Flutterby Butterfly...

Hello again!! :)

I was going to try to be sensible today and get some rest instead of posting this to get it into the challenges I wanted to but today’s turned into a bit of a rubbish one for some reason and I figured thinking about craft and cards was probably about the best way to cheer myself up... so, hang sensible for once, and here I am to show you the card I made for my best crafting friend Elaine’s birthday last week which I’m really quite proud of, not least because she loved it which made me very happy!! :)

Any of you who visit Elaine’s blog will know that she loves butterflies so I decided that I would use that as the starting point for my card this year as I love butterflies, too, and haven’t made a card with one as a focal point for too long!! :) We’ve also both been loving our Cricuts and design software recently (thank you for getting me to finally get that, hon- I’ve had so much fun already!! :) ) so I decided to try and make as much as possible of her card with the Cricut :)

I wanted a bright, light, spring-like look to go with the butterfly so I decided to use some more of the gorgeous Memory Box Gossamer papers- these are so beautiful that I always love working with them and haven’t made a card I didn’t like with them yet ... shall have to get myself some more, I think!! :) And as you can see from this pic, I inked the edges of everything with Spun sugar DI and used copious amounts of Crystal Stickles to give a *bit* of added sparkle!! :)

One of the reasons I’m proud of this card is because much of it was my own work- I designed the cut files for the Cherry Blossom Panel and Border myself in my graphics program with some flower shapes I created from the quick shapes within the program so I got just the look I wanted and then cut them on the Cricut along with some mat layers from a Nestie-esque file I found online :) I actually designed the whole card layout and figured out all the sizes within my graphics program, too, which was a saving grace as there was a lot going on in this one and it would’ve been a nightmare to find the sizes didn’t work after I’d cut into the lovely papers!!lol The butterflies are also cut on the Cricut from a supplied shape- it’s such a lovely shape I just keep cutting them whenever I have a space big enough left over on anything else I’m cutting... they’re all in a little bag on my desk and will come in very useful sometime, I’m sure!! :)

I raised a piece of the paper- which is 160gsm and beautifully thick and robust to work with- on foam pads to make an unobtrusive stopper and stamped the greeting, which is the only part of the card I was a little unhappy with as I’d intended to use a greeting cut on the Cricut but the font I chose was to fine and didn’t cut perfectly at the size I needed... so out with the trusty old fav Jane’s Script stamp set!!lol The final touches were a plethora of tiny white pearls... basically, anywhere I could get away with it as I think they always make a card look so much more special :)

So, that was my card for my lovely crafting friend- it was slightly strange for me making a card for somebody who is as into crafting as I am as I’ve not done that often before but I loved making it, she was happy receiving it and I hope you enjoyed seeing it, too, though I know I’ve ventured into slightly unusual territory with this one- it took a long time to create the files but I really enjoyed doing it and think the result was worth it.... think you'll be seeing more of these Cherry Blossoms on other cards before long!! :)

ETA: Ooops- forgot this bit in my rush to be on time for the challenges!! :S I used:

• A5 Scalloped white base card
• Memory Box Gossamer paper pack
• My Cricut, cutting software and graphics program to design the cut files
• Spun Sugar Distress Ink
• Crystal Stickles
• Perfect Pearls Shimmer Spray in Pearl on the butterflies
• Woodware Clear Magic Jane’s Script stamp set for greeting stamped in Spun Sugar and Victorian Velvet DIs mixed on the stamp with Sakura Clear Stardust and Clear Glaze to highlight
• White flat-backed pearls

Quite a simple list actually as most of the work was in the prep :)

I’d like to enter this card in the following challenges: CES – Spring Colours/Images :) ; Do You Stack Up? – Make It POP :) ; Moving Along With The Times – Anything Goes :) ; Charisma Cardz – April Showers/May Flowers (the flowers after the showers in this case if that’s okay?) :) ; Crafts and Me – Vintage/Distress (both the vintage prints on my papers and the DIs I’ve used) :) ; The Crazy Challenge – Use Three Different Papers :) ; The Shabby Tea Room – Inspiration Photo (my butterflies and the layers of white) :) ; Paper Sundaes - Pick at least two toppings- I have used Sparkle and Pearls :)

