain old fashioned a very short time ago, lol)    I used a Lacey Circles Nestie to cut out a plain cream circle to sit Honey on, embossed it with the Tiny Bubbles folder from Cuttlebug then backed it up with a plain pink circle using a, wait for it, Standard Circles Nestabilities.  The green and brown card are textured cardstock from DCWV Neutrals mat stack. I stuck tiny pink brown and green crystals in the "holes".

I wonder if you can guess which Nestabilties I used to cut the flowery circle out of, lol. The gros grain ribbon and pink foam flower were from my stash, as was the green crystal brad in the flower's centre. Loads of texture here, so I'm entering in Fab'n'Funky Challenges this week which has "Tempting Texture" as it's theme.

The inside of this card was "like Topsy" (is anyone else out there old enough to know that term?) - it just grew!!  I cut a frame using the Nesties I used on the outside of the card, printed a sentiment  on the computer using "Brandy" font.  It didn't look finished so I added the corner pieces in the brown polka dot paper, which helped a lot, it brought the brown over from the front (yes that plain paper at the top of the card is brown, I know, it doesn't look brown).  It still hadn't quite got there, so I added strips of the cream polka dot paper, and there it is finished!  Frankly, if I'd added much more there wouldn't have been any room left to write on, lol

Well, that's basically my first Honey for the day, Stamp Something has its Digi Day challenge on for Feb, so I'm going to enter my hip cool friend there, and the  ABC Challenge when I started this card was "N is for Nestie" - this card DEFINITELY is that: it is a multiNestie card, lol.  Unfortunately for me the challenge has moved along to "N is for Neutral" and this card is anything BUT neutral!!  Sweet Stampin' has spring flowers as it's challenge theme, and I love the springy feel that the flowers on this card have so I'm entering it there.

I'll be back later with another Honey (here), and if you're good (well, acutually, even if you're not good) I'll be back with a third one (here's a link)!!

Until then, Happy Crafting, Dee

Ivy Valentine

This is a Valentines card I made using Tickled Pink Stamps "Fashionette 20's Evie" image; I just realised I titled this post "Ivy Valentine", obviously it should have been "Evie Valentine", which brought to mind the song from childhood "Evie, Ivy Over" do you remember it?? Mmmm, not old enough?

I was under a bit of pressure to get the post up: I went to upload the photos and realised I hadn't taken any!! And I was only minutes away from a deadline!!  Does anybody else do that, or is it just me?  Oh well, I got it up in time to enter my Ivy/Evie Valentine in the Tickled Pink Challenge for this week which was "Punch it Out, use your punches". 
I've used my Labels Four Nestabilities (which may or may count as a punch) for the image and sentiment mats, I  left them in the die then distressed the edge with some pink Versa Mark ink, I've never done it that way before but I think I like it - the way it leaves the edge crisp and clean.
The lace down the sides is definitely punched:  Using Martha Stewart's Doily Lace punch to be precise, and the little heart "thought bubbles" (well that's how I visualised them to go with my sentiment, lol) were punched too.  I used an offcut of paper from the same pad that the rest of the papers on this card are from, namely the Kaisercraft Made with Love 6" collection and a small heart punch (the manufacturer of which I have no idea!!) then popped them up on foam dots for dimension.  The image was pop-dotted too!  Oh, and the corners of the card were rounded with my Carl corner rounder punch too!
I used this sketch from Pollycrafts Challenge "use the sketch and a love element", have I said before how much I love the simple sketches?  Pixie Dust Studios has "Be My Valentine and Creative Inpirations has Valentines/Love so I'll be entering there Totally Papercrafts has friendship, and as I often think of my friends with love I'm entering this card there too.  Stamp Challenges has it's "February Digi Day" happening, so as this is a digi stamp (like the vast majority of my stamps!) I'll be entering there too.  Creative Craft Challenges has "Hearts and Flowers", as does My Time to Craft: loads of hearts here, and YES a flower - on Evies dress! 

