Things that fly and Sketch & Colour Combo

The challenge over at Bah! Humbug! this week is "things that fly" and over at Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club it's a sketch and colour combo with the theme of blue and pink.  I thought I would combine the two into one card.

The DCD challenge provided a card sketch so I have followed this by taking a 5x7 card and covering it with light blue paper onto which I have watermark stamped an ornate snowflake from a SU stamp set.  I then cut two strips of darker blue card and used my MS embossing snowflake punch to give a decorative edge on both pieces.  The image is a digistamp called 4 calling birds by Bekki but I don't have the link to her blog unfortunately.  The birds were coloured in using Promarkers.  The sentiment was printed and embossed in blue e/p.  The card candy was punched out and then embossed on a mouse mat to get the domed shape and the flower is made using my Xcut embossing Botanical punch.

Thanks for stopping by.

Wedding card

I was asked to make a "special" wedding card for a friend's son who is getting married soon.  They are having a very quiet wedding but Pat wanted to give them something for them to keep.

I wasn't given any preferences as to style but Hannah's wedding dress is a dark pinky red - so I decided to make the card around that colour.

I had some card with wedding sentiments glittered onto it (which I actually got from Lidl's!!!) and so I sponged it lightly with a claret coloured ink.  The bottom of the page has a border punched with a MS deep edger punch and it has a matching strip under it in red glitter card.  I added a border of red glitter card with lace over through the middle of the card.  The bride is from a Joanna Sheen stamp set "Victorian Bride" and was stamped and embossed with detail gold e/p.  I then inked up the same stamp with Staz-On, covered it with Angelina fibre and ironed it to get the fibres fused with the imprint of the dress.  I cut this out and glued it on top of the original image.  The main toppers were die cut using nesties - the bottom one is actually a red silk fabric which I glued (Stick & Stay) onto a piece of card.  Fabric cuts beautifully with the nesties with no threads hanging........  Hannah and Jim's initials were die cut in the red glitter card.  I then made up a bouquet of paper flowers, pins and gems.  The heart was made in the same way.  The sentiment was computer generated using text boxes in Word.

I have made a matching envelope box and added a fabric heart and matching flowers, ribbons etc.  I used the same MS punch in the centre of the opening with a gold mirri behind it.  Their initials are card die cuts which have been gold embossed. The heart on the ribbon is from Anna Griffin.

Thanks for stopping by.

CD card and matching card and tag

Hello everyone.

This week's challenges over at Bah! Humbug! and Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club are CD/DVD's and a matching card and tag respectively.

For the CD card I have chosen papers from the Papermania Classic Christmas set.  I checked the size of the CD I was using and then using my EK Success Circle Scissor I cut out the holly image and made my own pyramage.  It's so easy with the Circle Scissor as I can't cut a straight circle to save my life......... actually that doesn't sound quite right - how can you cut a straight circle!!!  lol  Anyway, I am sure you know what I mean.  I then layered the pyramage onto the CD using foam tape in various thicknesses.  I then cut a circle out of red mirri card to back the CD.  The backing paper is also from the same set and then I used my Xcut silhouette corner punch to make the photo corners.  I added some Stickles and the sentiment is a peel off.

For the matching tag I used nesties to cut out the main image and the backing mirri card and then added a ribbon.

Sorry the photo's not terribly good!

Thanks for dropping by.

Thank you so much to my good friend Anne from  Stamps & Paper for giving me this award.  I would like to pass the award onto 7 more lovely blogs the rules are:

Step 1 - Make a post linking back to the person who gave you the award!

DONE.......

Step 2 - Share 7 random things about yourself

1. I used to teach ballroom and latin dancing
2. In a past life I was a college lecturer
3. I love Michael Buble
4. My cat runs rings around me
5. I've just lost over 1 1/2 stones in weight
6. Still can't run to catch the bus!!!!  lol
7. I love Marmite

 

Step 3 – Award 7  recently discovered bloggers with this award

 

1. Jill at http://jillsquills.blogspot.com/
2. Chrissie & Mandi at  http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/
3. Sue at http://particraft.blogspot.com/
4. Liz at http://rarelizzie.wordpress.com/
5. Lynne at http://sentiments4you.blogspot.com/
6. Jenny at http://stampingmoments.blogspot.com/
7. Kate at http://tastykaeru.blogspot.com/

Step 4 – Contact these bloggers and tell them they’ve won the award

Less is More - Spring challenge

This week's challenge over at Less is More is "Spring".