Well, I do feel much better for thinking about something pretty and sparkly for a while!! Simple things!!lol Thanks for visiting me and sharing in My Crafty Life tonight- I hope you’ve all had a lovely day today whether you’ve spent it in front of the telly, having a party on your street or just trying your hardest to pretend a certain something was happening on another planet- for me it been a bit of the former and a bit of the latter!!lol At least the sun’s been shining!! :)

Daisies, daisies... :)

Hello!! :)

Well, it’s been a while since I went a whole week between blog posts, I think :S I have quite a few cards I was planning to show you and I’d hoped to get a couple in before my LIM card this week... I’ve just not had much energy or been feeling up to doing anything much, though, so have decided before I do anything else and risk being too tired to post again, I’ll share the LIM card I managed somehow to make yesterday in a very brief patch of (sort of!!) clear-headedness... I say ‘sort of’ because I made so many silly mistakes which I then made worse when trying to fix them in my befuddled state that I clearly wasn’t very with it at all... think somehow missing areas of the stamp completely when inking up, smudges and spilled water splodges to name a few :S ...but I think it’s all come out ‘okay’ in the end- so long as nobody looks too hard!!lol

The LIMettes were asked this week by Chrissie and Mandi to create something following the simple recipe of 'Off Centre'- thankfully for me a far easier task than the last couple of weeks as I instinctively do this most of the time :) I still decided, though, to go for something very simple again (to try to minimise the possibilities for me to mess up!!Hmmm, that worked out then!!lol ) and just use one of my new Sheena Douglass stamps from her Poppies and daisies set- which I got primarily because I wanted the poppies but typically I reached for the other stamp first and I think I’m going to love these daisies even more... as soon as I have the energy I’m dying to try this in several other colourways!! :) 

I coloured the image very simply with Prismas- should have been paying a bit more attention to the shading but you can’t have it all and I needed most of my attention not to fall off my chair!!lol The sentiment is from the same stamp set, too. Think I really need to find myself some more interesting larger sentiment stamps as I don’t have many and they really do make all the difference with CAS cards!! :)

I used:

• 6” Sq. Card blank
• Sheena Douglass A Little Bit Sketchy Poppies and Daisies stamp set
• Memento London Fog
• Prismacolor pencils, Zest-It and paper stumps

Ooh, what a nice short list for once!! :) So, a very quick and easy card to make and, though there are improvements to be made next time, I’m really happy with it as a simple CAS card and my first attempt at colouring that particular image- and I do feel much happier for having achieved some small thing this week at least, which is why the LIM challenge and ethos is so perfect for me as I wouldn't have even been able to contemplate starting a more involved card atm!! :) You know, it wasn’t even until I sat back to look at it finished that I realised I had, yet again, made a One Layer Card without even thinking about it!!lol I did wonder if I should have added some pearls or an embossed border but didn't trust my judgement at the time and I think that, looking at it again afresh this morning, I'm glad I didn't... but am still wondering if it's just a bit too plain... any opinions/suggestions gratefully welcomed as I'd really like to make some more of these soon!! :)

I'd also like to enter this in the current CES challenge- Spring Colours/Image :)

Well, I’m going to leave it there and disappear off for yet another rest, I think- hopefully I’ll be back with one of the other cards just waiting to be posted before too long but in the meantime I hope you’re all well and have a really lovely time over the long weekend!! :) Thank you so much for stopping by and to anyone kind enough to leave a comment- I have so many comments to catch up on atm and don’t know when I’ll have the energy I’m afraid but I really, really appreciate you taking the time!! :)

hugs,

Easter, Forever Friends and... Acetate?! :S

Hello again!! :)

Here I am, on the last minute again, with my LIM card for this week- which I finally had chance to make last night... now, I *really* don’t like acetate- I don’t like working with it and I don’t even like the way it looks quite often (though I suspect when I finally find time to visit a few more of you amazing LIMettes blogs I may, yet again, change my mind about this!!lol)- so this was a challenge in many ways, not least because when I finally had time to try making this, I realised I had no idea where the one small pack of acetate I bought ages ago actually was!! Then, once I found it, I was getting out my Nesties and bug plates when I realised that the idea I’d been intending to use since it occurred to me on Sunday would never have worked... any other challenge than LIM and I’d have given up long since, especially since I still haven’t finished my easter cards!! :S Anyway, a quick rethink and I decided on something simple, but did still manage to try something I hadn’t before with my acetate (granted that’s not so hard as I’ve only ever made one card using it before!!lol)...

