In the Pink :-)

Warm hello's to all of you who call by.


This card was made with  the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge (#38), in mind.


I was pleased with my efforts - until I saw the Midnight Madness Sketch up close and realised that I had put more than the required amount of bling on -  call it artistic licence!!

The centre butterfly and the corner butterflies were both from the Layers of Color stamp set Flutterescent, and I embossed them with silver detail embossing powder, then added chalk for colour - pink only on the centre one as it was on the lemon card, and yellow over the butterfly on the pink card in the corners, which made it glow a little like stained glass against the light.


The circle was cut and distressed and sponged with Whisper Ink in rich plum, the bling added and it was set aside while I cut and sponged the lemon, and stamped and embossed the sentiment.


The dp is part of a sheet that I have had in my stash for a loooong time - it was one of the original pieces of dp that I bought..... it was almost too nice to use!!  Again it was sponged with the rich plum ink, as was the base card, which is a lovely rich, dark pink, rather than red.

When I assembled it all I popped the butterfly up on dimensional tape, cut down to size - a wee bit fiddly, to say the least, but it gave it a lovely raised look to it, as though it might fly off the page :-)  I hope it doesn't!!


The light on this photo does not do the colour justice, but I was very happy with the overall look of this card!


Thanks for calling by, and I do love hearing from you when you leave a comment.

Flowers and Pearls - SC264

I made this card over the weekend and have decided it is worthy of a post :-)

I have made the picture large as this is the only shot I took of it.


I started with the sketch challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers, and chose the base colour  without really thinking what I was going to do... not the best way round, but that was the way it was!!  I then chose the patterned paper as it had some similar greens in it, and also some pink, which I had in mind to use - why, I do not know, as green and pink is not in my list of favourite colour schemes.... maybe the brain was in revolt, who knows!!


Cut the base stripes out of dark green and stuck the dp over it and did not like what I saw!!  Tried sponging the edges with bottle green and voila, instant transformation and I was happy, so continued around the edge of the card too!


Next came the bamboo leaves and pearlescent orchid inks and the Paper Studio flower set and the image was stamped, then put through the Cuttlebug with a Spellbinders classic rectangle nestibility.  I then cut the dark green with the next size up, and decided it was too large, but I did not want to cut it down, so the logical thing was to offset the image panel on the backing.  Hmmm, still not happy, too much blank dark green.  After a few minutes I decided to pierce it, that looked better but not enough, so out came the white pen and the 'stitches' appeared.


Assembled the whole, after much head scratching about which ribbon to use, and eventually using two,  and I was still not really happy with it.  So it sat for some time before inspiration struck and the green kaiser half pearls were added and then I was happy!!!


I have also discovered that this card 'qualifies' for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge (#51), to use something with the letter 'P', and as I have used pink, pearls and  piercing, I have linked it up - Thanks Linda :-)


Hope the agony of the construction of this card was not too painful to read ;-)


Thanks for calling by, and your comments are always very much appreciated!

Three dotty mice.

Just a quick entry today.


I saw the challenge over at Stamping Royalty yesterday for a single layered card, and mulled it over overnight.


It did not take much to come up with this card as I had been thinking about using this image of the mouse in a line of three, as the card is for a three year old.


I ran the base through the cuttlebug using the Swiss Dot folder, but leaving the image area flat. Stamped these adorable Layers Of Color polka-dot mice in black, and coloured them using my Stampin' Up pencils, then blended the colours with a brush and water.


I was going to use rhinestones for the dots, but decided against it in favour of silver glitter - which needless to say went for miles, as glitter does.  But the effect is fabulous - I finished the berries off with a touch of Kindy Glitz on the leaves.




Here is a close up of it to show how glittery it all is.


The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Stem Saying set, and was stamped in red and clear embossed.


The ribbon up the side was the final touch, and matched the other reds beautifully and tied it all together.


A simple card that was a pleasure to make - I hope you enjoy viewing it as much as I enjoyed making it.


Thanks for calling by - I appreciate you letting me know you have called by, and I do love your comments.

Flowers this time :-)

Greetings all - the joys of being a world community of paper crafters is that we are all on different time zones, so I thought a salutation of good afternoon may not be appropriate for some. :-)  But you are all welcome here, no matter what the time is where you are.


