Live Life Out Loud

 Welcome

I had fun making a masculine card this afternoon, 

and using some NBUS (Never Before Used Stuff).

I have had these  STAMPlorations sets for more than a day or two, and decided that it was time to ink them up. 

This bird from the Small Birds set has always put me in mind of a Kookaburra, and as this card is heading to Australia, I wanted to use it.   I did  a (strategic) watercolour wash and stamped and embossed over it, then coloured the beak and branch with watercolour pens. 

We have experienced the noise a Kookaburra can make (at 3:00a.m., no less), so I felt this sentiment from the Noteworthy  set was appropriate....

The first layer was made by creasing a piece of cream paper, smooching a pad of Broken Glass DI direct to it, scrumpled it again, then smooched Tea Dye DI over it.

I layered a die cut over that before adhering the image and sentiment - the edge of the image panel was distressed and sponged with Tea Dye DI, the sentiment was only sponged.

I am linking this to:

Southern Girls Challenge - Anything Goes

Crafting With An Attitude Challenge #5 -Anything Goes

Fab and Funky Challenge #269 - No Patterned Paper

4 Crafty Chicks Challenge #257 - Anything Goes

Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #30 - Anything Goes

Crafting By Design August Anything Goes Challenge

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #194 - Anything Goes

STAMPlorations July Challenge - Stamps and Distressing

STAMPlorations Anything Goes Challenge

Simply Create Too Challenge #91 - Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting my blog - may your day be blessed

Any comments you may leave are deeply appreciated.

More Care Cards

Welcome,

Another short post - mainly as I think these wee cards are 'self-explanatory'.

I made two this past Sunday afternoon, and it was wonderful to be back in my studio. I still have to be careful, but already I am feeling the benefits of the surgery.

Paper scraps and pearls - the image is a stamp, and the butterfly wings are gold, as are the sponged edges.

 

A textured scrap, with the verse stamped on tissue and glued on

A Word Art Wednesday verse on scraps of paper with some brads

Ribbon and rhinestones with a scrap of paper and verse, which ended up splashed with glitter glue, so I 'went with it' and used it as was.

Gold paint, sparkling purple butterflies, and colourful papers for a wee card for a child.

Paper from a purpose bought, second hand New Testament, over stamped with the feather and a verse stamped and coloured in like colours.

I am linking these to:

Use Your Stuff Challenge #200 - Anything Goes

Love To Scrap Challenge #58 - Anything Goes

Eureka Stamps Challenge #151 - Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion Challenge #272 - Anything Goes

Crafting From The Heart Challenge #70 - Anything Goes

Card Mania Challenge #70 - Anything Goes

Artistic Inspirations Challenge #136 - Anything goes

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #193 - Anything Goes

Pixie Snippets Playground Week 187- all these are made using snippets

Thank you for visiting my blog - may your day be blessed.

Any comments you may leave are deeply appreciated.

75 and Goin' Strong

Welcome

I would like to welcome my new follower To TylkaJa. I think her blog is originally in Polish, but google will translate it.  Her blog is called

Happy After Blog, and shows her eclectic type of crafting.

I had not intended to be quite so long between posts, but with one thing and another, including a very busy week, time rushed by ...  thankfully my hand is healing well, and this afternoon I had some studio time :-).

I made this card for a 75th birthday back in March, but have not blogged it. 

I started by using a photo I had taken a few months earlier. I sized and printed the photo to fit the photo frame diecut

The layer immediately behind the feature panel is a piece cut from paper that was in the base of my "spray box"

I added the numbers using an embossing pen, then silver embossed the greeting and numbers.

The background paper is from and Amy Tangerine 6x6 pad, and the accents are silver 'glue' and some enamel dots.

The recipient liked his card, but not that particular photo!!

I am linking this to:

A Gem of a Challenge #149 - Happy Birthday

Sister Act Card Challenge #116 - Anything Goes

Simply Papercraft Challenge #9 - Anything Goes

Digitally Sweet Challenge #140 - Anything Goes

Crafting With Friends Challenge #2 - Anything Goes

Brown Sugar Challenge #156 - Anything Goes

Creative Fingers Challenge #88 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #193 - Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting my blog - may your day be blessed

Any comments you may leave are deeply appreciated.

Pretty in Pink

Welcome

This post is going to be photo heavy with few words. 

The maintenance on my hand went well, but I am restricted to typing with my left hand :-).

I made the feature panel for this card a few weeks ago, and mounted it up last weekend.

The Faux Letterpress technique panel was sprayed with silver shimmer mist, which I have just managed to capture in the following photo.

A slight ink smudge gave room for creative use of ribbon

A scattering of sequins to finish, and a pretty card was finished.

I did not add a sentiment, but will add an appropriate one when I use the card.

I am linking this to:

Fairy Tale Challenge #122 - Bling Bling

Sister Act Card Challenge #115 - Anything Goes

Simply Papercraft Challenge #9 - Anything Goes

Creative Fingers Challenge #87 - Anything Goes

Crafting With Friends Challenge #2 - Anything Goes

Brown Sugar Challenge #155 - Girly

Art By Miran Challenge #36 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #192 - Anything Goes

Catch The Bug July Challenge - Bingo - 

Center row, Texture, No Squares, Bling

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - No Designer Paper

Thank you for visiting my blog - may your day be blessed.

Any comments you may leave are always deeply appreciated.

Stitchy Bear's Silhouette

Welcome

This will be my last post for a week or two, possibly longer, as I will be having some minor surgery on my dominant hand this week.

This week at CCC Cigi Creations Challenge #29 is Anything Goes.  