I couldn’t afford to use energy on anything that wasn’t easter related again so I’ve had to work the two things in together and this will be my Mum’s card, I think, though her cards are usually more OTT than LIM so I hope she’ll like it!! :) I used another of the Forever Friends easter images I had already coloured on my desk that happily had the right sort of shape for my card and the new thing I tried with the acetate was to run it through my ‘bug to emboss it, which seemed to work okay, though the embossing didn’t seem as deep as I’d expected... Then, once the acetate was stuck inside my chopped up card blank, I just added some punched strips of paper to the top and bottom edges, attached my bears. I did this by the edges of the image where they overlapped the card only, initially so the glue wouldn’t show but it means they sit a little off the acetate too which looks better, I think ...and then I glittered with Stickles and Clear Stardust which made me feel a lot better about the whole thing!! :D

A closer look to try and show the embossing a bit better- the folder I used has random large dots as I thought it better not to try anything to detailed on quite flimsy feeling acetate but it really didn’t show up as much as I expected :S 

I’ve been very bad at not including a proper list if ‘ingredients’ lately- sorry about that, ‘must try harder’!! ;D So, I used:

• 6”x6” blank
• (The dreaded!lol) acetate
• Quickutz Embossing Folder
• Forever Friends Springtime Collection Clear stamp, stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa and coloured with ProMarkers: Ivory, Oatmeal, Vanilla and Sunkissed Pink for the bears with Rose Pink, Cool Greys and Lemon & Mustard for all the little bits :)
• Forever Friends Springtime Collection papers
• MS Cherish border punch
• VersaMagic Chalk ink pads: Turquoise Gem and Aquatic Splash to edge papers and for greeting
•  Greeting from FF Springtime stamp set
• Crystal Stickles and Sakura Clear Stardust pen

Another attempt to get helpful a pic of the embossing- it either didn’t show up at all or, if I moved the camera a millimetre too much, all I could see was glare from my light!! :S 

So, all in all, I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it either- think that’s probably as good as it’s going to get!!lol It’s really not very interesting (maybe I should’ve put a bit of coloured paper or embossed card behind the acetate on the inside back of the card- I’ve just been over to LIM and seen that Mandi did that to great effect!!) but it's the best I could do given the way I’ve been feeling and the amount of other little easter cards I’ve been trying to make this week!! :S And, despite all that sounding like one long moan, I am actually feeling pretty good about that, for all the things that could have stopped me, I will still be able to say I've not missed a LIM yet!! :) It's really doing wonders for my cardmaking and blogging confidence to have made a card each week even when I've not been feeling too good and the challenges are things that would have put me off ordinarily- I'm learning a lot and (mostly!!lol) loving every minute!! :)

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges (as well as LIM, of course! :) ) : Bows and Berries – Easter :) ; Dream Valley – Easter :) ; Craft Your Days Away – Easter :) ; Little Claire's - Animals :)

Thanks for stopping by and a huge thank you again for all the really lovely comments I’ve had on recently!! :) Hope you’re all well and have a very enjoyable long weekend- can’t believe we’ve still got this glorious weather!! :)

hugs,

LOTV Mice and Simple... I know- sorry!!lol

Hey there lovely bloggers!! :)

A quick post from me on this gorgeously sunny afternoon with a quick little card I made at the weekend to enter the LOTV challenge... so often I don’t manage to enter these as the challenges only run for a week and my energy levels don’t let me get anything done in time, but I thought if I can manage it when the challenge is as open as ‘Happy Birthday’ when will I!?! So I made this very simple little card with one of the gorgeous stamps I got from their last rubber release... and, to my great shame, have not got around to doing anything with any of them yet- so I’m trying to make myself use at least some before I let myself order any of their new Additions range!!!! :( lol

It’s really a very simple card indeed- one of the residual ideas from the LIM ‘Touch of Red’ week, I think!! :) I coloured in ProMarkers, then used a red PM to colour some white paper for the mat layer and a little bit of white dotty ribbon to match. A few gems added a bit more colour and the greeting is also LOTV :)