They have provided a great tutorial on producing sentiments on your computer using text boxes.  This is something I've always wanted to know how to do so would like to thank Chrissie and Mandi very much for posting the instructions.

I started with the sentiment on the computer and printed it out onto a 6"x6" card base.  I then inked up my stamp (Soldago Sprig from Rubber Stampede) using Stampin Up Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive inkpads which matched the colours in the sentiment and stamped the image to the side of the sentiment.

Thanks for looking.

And now for something a little different.............

Thought I'd share this project that I have just finished in my free machine embroidery class.  It's a wall hanging and has been made totally from scratch.  I started off with a base of felt and layed sheers in different colours over the top;  this was then free machined to give a piece of fabric that could be used for this project.  Eight circles were cut out of the fabric in four different sizes and then sewn together to make the four "cones". 

On the remaining fabric I used my flower stitch attachment and stitched lots of circles, some overlapping and then a part of this was cut out and had the centres of the circles removed - this was used on the largest cone to add texture; beads were then added to the centre of the circles.  Other circles were cut out singly and then manipulated to give a twisted shape and were added to the hanging and then beaded. 

The tassle was made by hand and has a topping of another small cone and then beads were added.  The cord was made on the sewing machine by using a zigzag stitch over a long length of yarn. 

Lastly I took eight more circles that I had made using my flower stitcher and cut out the centres.  These were put together with the cord threaded through to make an embellishment for the cord.




Thanks for stopping by.

Doilies

Bah! Humbug's! challenge this week is "Doilies" so I raided my stash of doilies and chose a small round one.  In the centre is a Lili of the Valley Christmas Angel which I die cut with a nestie and added a silver peel off around the edge and mounted it on the doily which was then mounted onto blue mirri.  The backing paper is from my stash and then I added a strip of lace which, I thought, actually looks rather like individual angels.  The sentiment is from Sentiments4You which I resized in Word and then die cut using nesties.  This was matted onto blue mirri.  I then added some flowers and gems to finish it off.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

I'm Dreaming...............

This week's challenge over at Die Cut Dreams is I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas and the inspiration for this card came from a recycled Christmas card I had sitting on my desk.  I thought it was a lovely image and I used my nesties to make a pyramage of the image.  This was mounted onto silver and black card which had a fancy edge created with a MS punch Cherish.  Backing paper was from my stash and again has a punched border.  The snowflake was die cut using my fantastic new die from Whimsy Stamps - which I think is the most delicate die cut that I've seen.  The sentiment was computer generated to fit my Stampin Up round and scalloped punches.  The wavy line sentiment was also computer generated and cut out with peel offs disguising any bad edges!!!   lol

Thanks for stopping by.

Less is More - One layer challenge

This week the 2nd challenge over at Less is More is "one Layer". This new website certainly makes you look at card making in a totally different light.  They have got a super tutorial on their website for this challenge on using your computer for the sentiments and it's brilliant.

I have actually made two cards for the challenge; one using the computer generated sentiment and the other using an aperture to stamp into.

For the first one I have used the same sentiment that was in the tutorial - If friends were flowers I'd pick you - and I omitted the L in the word flowers so I could use a stem of the flower for the L.  In this instance I have used a Stampin Up stamp "Love" as the stem of the flower and the head of a sunflower from a Papermania set.  The word "flowers" was printed as an outline image and I then used a Quickie glue pen and Art Glitter Monochromatic Brown to fill in.

On the second card I placed a nesties die on my card and passed it through my die cutting machine using the embossing plates so it just embossed but didn't cut the square.  I then used the same nestie to cut a square out of a piece of card which was then placed over the embossed square and taped down.  I used Distress Inks to colour inside the square and then I stamped a flower spray from a set I bought from Local King Rubber Stamps in Canada.  This was clear embossed.  The sentiment was also stamped in the same colour Distress Ink as the floral spray and clear embossed.  This was from a set called Birthday Words from Elusive Images - it comes as a one line stamp so I masked off the "come true" and stamped the first part above the main image and then masked the first part which allowed me to stamp the last two words under the image.  I think by embossing the square first it makes the image stand out more.

Thanks for stopping by.

Buttons & Bows

Over at Bah! Humbug! this week the challenge is buttons and bows.