This card started off some time ago as an experiment with the chalkboard technique - to stamp in white on a dark background, and then colour that image.  The image is from Stampin' Up's Baroque Motifs set.  I used the main flourish and the small flower.


After colouring it, the experiment sat on my desk for some months, but always begging to be used, so when I needed a card for a gardener, this jumped out and said 'use me'...... well, what else could I do?

The layout was a challenge that I saw on the Card Patterns blog, and I decided that it was ideal to use for this sample.  The base card matches the blue in the flowers, so I layered the brown floral piece onto white and then the blue base, added the white strips and popped on the blue rhinestones.  Hmm, the pattern now looked overwhelmed.  Ahh, inspiration, and small, gold rhinestones went into the centre of the flowers.  Volia!!  Quick and easy, and dare I say it, effective.


The most awkward part was the sentiment - I stamped it in blue and went to clear emboss it, but the powder did not adhere well......... out came the stamp-a-ma-jig and I over-stamped it in white, just off the original which gave a shadow effect - as though it was always supposed to be like that ;-).  Shhh, don't tell!


Thanks for calling by - I do love reading your comments, they really bless me.

Just Ducky - MMSC37 & OCC challenge.

Good afternoon to my visitors.... What a change - from masculine to childs play  I  loved it!!


I had seen the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge and when I was planning this card it fitted this image really well - and after I had made it, I realised the colour scheme had also fitted in with the Our Creative Corner challenge for this week of Blue and Green!


I wanted bright colours for this child as she really is a delight and full of fun.  I started with the green base, which is a bright, acid, green.  


I then tried to use a paper towel as a stamp to put a visual texture on the card as I had seen in an online tutorial recently - it did not work, so I inked up another paper towel with Pear Tart ink and used that instead!!


The duck was stamped in black ink and clear embossed, then painted with twinkling H2O's,  mounted on dark blue and a bright green card before being layered over the blue card at the top.


The brown punched strip was on my desk, so got used across the bottom of the card before adding the sentiment, which was gold embossed on blue.


Next came the bling around the top blue panel and the end of the sentiment panel and presto - a bright and cheerful card for a bright and cheerful three year old!


I enjoyed this card and was so pleased that it filled two challenges. 


 I usually tend more towards clean and simple when it comes to cards and was pleased that I managed the bling on this - only to find that the Midnight Madness challenge this week gives the option of CAS!!


Thanks for calling by - your comments are most treasured.

Another Masculine Card - WOW!!

I have done it again - yes there are lots of masculine cards needed at this point in the year for me, I think I think I am over the worst of them - for now.  It also just happens to fit the sketch challenge over at Crazy 4 Challenges.


This image is the last one of a group of images that Francie G on SCS sent me a couple of years ago - thanks so much Francie.


I painted it with watercolour crayons, sponged the edge of the image with blue ink, and then mounted it on some pale blue foil that I have had for a-g-e-s, after running it through the cuttlebug using the d'vine swirls folder to give the illusion of waves.


This was mounted onto some dark blue cardstock. 


I then ran the red stitched ribbon across the base of the foil before mounting the sentiment, (Tiny Happy Birthday from Hero Arts ), which I had embossed with clear embossing powder over the same blue ink that I had sponged the edges with.


I was pleased with the outcome of this card.  


Thanks for calling by and I really appreciate you leaving a comment - your comments are a real blessing.

Broken and remade fish - SSCC#21

Not quite sure if this fits the 'make it look broken and repaired' requirement of the Stamping Sisters In Christ challenge this week, but here goes - this was this only technique that I could think of, so I used it.


I started with a background that I had chalked about two years ago - I had spent an afternoon just messing with chalks and things to make up some backgrounds to have 'on hand'  - not that I have used them a lot, but this one was timely.  Basically I took a torn piece of paper and chalked along the edges, moving the paper around and at times turning it over as I went so the waves did not look all the same.


Before I mounted the background piece on dark blue, I sponged the edges with Brilliance Mediterranean Blue ink, then stamped it with one of the stamps from Hero Arts set Woodland Leaves and Grasses in Adirondack Bottle ink to simulate seaweed, stamping off several images from one inking to give dimension.  I also stamped the sentiment in blue and clear embossed it.