I was trying to do so many things at once on Saturday- a card for a friend and my easter cards were top of the list when I got distracted by this image!! :S lol- that I dumped the pens back in their box trying to clear the decks a bit before I wrote down which I’d used but from what I remember I *think* I used Cinnamon and Umber with Pastel Beige and Sandstone for the mice, Poppy and Cardinal for the cherries and Pastel Blue and Sky Blue with Blender for the pot and cake stand. The rest was a mix of light Cool Greys and Beiges with the blender as I wanted to keep it simple with all but the reds and blues fairly light and muted so those colours popped as the focus :) I have to say, I found this trickier to colour than I expected as I’ve seen a lot of people say they are easy but I suspect that’s a mixture of the small size of everything and my utter ineptitude when it comes to blending brown PMs!! :S Don’t think it came out too badly in the end, though :) Don't know what's happening with the angle on this pic or waht I was thinking when I took it- apologies if I've made anyone feel seasick!! ;)

I put a thick layer of Sakura Clear Glaze pen on the cherries and then went back and added another thick layer when the first was dry as I wanted to get real 3D look to them :) I also put a bit on each mouse’s nose... ‘cos I couldn’t resist!!lol I also used some Clear Stardust on the icing :)

So, I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: LOTV – Happy Birthday :) ; Ladybug Crafts Inc TLT – Anything Goes :) ; Papertake Weekly – Spots and Stripes (spots in my ribbon and stripes in the pot in my image :) ) :) ; Tuesday Throwdown – Polka Dots :) ; Crafty Cardmakers – Red, White and Blue and/or a Wedding Creation :) ; Little Claire’s – Animals :) ; Totally Gorjuss – No Patterned Paper :) ; Crafty Catz – Furry Friends :)

Now I’d best get back to my Easer cards- they’re coming on okay at last thankfully but need to get the ones for going in the post finished asap... don’t ask me why I allowed myself this little deviation into birthday cards I don’t even need at the mo’ when I hadn’t started the easter ones (or infact, why I still hadn’t started my easter cards in the first place) ...just had mental block on them, I think, and needed to clear the cobwebs a bit!!lol 

Hope you’re all having a good week- isn’t this weather wonderful!?! :D And thank you so much for all the really lovely comments over this last few days- I really am so happy to have found a way to share my love of craft with people who love it just as much and are so generous with their encouragement- thank you!! :D

 

hugs,

Pink and Pretty – Inspiration Photo at My Partner In Crafting Crime :)

Hello again!! :)

Wow- it’s time for another challenge over at My Partner In Crafting Crime... I can’t believe two weeks have passed since my last (& first) post!! There were sooo many entries and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting so many new blogs!! :) But onto this fortnight’s challenge, which is a gorgeous Inspiration Photo to kick start your creative mojo:

Photo from Wedding Dream website

 ...is that not gorgeous- you can take anything from the pic that you like... the colours, floral or wedding themes... so many options!! :) I took a little of everything... and then went a bit of piste to try something other than a card :)

My first thought on seeing the photo was to use the FF bear with Tulips stamp I got in a sale earlier this year, then I remembered the LOTV Wedding Couple stamp I won from a magazine last Autumn then never got round to using as Christmas cards kind of took over... so I was feeling all confused about what kind of card to make... then the idea of a little set of candles that would allow me to use both images occurred and the rest, as they say, was history, especially as I’ve been wanting to try decorating a candle since I first saw it on Create & Craft (again just when Christmas took over)!! :) 

I stamped the images onto tissue paper I’d saved from some packaging and then coloured with Promarkers... my first little tests didn’t come out great as they looked very pale so I went over everything at least twice to get a stronger colour but it’s so easy to colour on the tissue paper that that still took less time than normal :) Then I trimmed them out and used my heat tool with some baking parchment (scavenged from the kitchen drawers- thanks Mum!!lol) to melt them in- again, much quicker than I expected- and decorated around the base!! :)

The gorgeous sentiment stamp is from Stampendous- love this so much and it fitted the shape of the couple well!! :)

I punched two strips of paper with my MS Doily Lace punch and inked lightly at the edge with Spun Sugar DI then stuck it to the candle- I wasn’t sure what to stick it on with but went for a mix of normal double-sided tape and the extra sticky red-backed type I use for attaching ribbon and big gems. Then for a bit more colour I added some satin ribbon over that with the join at the front so the raw edges would be hidden under the paper rose cluster... slightly more complicated when your projects got to be presentable all around, isn’t it?!lol I then added some Stardust Stickles to the rose and some Sakura stardust to her flowers :)