Because the card itself is really quite a dark pinky red, I've stuck some cream vellum inside it to write on.   I cut a frame out of pale lilac paper and the glittery hearts paper form the front.  Surprise, surprise the glitteryness (sort of) shows in this photo!
I made this card quite quickly, it really is a simple little thing and using die cuts and punches does speed things up a bit!!  I hope you like Ivy/Evie, and I thought I'd give you a heads up that I'll be posting my All That Scraps Guest Design Team projects later today!  I've had them made up for a while, to the point that some of the challenges I was going to enter them in have expired - oh well I'll just share them for sharing's sake!  They are really cute images, so come back and have a look later - there will be three YES THREE separate posts for them, that will be FOUR posts in one day!!  Have I got your interest piqued??
Good!  I'll see you "later" then; until then Happy Crafting, Dee

Weddings Old and New

As we've just celebrated my mum and dad's 60th Wedding Anniversary (and I haven't downloaded any photos of it yet) I thought I'd post some pictures of the cake I made for my son's wedding: it was in November 2009 so I suppose it's about time.

 In real life the flowers, which are all made with sugar,  were a beautiful soft peachy pink, I've made the photos low resolution and it seems to have washed the pics out, but you get the idea!!

I used Swarowski crystals and pearls as trim around the bottom of the cakes, and in amongst the flowers; I made bracelets and earrings out of the same for the bridesmaids - they looked very elegant with the black lace dresses and cocktail hats!
In addition to the cake - because I always think I can easily cover more than I actually can cover - I made the bonbonniere boxes and the sweets that went in them; 120 boxes which means 480 serves of sweeties!!  Well more, actually, because I HAD to taste test - A LOT, lol!!

The sweets were coffee-macadamia marzipan, chocolate coated mint fondant, Raspberry liqueur ganache and "Tablet" which is a Scottish form of fudge (my mother is Scottish as is the brides family, so it was a sort of tribute to our heritage, oh and it tastes REALLY NICE!!

I did use the computer to print all the names on the bonbonniere boxes (and the guide to the sweets on the insides of the boxes) then stuck them on sheets of double sided sticky paper, which made it a little easier.  I've got to say, if I had my time again I would buy the boxes pre-cut instead of cutting them myself out of sheets of card.  A lot of unnecessary work, oh well you live and learn!!
Well that's about all the info you need on a wedding cake, lol.  Hope you enjoy the photos, until next time Happy Crafting, Dee.

Drummer Dave

Our good friend Dave got drums from his wife for Christmas: we had to "hide" them at our house so he had something to open on Christmas Day!!

Dave's birthday is on the same day as my mum and dads anniversary, I should remember that but it sneaks up on me every year - this year is uber busy and I'm quite proud of the fact that I got a card made for him at all!! 

I used Sketchy Thursday sketch #115 by Eat Sleep Stamp, great sketch - I love the simple ones, especially for a man's card.  The papers are from Kaisercrafts Rewind collection (6")  The stripy paper (Delicious Doodles has spots or stripes as its challenge theme this week, so in this card goes!) has flocking on it and some of the symbols on the other paper are foiled, it helps lift what would be a dark card.  
The background paper is a fabulous textured and pearly paper my son got me in Starfish Lane you can get some idea of just how textured it is in the photo.  The sentiment is computer-generated:  "Dave: hope your birthday's not too humDRUM...in fact we hope it's unBEATable!"  Dave has a wicked sense of humour, I'm sure he'll get a chuckle from this card, Cute Card Thursday had "Banish the Blues" as it's challenge this week, so I'll be entering "Dave the Drummer" there!

The digi image is "Metal Drummer" from Kenny K Downloads.  He is coloured with Copic markers and the edges distressed with blue and brown ink, the image mat is popped up on foam dots.  I'll be entering this card in Kenny K Krafty Gilz Challenge this week, the theme is "Favourite Things", Dave is one of our favourite friends, Kenny K's are among my favourite images and I love to use a strong layout and colours.  Totally Gorjuss has "As You Like It" as their theme, so this card will be going there for the same reasons it goes to Kenny K.  I did a card for Dave's wife Andrena here, I've just noticed it was using a Kenny K image and stripy paper too!  (They probably think I have no imagination, though I did do an anniversary card for them using my lovely Sugarplums couple and watercolour pencils, so THAT was completely different!)
I finished the inside of this card very simply, using some of the papers from the front and a guitar brad (Dave plays the guitar too, but the drums are his latest acquisition).  Mounting the sentiment on bright orange paper just helped bring a touch of brightness to the inside of the card.
Well, that's about it for this post - my SECOND in a day (first time ever).  Until next time, 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