I then prepared a smaller piece of card to match the background, and  stamped and silver embossed the fish stamp from Hastings Rubber Stamps in position on the card and on the extra piece, and painted both images with Twinkling H2O paints - in between text messages from a friend :-).


I then measured the second image and divided it into three and trimmed it into three sections, making sure each section was 1mm smaller than it's original measurement.  Each section had the corners rounded with a punch and edges sponged with the blue ink before mounting on dimensional tape, each slightly apart from the other.  The effect is that the backround fish just shows through and the image is seen as a whole. 

 This photograph does not show the underlying image very clearly, but does show the wonderful sheen from the paints.


I am not sure that this image could really be called broken and restored, but I know that God has restored the life that I had so willfully broken and messed up, and has given me a wonderful husband and family!!


Thank you for calling by and letting me share my craft with you - I would have more to share, but I have been holding the ladder for DH while he paints the house - and that is an essential task, if not inspiring :-).

Masculine birthday

I really find masculine birthdays a challenge in themselves.... but I think I may have just nailed this one - trouble is it never stops at just one!


As this one was needed in a hurry (just to make it worse) there is only this one shot of it - no close-ups.


The main image is from a sympathy set by Our Daily Bread Designs . I stamped it and then decided to use the trusty chalks to colour it - the outcome was quite satisfactory in that I felt it gave quite an evening impression.  I added some subtle sparkle by running a silver pen along the 'ripples' in the pond, and a white pen on the cloud lines.


This was then cut with a classic rectangle nestability, and mounted over a dark blue classic scalloped rectangle.  The background cardbase was randomly stamped with a fishing rod by Hastings Rubber stamps in versamark ink.


The ribbon is a plain blue twill with a knot in it, and the sentiment is 'Little Happy birthday' from Hero Arts  - this was stamped in blue ink and clear embossed before being mounted over the ribbon.


This card fits the Crazy4Challenges challenge for this week, and also the challenge at Stampin' Royalty as they are both birthday challenges ;-)


Thanks so much for taking an interest in my efforts and for calling by.  I love it when you leave a comment too - they are very much appreciated.

Flowers from a calender - MMSC#35

I was at a bit of a loss when I came to make this card, so decided to rummage through some old calender pictures that I had on one end of my desk, and I found this image that I felt I could use - but how??

I then remembered the Midnight Madness sketch challenge and I was away.


The first layer of card is a pale limey lemon (not an official colour name, I know, but what else can I call it?)  I sponged the edge of it in Whispers Mossy Stone ink, and kept it longer than the image to stamp and gold emboss the greeting on at the bottom.


Next layer was a nice bright red, which I doodled gold stitching around, then the lovely clear yellow.  The ribbon is actually an olive green with gold edges, not grey, and then came the bright green card.


The feature of flower and leaves is made from sequins that  I was recently given (as a thank you for 'cat sitting'), topped with a gold rhinestone.  I am really pleased with this outcome, and thankful for that sketch challenge to get me going!


Thanks for calling by and commenting - I am really blessed when you do.


Have a great day!  God bless.

Babies galore!!

No, not my babies, but there seem to be a lot of babies en-route that will need to be acknowledged with a card when they finally  make their appearances!!


This one is a pretty generic card - although the background dp looks yellow, it has quite a lime tinge to it, as does the ink I sponged around the sentiment!!  The base cardstock is a light green, not blue as shown.  Oh the joys of gadgetry!!


A simple card that did not take too long, once I sorted the dp - before that I was not particularly happy with it.


The ladybugs were stamped using the Stampin Up Garden Whimsy bug, and I coloured the stamp with water colour pens, huffed on the stamp and stamped to get the multi-coloured image.

The next card I used Whispers Rich Plum ink to sponge the edge of the pink card base, and stamp the butterflies and word 'wonderful' from the Layers of Color Flutterscence set randomly on the card. 


I then stamped and embossed in silver the sentiment on white, then sponged it with rich plum ink after cutting and embossing it with a Spellbinders nestability die.