I decided not to go overboard with extra decoration on these little candles as I thought they look cute as they were. In the Wedding context I thought they might make a pretty little extra gift to any bridesmaids... thought about making one with the bear with a champagne glass for the male part of the wedding contingent but figured they probably wouldn’t be appreciated anyway so I’d stick to the pink!!lol Not having any bridesmaids to give these to, I think they’ll be making nice little easter extras for friends who can't have chocolate instead!! :)

I’d like to enter my candle set in the following challenges (if there are any that only want card/papercraft entries then please just delete my entry, it’s not always easy to be sure what’s allowed!!): OSCC – Altered Item :) ; Ellephantastic – Anything but a Square of Rectangle :) ; Charisma Cardz – Pink, Black and Green (the black is my ink if that’s okay) :) ; Paper Romance – Paper Flowers :) ; DYSU – Scallops (my paper layers) :) ; Crafts and Me – Ribbon :) ; Oldie But A Goodie – Weddings/Anniversaries (my LOTV stamp is 6mnths old though it’s never been used) :) ; Top Tip Tuesday – Spring Has Sprung (the flowers, esp. the tulips) :) ; Crafty Cardmakers - A Royal Wedding (Red, White & Blue or Wedding Themed creation) :) ; Lexi's Creations - Anything But A Card :)

Well, I hope you like my little deviation from cardmaking and please do pop over to My Partner In Crafting Crime to check out the rest of the fab DT makes... hope you’ll be inspired by that gorgeous photo to join in and be in with a chance of winning a fab prize from Bows and Berries Digital stamps store!! :)

Hope you're all well and had a lovely weekend enjoying the sunshine (we still  have it today and it's lovely and warm already!! :D )- and thank you for all your comments on my latest posts!! :)

hugs,

Chocolate- my other obsession!!lol

Hello everyone!! :)

Just a quick little post today to share the packaging I made to liven up my Easter gift to my Dad, Step-mum and little (16 and taller than me by far!!lol) sister :) Very simple really... the hardest part was not eating all the mini-eggs before they made it into the bag!!lol I LOVE mini-eggs and the smell drove me mad when I was doing this... especially as I’m trying to be good and eat less choccy/biscuits/cake etc. (all the fun stuff really :{ ) at the mo.!! :S

 It’s nothing that original but it’s the first time I’ve tried doing this and I quite liked the result so thought I’d share :) I used a Grand Nestie Labels 1 die to cut the main piece from a card blank I’ve had for years (remember those huge sets you could get from the place with the catalogue as big as a house!?! Well, I have loads of them and I just don’t use coloured base cards vey often anymore, plus the quality got worse the longer they were available and most of them aren’t even scored straight... so trying to find other uses cos they're taking up to much precious space not to use!!  :S ).

 The stamped bear, greeting and patterned paper are from the Forever Friends Springtime collection and the image is coloured with PMs: Ivory (which is running out...OMG!! :S ), Oatmeal and Vanilla plus assorted extras for the cakes :)

And this pic is just because, as I may have mentioned, I am as addicted to chocolate as I am to crafting... and I like the colours in the eggs!!lol

I’d like to enter this in the following Easter-themed Challenges: Dream Valley :) ; Craft Your Days Away :) ; The Pink Elephant #97 :) ; Pollycraft #88:) ; Bows and Berries :) ;  and Fun With Shapes and More – Animals :)

Off to link up then :) Hope you’re all well enjoying the lovely weather again, it’s beautiful here!! :) I’ve just spent a lovely couple of hours with my dad and sis so no energy left to go outside but I’m a happy (if tired!!) bunny anyway!! :) Hopefully a rest will fix the tired part somewhat as I've not made any Easter cards yet so need to get going later... ooops- how does it happen when I started colouring images when I got my stamps in February!!lol

hugs,

Getting all sentimental...

