Grandma - full time lovin'

Welcome, and this post will explain my lack of blogging for a day or two.

We have spent the last few days with my daughter and her family. The two little people have both been a bit off colour with winter ailments, but this afternoon my daughter snapped this photo.

My grand daughter had wanted to climb up and join the cuddles, but when her mother went to take the photo she objected - which is most unusual as she usually loves the camera!

Next post will be another card, no doubt!

Thanks for visiting - may your day be blessed.

Stitched Sympathy

Welcome again - I have had to make another sympathy card today, and I 

went for extreme simplicity.

Just texture and a sentiment.

The sentiment was stamped and cut with a Spellbinders classic oval die, and the edge pierced before removing the die, faux stitched with a silver pen and the edges sponged.

The embossing folder was a Sissex by Tim Holtz that I got as part of the class I went to at SENZ.

I am linking this to:

Crazy4Challenges challenge#146 - Stitching

Stampin' Sisters In Christ Challenge #149 - Keep it Simple

Craftin' Kimmie's Challenge #138 - In Stitches
Simply Less Is More Challenge #77 - Sewing

Thanks for visiting - may your day be blessed.

Thank you also for blessing me with your comments - they are such an encouragement .

Card recipe:

Card: - White

Ink: Vivid Cobblestone

Stamp: Our Daily Bread Designs - With Sincere Sympathy

Grease Monkey

Welcome to my corner of blog-dom, and thank you for visiting.

The title of this post is a slang term for a mechanic, and implies that they are not well qualified - it is not a popular name, and I risk offending some, but it is an attention grabber for a title.

I needed a masculine card for a mechanic, so could not resist using this image from Bonibleaux Designs/Dudetime Doodles

I coloured the image with chalks and sponged the edges before mounting it on the layer of gray card stock.  The stripey boarder was a scrap on my desk, left over from a workshop, but it fitted beautifully here.

The sentiment was silver embossed and then had ink sponged over it, and wiped off the embossing for greater contrast.  The homemade tag was attached with a brad, and three matching brads were placed at the base of the panel.

The whole was then mounted on a cream card, and the card edges swiped over the ink pad as a finishing detail.

I am linking this to:

ATC's and Cards With Attitude Challenge #18 - Anything goes

Fat Pages With Attitude Challenge #18 - Anything Goes

The Poodles Parlour - Use a Digi Stamp

Simple Create Too Challenge #18 - Use it two times (at least)
(The gray card as background and tag, the brads)

The Stamp Man Challenge - Anything goes / Summer colours

Thanks so much for visiting - may your day be blessed, and thank you for blessing and encouraging me with your comments.

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Undercarriage Craig by Bonibleaux, Hero Arts Little happy Birthday

Card stock: Cream and grey

Paper: SU, name unknown

Ink: Vivid Cobblestone

Accessories: Brads, Chalks

Card for a Friend.

Welcome, and thank you for visiting again

I wanted to make a card of encouragement for a friend who was taking a step of faith, and this is the result.

I started off with the main image, which I had downloaded from Karen Murray's blog PaperCraft Memories, from her WORDart series.

I sponged the edges with gray in and mounted it onto gray card stock, and then tied some bakers twine across the bottom - some of my stash from a shopping spree at SENZ (Stamp Expo New Zealand) last week.

This was mounted onto a base which had been decorated with some dp, and then I added some perfect pearls (more stash)

The final touch was this rose which was in a RAK from Sue McMahon of McMahon Five Design.com when I was on her DT.

I am linking this to:

The Perfect Sentiment Challenge #41 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #37

The Paper Shelter Challenge #73 - Anything Goes

Divas By design Challenge #44 - Anything Goes

Digi Doodles Shops Best Challenge #117- Anything Goes
Moving Along With the Times Challenge - In the Pink (Pink, Pearly, Pretty and Celebration)

Thanks for visiting - may your day be blessed.

Card recipe:

Card: Grey

Stamp: digi from Papercraft Memories

Ink: vivid Cobblestone

Accessories: Prima rose, Prima dp, Romantique, bakers twine.

Yellow and green

Welcome, and thanks again for calling by.

I was wanting to make a fresh 'spring like' card for an upcoming birthday, and this is the result.

I started with the background - which is one of a series of photographs that my DS and DIL took for me to use as backgrounds some years ago. It is simply a macro shot of an heavily textured leaf.

The tag is from Our Daily Bread Designs.  It was stamped and fussy cut, the flowers were coloured with ink from stamp pads. I wanted a more grungy look and tried several ribbons on the tag, but ended up with just the two in a very simple, sparkly duo.

 The tag was layered onto the photo, the yellow card and then onto a pre-cut card base with a deckle edge, and the edges were all sponged with co-ordinating inks.

The butterflies were punched, adhered and then blinged with pearls, some of which were added to the corners of the yellow layer.

I am linking this to:

One Stitch At A Time Challenge #122 - Anything Goes

Stampin'Sisters In Christ Challenge #148 - Something Sparkling - the ribbons

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #172 - Wings and Bling

That Craft Place Challenge - Anything Goes

Addicted To Stamps Challenge #34 - For Someone Special - a sister
Card and Scrap Challenge #35 - Wings
CupCake Craftroom July Challenge - Layers
Freshly Brewed Designs Challenge #103 - summertime
Oozak Blog Challenge #4 - Bright Colours
Pretty Little Ribbon Shop Challenge #12 - Tags

Thanks for visiting - may your day be blessed

Card Recipe:

Card Stock - Acid green, bright yellow

Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs Daffodil tag

Inks: Tsukineko Memento Bamboo Leaves and (yellow)

Accessories: Photograph, butterfly punch, pearls, ribbon

Praying Sympathy

Welcome again - yes two posts in two days.... thanks for visiting.