It all looked a bit blah, so out came the bling.... firstly Rhinestones onto the butterflies wings and the wee glittery butterfly onto the edge of the sentiment... then out came the new silver glitter I had just been given, and the glue pen, and small silver dots were created as well.  The result on the card was great, but oh how that glitter travels to all sorts of unlikely places!! 


Thank you for calling by and I do love your comments :-) 


God bless 

polka Dot Parade

I had to smile when I saw the Crazy 4 Challenges topic for this weeks challenge - polka dots!!  I had recently completed two cards using the set Polka Dot Parade set of stamps from Layers of Color .


This card is for a wee girl - hence the pink background, which as you can see is very shiny - the paper was a gift from my DIL.


The images were stamped with Memento Black Tuxedo and coloured with Twinkling H2O's, put through the Xyron machine and then adhered to the rectangles cut from a classic scalloped rectangle Nestability - the rectangles were sponged with (Adirondack) Bottle green ink before removing the die.  The sentiment tag was another spellbinders product, again cut, embossed and sponged with bottle green ink.  The ribbon I used to attach it was just a scrap, so to tie the bow I had to use a kitchen fork (as I don't own a bow wizard) as the left over piece was so small!!


The other card was for a young boy - this time I started with a bottle green base card - the photo does make it look like dark grey, unfortunately.


I put the yellow card through the branches CB folder, and then used a roller with (adirondack) caramel ink to colour it.


The elephant had his dots coloured with orange sparkle glue, then he was painted with aqua crayons in an olive toned green - again the camera does not do the colour justice :-(.  I sponged a red ink around the edge of the nestie, before layering it onto the red.


The stamp is one of my originals from Kiwistamping that has done sterling duty over the years!  It was embossed with gold and although I toyed with the idea of painting it gold I decided to keep the card less fussy - what two year old boy would notice anyway!!


Thanks for calling by - and may you be blessed with a great day.

CAS card in a Hurry

I had to make a quick card yesterday and this is the result.  I was very happy with the overall look of the card as the colours are not my favourite combination!!

The bright yellow card was some that I had on my desk, as was the forest green - the piece did not need trimming at all.  I put it through the CB with a daisy chain border folder along two edges - where the pattern overlapped in the corner, it flattened the second flower, so I used a stylus to push it out from the back.

The image is one from Paper Studio that I won in a blogspot prize (thank you to Priscilla from Midnight Madness ).  I misted it lightly and coloured with aquacolour crayons, misted again and stamped - I should have used a fraction more mist, but I was pleased with the result.... the definition on the edges of the petals was not good, so out came my rather large stash of pens and I found one to match and ran it around the edges of the petals, and it made a huge difference.  Added the yellow for the stamens, sponged  the edges from a Kalidecolour Pad, pierced the corners and after stamping the sentiment and embossing it, assembled the card.

As the challenge at Our Creative Corner is for a clean and Simple Card this week, I feel this fits, so two goals achieved in one card :-)

Thanks for calling by, and I really love reading your comments.  God bless.

MMSC34 and more LOC

Happy New Year to all who have visited and read my blog - you have made my venture into 'blogland' very pleasurable.

I started this card with the idea to use this Layers of Color image from the Granny's Jewellery set, set on an oval, with the burgundy scallops on pink card, but the overall layout defied me until I saw this sketch challenge over at Midnight Madness.

I took some liberties, but isn't that what it is all about?, and I ended up with quite a clean and simple look to the card in the end!!

I sponged the edge of the base card with chalk ink - rouge- and the corners were run through the Textile textures cuttlebug folder - I used the negative embossing just to be different. The ovals were both cut with Spellbinders nestabilities classic ovals - do love those nesties!! and the blue sponged on before I removed the oval...

                       

The pearls both on the corners and in the basket are Kaiser half pearls.

I painted outside of the basket and the      background to the flowers with Twinkling H2O's before attaching the pearls.  

The ribbon is chiffon that I had on hand - recycled if I remember correctly - it's a bit of a standing joke within the extended family that any parcels with ribbon on are carefully undone and the ribbon passed to me....

Thanks for calling by - I do love seeing that you have been,especially when you leave a comment.

May 2010 bring you and yours many blessings.