Hello!! :)

Well, I’d been planning to get my Mother’s Day card posted before it was time for my LIM entry but my energy levels have dictated otherwise this week so here I am with a One Layer Card with the Sentiment as the focal point... well, two cards actually, though I’m not sure my favourite of the two will be eligible for the challenge as I realised- after sitting back feeling very pleased with myself that the idea in my head had come out even better on paper- that it may be lacking in the ‘white space’ department? ...ooops :( But though t I’d share it anyway, along with one I know will fit the challenge, as I really am pleased with it and think, aside from the white space issue it’s still pretty CAS in style and substance... Anyway, hope you’ll like them!! :)

Apologies for the awful pic- can never get a good shot of top-fold cards, especially when they have so little weight to keep them rigid!! :S As you can probably tell, I decided this week was the week to finally bite the bullet and try printing on to my base card... me and my printer are not the best of friends so I’ve been putting this off, but the two-fold problems of a lack of energy to get up and sit at my desk and a lack of any interesting sentiment stamp even close to big enough to be a focal point left me little option but to brave it!!lol

I made a page sized to the card blank I wanted to use in my graphics program to start with, then this design was really very simple to create with a couple of the many fonts I have collected since discovering free font sites and a quick shape for the oval- the flower is from a dingbat font, too :) I can’t remember the names of the fonts and am too tired to go looking atm but if anyone really wants to know then just ask and I’ll have a look when I’m feeling better :) That was where the simple part ended though as, when I came to print it out (having first tested it on a piece of appropriately sized copier paper, which worked perfectly!) it came out with the bottom of the oval missing!! :/ So I fiddled a bit in the settings and tried again... with the same result :{ Which is when my Mum said that, if you didn’t know it wasn’t meant to be that way, you’d never guess- she’s used to me tearing my hair out when I have these tussles with technology!!lol So, I now have two of them to go in my stock box, ‘cos she really is probably right and nobody but me would notice!! ;S

I popped a pale purple pearl in the centre and drew a few little lines of Copic Spica pen in each section just to lift it a little :) Don’t really know what made me start designing a sympathy card- maybe just that the simplicity of an OLC suits that type of card...

This is the second and my favourite-which can ofc be discounted, Chrissie and Mandi, if it doesn’t meet the criteria!!lol I’m kind of glad that the lack of white space didn’t occur to me in time to stop me making it though, as I think this is one of those ideas that, if I had even thought of it pre-LIM, would have rattled around in my head for a bit inspiring excitement, before being pushed aside and forgotten about in favour of my latest stamp or paper pack!! ;) I printed the sentiment- again a couple of alpha fonts along with a dingbat font for the smiling sunshines- successfully, this time I’m glad to say, having arranged it all in my graphics program by using quick shapes to represent the circle and border square on my workspace :) Then I embossed the circle with a Nestie- aligning it with the sentiment on the back of the card by holding the card and die up to my light so I could see the sentiment through it- and made the rest of the lines with my Hougie board... tiring to do so many but I love the effect :) Then I used shimmer chalks to add some colour :)

I think I was inspired by the fact that I managed to make it out in the sun not once but twice at the weekend- if we could have that weather all summer I’d be so happy!! :)- though that may be a contributing factor in my low energy levels this week but I just couldn’t resist the lure of the warmth!! :)The chalks really do look blended in the circle in real life, btw, I promise!! :S I think making my own sentiment freed my imagination for this one to come up with a different kind of card :)

As well as entering these at Less Is More – One Layer Card- Sentiment Focus, I’d like to enter my Sunshine card in the following challenges: The Stampman – Embossing :) ; Paper Sundaes – Childhood Memories (the sunshine makes me think of beach holidays when I was a child :) ) :) ; OSCC – Monochromatic :) ; CES – Monochromatic :)

Well, that’s it from me- sorry I've waffled again 'cos I can't marshall my thoughts throught the fog today!! :S- hope to be back again before too long if energy levels allow!! :) Hope you all enjoyed the sun this weekend and have had a good week since!! And thank you so much for all the comments on my cards last week!! :)

 

hugs,

Red... and more Red... and I like it- what’s happening to me!?! ;)

Hello again!! :)

Well, can you believe how lovely the weather is again!?! So warm and sunny- wish I was feeling up to getting outside in it but I’m still struggling with the awful headaches... I’m hoping I might manage it tomorrow, though, if I take it easy today so I’ll try not to waffle too much...!!lol I do like to share my thoughts about my cards and the making process, though, as I like to read others' on their blogs- makes it more personal, I think :)

These are my second and third entries for LIM’s A Touch of Red challenge- don’t know what’s come over me, if you read the post with my first card on Wed you’ll know I don’t really like red... but this week everything I’ve looked at (only craft-related things mind you, not ready for red clothes or wall paper yet!!lol) just seems to shout out that it’d look great with a little bit of red!! Huh!! ;)