This time it is a sympathy card I am featuring.

The background was made by pounding flowers - this was the sheet of paper I had on the reverse of the flowers, so was not particularly 'pretty'. 

 I embossed it with the leafy branch folder, and the rubbed green inks over the embossing, and the edge of the panel on a light brown ink.

As this is quite busy, I kept the balance of the card simple.  

The sentiment was stamped on a small panel of the base card stock, and sponged with the same ink - the base card was also sponged with the same colour.

The final touches were the satin ribbon and bow, and the string of pearls.

I am linking this to:

Oldie but a Goodie - Flower Power (flowers used in the background, made over 6 months ago)

Stamp N Plus Challenge #2 - Anything Goes

Use it Tuesday - Emboss It - The design paper was made over 6 months ago 
Mema's Crafts July Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting - may your day be blessed.

Please excuse the white highlighting - I don't know why it has appeared, and I cannot seem to remove it :-(

Card Recipe:

Card Stock : Lemon and watercolour paper

Inks : Memento Bamboo Leaves, Pear Tart and Desert Sand.

          Whispers Mossy Stone

Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs - Praying For You

Acessories: Ribbon, pearls, pansies.

A Fun Technique

Welcome - thank you for taking time to visit.

Late last month there was a tutorial over at Our Daily Bread Designs using embossing resist to form a background.  I liked to look of it, so 'had a go' and this is the result.

For the background I chose to use a butterfly image, and I was glad I did as it was very hard to see where I had been - I was not worried that some overlapped, as a flock of  butterflies don't fly in straight lines when disturbed.

Not all the embossing was as neat as above, so when I assembled the card I added the corner ribbon and the sentiment label in strategic places.

I had fun playing with this technique, and have been dreaming up other colour and stamp combinations to use.

I am linking this to:

The Crafty Bloggers Monday Challenge #1 - Anything Goes

Fashionista Challenge #4 - Winged Things

PanPastel Challenge#26 - Ice Cream Colours (Lemonata and Boysenberry in N.Z.)

That Craft Place Challenge - Anything Goes

The Ribbon Girl July Challenge - Make a Girlie Card

Catch The Bug - July's Anything goes Challenge

ATC's and Cards With Attitude - Anything goes

Card Makin' Mama's Challenge #49 - Rubber

Thanks for visiting - may your day be blessed.

Card Recipe:

Card - Bright yellow and white

Inks: Distress in Aged Mahogany,Victorian Velvet, Mustard Seed, memento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Layers of Color (ret) Butterfly Collector, Inspired Stamps Inspired Backgrounds

Accessories: Brad, ribbon Spellbinders Double Ended Tags

Just Sayin'

Welcome once again - I am glad you have made time to visit.

I recently made a card for a four year old boy - he is a bright young man who is very active, so with this in mind I made this card.

I used The Crafts Meow set Just Sayin' to make the center panel.

I stamped the word bubble first, added the greeting and embossed it in copper, then masked it off and created the background with the abc stamp in the set, using further masking and stamping off to vary the placement and colour intensity.  As I did not have any matching cardstock, I swiped the ink pad on the edges of the layer to have a matching border to the panel.

The little skate boarder is a digi image from The Digi Garden - he was coloured with chalks and mounted on foam dots to add dimension.

The final detail was to sponge the edges of the card with the ink used on the feature panel.

I am linking this to:

Cardmadfairy's Digi Challenge #37 - Summertime

Card Makin' Mama's Challenge #49 - Rubber

Chocolate, Coffee,Cards Challenge #16 - Anything Goes

Delicious Doodles Challenge #233 - Summer Holidays

Simply create Too Challenge #17 - Summer Holidays

Totally Papwercrafts Challenge #132 - Here Comes Summer

Thanks for calling in - may your day be blessed.

Card Recipe:

Card stock: kraft

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Rhubarb Stalk

Stamps: Just Sayin' by the crafts Meow, Skateboarder by The Digi Garden

Accessories: Clear Embossing ink, copper embossing powder, chalks.

CAS Birthday

Welcome - thanks for calling in, I so appreciate your visits.

Today I am sharing a card that was inspired by the challenge over at Less is More to use their logo as inspiration, and this is the result.

This card came together quite quickly as I had already planned it in my head.... that does not always happen.

  

This image was stamped using a Kaleidacolor ink pad, and one other.

The sentiment was stamped using the 'extra' ink colour I had added to the base of the image.

The butterfly was painted with the colours from the kaleidacolor ink pad after I had gold embossed it, and mounted on a dimensional foam dot.

The pearls were the final embellishment, used primarily to add emphasis to the sentiment and balance to the whole.

I am linking this to:

Simply Less is More Challenge #74 - Inspired by their banner

Stamping Sisters In Christ - Use something new - the butterfly stamp has never been used before

Fashionista Challenge #4 - Winged things

The Crafty Bloggers Monday Challenge #1 - Anything Goes

Victorine Stamps challenge #37 - Birthday - Happy Anything

Thanks for visiting - may your day be blessed

Card Recipie:

Card Stock  : White

Inks: Tsukineko Kaleidacolor Cappuccino, Ranger Adirondack Espresso, Clear Embossing

Stamps: Layers of Color (retired) Butterfly Collector and Joyful Noise, Sentiment unknown

Accessories: Kaiser half pearls Chino, gold embossing powder.