Our sponsor is Stitchy Bear, and this image is called Bumpy Road

What I had in mind, and how this card finished up only have one thing in common - the image printed on vellum!!

The vellum image was die cut and placed over a water coloured background, including the yellow 'splats'.  There was also a light spray of yellow shimmer mist applied to the background. 

The sentiment was gold embossed

These gold striped brads across the bottom of the card front were the 

finishing touch..

As I have to pre-schedule this post I will not be linking to any challenges.

Thank for visiting my blog - may you day be blessed

Any comments you may leaver are deeply appreciated.

Fun backgrounds and Flowers

Welcome

I am going out of town for a day or so to a craft fair, so if you do not see me commenting on the blogs I usually visit, I am not ignoring you :-)

 - just enabling myself!!

I made this card using the instructions and a stamp that came in (I think) the January edition of the Craft Stamper magazine

The background was stamped with Versamark ink using bubble wrap, and clear embossed.

The panels behind the flowers were created with orange and pink acrylic paints, then the complementary stamp was stamped and white embossed . 

The sentiment is from Kiwistamping.

All the edges were sponged with blue ink.

This second card is one I made with my class. The background to the daisy stamp was distress ink applied directly from the pad to the patterned paper.  

The sentiment stamp is from the (now defunct) Craft's Meow.

The edges on this one were also sponged with the same distress ink as I used on the backgrounds.

These are not my usual style of card, but it was good to stretch myself.

I am linking these to:

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes

Artistic Inspiration Challenge #135 - Anything Goes - Twist - Summer

Loves RubberStamps Challenge#159 - Anything Goes

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #252 - No Patterned Paper

Crafting From the Heart Challenge #67 - Anything Goes

Craft Your passion Challenge #269 - Anything Goes

Incy Wincy Challenge - Spots and Dots

Inspiration Destination Challenge #41 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #191 - Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting my blog - may your day be blessed.

Any comments you may leave are deeply appreciated.

Soccer Greetings

Welcome

This card is a 'mistake' - I was making it for an order, but realised just before I assembled it that it was the wrong sport.... but I assembled it anyway and it goes into my 'stash', but this time with a name on it, ready for an upcoming birthday.

The sentiment is stamped on a die cut using a set of 'el cheapo' stamps I bought years ago - I have not really used them, and I was pleased with how they stamped.

The finishing touch was a soccer ball that was printed off from an image on G##gle Images.

I chose the patterned paper as soccer can take a talented player all over the world - it is from an Amy Tangerine stack.

I am really happy with this card, and am linking it to:

Crafty Catz Challenge # 286 - Anything Goes

Art By Miran Challenge #35 - Anything Goes

Catch The Bug July Challenge - Anything Goes

Crafty Friends Challenge #9 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #190 - Anything Goes

Amusing Challenge (July) - Anything Goes

Robyn's Fetish Challenge #271 - Anything Goes

Penny Black July Challenge - Anything Goes with a Sentiment

Glitter and Sparkle Challenge #144 - Anything Goes

Lacy Sunshine colour Your World Challenge - Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting my blog - may your day be blessed

Any comments you may leave are deeply appreciated.

A Stencil, Shimmer and Sheep.

Welcome

I had some very messy fun making this card.  

Starting with some water colour paper, I used modelling paste to stencil a base, (the stencil is from a now defunct company) then covered it with water based paint once it dried - then a layer of purple spray, followed by a silver glimmer mist...

Next I decided that this Bugaboo image would be my feature

I used minimal colours, then after colouring and adding some glitter to the balloons, I added some glossy accents to give them some dimension and sheen.

The final details were some clear rhinestones and some mauve ribbon across the bottom of the card.

I enjoyed making this card, and was happy with the result. 

 I am linking this to:

Sisters of Craft July Challenge - Anything Goes

Sweet Stamps Challenge #228 - Bright Colours

Petal Lu Challenge - Anything Goes

Digi Stamps 4Joy Challenge #114 - Anything Goes

Creative Craft Cottage Challenge #42 - spots or stripes (in the stencil)

Crafting Musketeers Challenge #27 - Anything Goes

Cards Galore July Challenge - Use a stamp or Digi

Card Mania Challenge #70 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #190 - Anything Goes

Simply Papercraft Challenge #8 - Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting my blog - may your day be blessed

Any comments you may leave are deeply appreciated.

Care Cards

Welcome

I have spent quite a bit of time over the past few months making these wee cards for our church to use - either when visiting in hospitals or to go with 'care packages' or into the 'birthday basket'.

(You may be seeing a few of these posts over the coming weeks as I am limited in my card making at the moment, thanks to an injury last winter when I slipped - maintenance is scheduled shortly)

I have used some old business cards as the base for these.

These images were  stamped on tissue, which was then screwed up and wrinkled, then glued onto the base. 

Scraps of paper and card, a wee bit of ribbon, and the scripture from Word Art Wednesday.

Another word Art Wednesday scripture, glitter card punched butterflies and a wee scrap of paper with some sponging.

This time the scripture from WAW was die cut and sponged before mounting.

WAW scripture, ribbon and bling and the edges sponged.

More sponging, ribbon and a paper scrap behind a WAW scripture.

I am linking this to:

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Sweet Stamping Challenge #228 - Bright Colours

Everybody Art Challenge #331 - Clean and Simple

Use Your Stuff Challenge #200 - Anything Goes

The Pink Elephant Challenge #305 - Anything Goes

Not Just Cards Challenge #21 - Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion Challenge #268 - Anything goes

Crafting From The Heart Challenge #66 - Anything Goes

Artistic Insipration Challenge #134 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #189 - Anything goes

Thank you for visiting - may your day be blessed

Any comments you may leave are deeply appreciated