I’ve used my two new Pampered Pets stamps, which I only got a week or so ago when I finally gave in to the need for them and some of the gorgeous papers :) They’re coloured in Promarkers- Ruby, Cardinal, Cool Greys, Black and the Copic Blender- with a good dose of Clear Stardust ‘cause these cuties just had to have a bit of sparkle!! :)

This one uses last week’s fab sketch (again!) and I made the paper myself with a black PM and a red metallic gel pen- did this in blue last year and loved it but haven’t been able to get it right again since ‘til now!! :) Ribbon is white coloured with red PM- what did I do before Promarkers and always being able to make the perfect ribbon and mat layers to match!?! :)

This one has been embossed with a Nestie and Hougie board again like last week’s- I love this effect and turning on piece of card into something that looks like it has layers and striped papers and structure without adding anything!! :) I drew the stitching with a Fineliner and handwrote the greeting before adding a fabric flower and card candy :)

And a few close-ups :) The greeting went a bit wonky on the cat one but I didn’t have the energy to start again so I added the ‘x’ by hand to try to distract from it and I think it works irl at least :S Aside from that, I really quite like how these have turned out and I think I’ll be making a few more for my stock box- especially since the dog card never even made it to my box before my mum snapped it up as an unexpected 60^th card for a friend from work!!lol I think I’ll try them with some different accent colours, too... Duck Egg blue or pink perhaps... and this is me so I'm sure I’ll have to try at least one shade of purple!! :D

I’d like to enter these in: Less Is More – A Touch of Red :) ; Addicted To Stamps – Happy Birthday :)

Thank you so much to all who left comments recently, especially all the LIMettes (as Chrissie called us in her last comment to me!! :D ) – I truly do appreciate your still coming by and leaving such encouraging comments when I’m not up to getting back to you all- it’s a wonderful, friendly, generous community and I’m very happy to be a part of it!! :)

Right, I’m off to link up then find some more painkillers and lie down again!! :S Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and have the chance to make the most of this beautiful weather!! :)

hugs,

Time for an Easter Egg Hunt with a Forever Friend... FF Monthly DT - Card For A Girl :)

Hello!! :)

Wow, for the second time this week I'm posting in the morning and that's because for the second time this week I have a new DT project to share with you- and I'm still very excited about it all!!lol :)This time it’s for the Forever Friends Monthly Challenge and our theme for April is....

‘A Card For A Girl’

...couldn’t be simpler really could it!?! :) We are sponsored this month by Michelle’s Scrapbooking and More who will have a prize for the winner at the end of the challenge!! :) Our Monthly Challenges run alongside the Fortnightly ones from the first Thursday of each month until the Wednesday before the next challenge launches so you have plenty of time to enter... go on, you know those little bears are too cute to resist!!lol 

So, on to the card!! :)

 

The team were all able to use a digi image from our sponsors and I chose this lovely bridge and stream which I changed to a sepia tone in my graphics program (purely because I had already stamped my bear in brown ink as I usually do with FFs) and then sized and printed three times so I could make a little decoupage scene for my card with plenty of knooks and crannys to tuck the little eggs in for my bear to find!! :) I was a little worried when I started out that I wouldn’t be able to bring the idea in my head into reality as I’m not used to trying to combine background digis with a stamped image or to making my own decoupage but I actually really enjoyed working with this image and got rather carried away with making my little Easter Egg Hunt scene!! :)

The bear, scenery and all the little eggs and other extra bits are coloured with Promarkers and I used a Sakura Clear Glaze pen to give a bit of shine to the stream then added some sparkle to the bear’s bunny ears- how cute is that bear!!lol- and the eggs :)

The greeting is two stamps placed together- I think it's a lovely sentiment and know the person I’m planning to give this card to will, too :) The butterflies were just a last minute addition to add a bit of interest and break up the lines of the layers a little :)

I used:

• Forever Friends bear, chick, eggs and greetings from a combination of both FF Springtime Collection Clear Stamp sets and stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa
• ARTish Walk Across with Me – Stone Bridge Digi from Michelle’s Scrapbooking and more
• Promarkers to colour: For the bear- Ivory all over to help the blending, Oatmeal for the shaded areas and Vanilla all over to blend together, then a few touches of Sunkissed Pink for cheeks and ears; for the scene- Sandstone, Caramel, Umber, Pastel Blue, Denim Blue, Sky Blue, Apple Green, Forest Green, Blender; for the chick- Lemon, Mustard; for the rest- an assortment of pinks, blues, purples, yellows, etc :)
• Pink Gingham paper from FF All Loved Up pad
• Green paper from stash, punched with X-cut Scalloped Border Punch
• Butterflies cut on my Cricut, coloured with PMs and sparkled with some Crystal Stickles :)

Now, it was a bit fiddly and took a fair bit of thinking about beforehand but I think the result is really quite a fun card and I like the effect of the decoupage as a scene... not something I’ll have the time or energy to do every time but I’m glad I had a go and have proved to myself that I can, so maybe next time won’t be as scary!!lol :) Hope you like it, too!! :)

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Papertake Weekly – Anything Goes (with the option of ‘something new’- in this case my FF stamps, digi, FF paper, scallop punch and the concept!!) :) ; Simon Says Stamp – Spring Colours/Easter :) ; Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight – Decoupage :) ; The Pink Elephant – Easter :) ; Bows and Berries – Inspired by Nature :) ; Little Claire’s – Spring Celebrations :) ; I Love Promarkers – Easter :)

Please do pop over to the Forever Friends blog to check out the fab cards made by the rest of the talented Monthly team- and it would be lovely to see your take on the challenge too!! :) There’s also the Fortnightly Challenge of ‘Anything But A Card’ running with some gorgeous DT samples over on the blog, too!! :)

Thank you so much for visiting and for all the lovely comments I’ve received this last week, I really appreciate them all!! :) I hope you’re all well and enjoying your week!! :) I’ll be back soon, I hope!! :)

hugs,

And I thought I didn't like red...

Evening everyone!! :)

Just a very quick post from me tonight- I hope, but you know me!!lol- to share the first of my cards for this week's Less Is More challenge, A Touch of Red...

I don't really like red... I am a redhead, of the tone that simply does not work with red clothing of any shade, which is a simple explanation for that much, but I don't really like to have red around me at all if I can help it, even in flowers, and rarely use it my cardmaking as a result. However, this week's LIM reminded me that, while my aversion to the colour is still strong in all other areas, I have actually made a few cards I really liked with red as the main colour in the last year or so, so I was quite excited to get stuck in to this challenge- there is some sort of magic with an LIM challenge, I think, that makes anything seem possible!! :) The first card- I've made a few, amazingly!! :) - came together pretty quickly after I found the image already coloured in athe box it got 'tidied' into to make space for Christmas cards to be made in November!! :)

The stamp was a freebie with DoCrafts magazine last year and is from the Born to Shop range- not my usual style at all but I really enjoyed colouring her and it's always good to try something a bit different :) In this case, the different style appears to have tempted me into trying a different colour-scheme, though I can't really remember what was on my mind in November when I picked up the red pens!! ;)

I still had last week's sketch firmly on my mind when I made this on Sunday- tbh, it still is, I just love the layout!!lol- but I didn't want to just use ribbon for the band so went digging through my stamps til I found this in my Papermania Hampstead Icons set... then I realised I quite possibly had never felt the need to purchase a red ink pad (besides my Fired Brick but I wasn't about to try CAS with a DI and a clear stamp- been there, failed blobbily at that!! :S )... I did find a tiny one in the end in a set of 30 tiny pads I got years ago but it's pigment and never quite dries... so out came the heat tool and embossing powder- CAS is so rarely and appropriate description of the process!! :S Anyway, once I'd done that I thought I may as well emboss the sentiment (from the same set) too so stamped in black and used a powder mix I made ages back with some clear EP and red glitter :) Oh, I also used a black fineliner in the gaps at the top of the stamped border for more definition.

And then I was actually done!! :D Thank you so much to all who've left comments on my last couple of cards- I've had a hectic week with the start of my DT-ships(?!) and losing most of yesterday to an awful headache that made keeping my eyes open at all a problem and the computer very painful, so haven't made it to as many of you as I'd like again but will try to catch up if I can!! I really appreciate your comments- especially when I'm not feeling to good myself!! :) I'll be back tomorrow with my first Forever Friends DT card and then hopefully before LIM closes with the other red cards I made today... if I don't run out of time and/or energy!! :) Hope you all had some of the lovely sunshine we got here today- so warm it felt like summer!! :)


hugs,