I have put some holographic gold card through my die cutting machine in an embossing folder which came free with the Creativity Magazine a while ago.  It's a really nice Christmas tree image.  I have added blue and green buttons from my stash along with a green bow.  This has been matted and layered and added to a 5x7" card blank which was covered with co-ordinating paper.  The last addition was some Christmas tree printed ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Faux Pressed Flowers

Just a quick post today.  I saw this great tutorial over on Splitcoaststampers for Faux Pressed Flowers.

On a piece of white card cut to fit a 5"x7" card blank I stamped a flourish and sentiment using a Big & Juicy pad and then chose some paper flowers to match the colours.  These were glued onto the flourish  and then put through my Joy die cutting machine in a Cuttlebug embossing folder - it's quite amazing how these 3D flowers almost become part of the background.  It was then mounted on the cardblank and I added some co-ordinating paper.  I then used a Martha Stewart punch to punch two borders - the top one I added some matching ribbon and a ribbon bow.  All the card needed then was the addition of some gems and it was finished.  If you don't like the flat finish you can lift up the petals of the flowers.

Thanks for looking.

Black , White and Pink

There's a new blog on the block.......... Less is More has just posted their first challenge which is black, white and pink.  Their aim is to promote the making of classic clean and simple cards which sounds really easy............. but it's pretty hard to pare everything down to such simple cards but I really enjoyed doing this challenge.

I've taken a square white card blank and embossed it using my Swiss Dots folder.  I then die cut nesties from black, pink and white card which were matted together.  On the white card I have stamped the word "kind" in black with a pink flower above (both came from a SU set).  The addition of a pink and white polka dot ribbon finished off this card.

Thanks for stopping by.

Valentine's card

The challenge over at Do it with Digis is Valentines.

I have used pearlised white cardstock and an embossing board to create the embossed areas of the card and then embossed the central heart onto red glitter card before cutting out and matting on the card and did the same with the ribbon bow.  I added gold peel-offs to accentuate the shapes and paper flowers to the rose.  The image is from Anne Bodil coloured with Promarkers and the ticket sentiment is from Sentiments4You.  The dragonfly charm is from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by.

Renewal of Vows

Before Christmas I was asked to make a renewal of vows card for a couple who have been married for over 40 years.  David is taking Julie to Antigua in March to renew their vows and he was very specific in what he wanted on the card............ not to make my life difficult you understand!!!!  lol

Anyway he wanted joining of hands, sentimental/religious, blues/greens and light/sunny representing Antigua!!!!!  What a challenge.

Must admit it took me quite a while of thinking how I was going to plan this card as it obviously had to be a bit "special" and then once I had started it again took me a while to be satisfied with what I had done....... luckily I don't charge for my time!

I began with an image of sky, beach and water on an 8x8" card.  As it was too prominent I added a sheet of velum on which I had embossed the bottom section.  Across this I placed some very pretty lace.  I used nesties to frame the photo of joined hands and then went a bit mad with the flowers but I wanted them to look like a bridal bouquet.  I added gems around the frame, a white ribbon with a rhinestone buckle and some die cut hearts with their initials.  Lastly I added a dragonfly which had been coloured with alcohol inks and a couple of die cut corners.

Then I had to make a box to hold the card and I made a top opening box using 12x12" scrapbooking card which luckily was a matching colour.  I added a die cut border to the top flap which was backed with silver mirri, more flowers, matching ribbon and a flower brad and a sentiment "How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways".  Julie's name was computer generated and matted using my Stampin Up punches.  The bottom photo shows how the box opens with the card inside.

Thanks for stopping by.

An oldie or a goldie............

This week's challenge over at Bah! Humbug! us "an oldie or a goldie" and suggest we use something we've had for a while that needs dusting off or something we have been drooling over but haven't yet used.

Well I'm not sure if my card for this week's challenge comes into these categories but to be honest I've been rushed off my feet lately.  Anyway as I was looking through my stash I came across these lovely die cut cards from Papermania that I bought absolutely ages ago but didn't use as they got snowed under with other stuff!!!  I'm sure you all know what I mean............  Anyway they are very simple to complete.  I just cut a piece of red pearl linen card to go behind the cut out poinsettias, added some die cut snowflakes, some ribbon,  peel offs down the sides and a sentiment.  Very quick and easy this week...........

Thanks for stopping by.

Blog Award

I've just been tagged to receive a blog award by my friend Val  - many thanks.

There are a couple of conditions for the award:

You have been TAGGED and want to participate?  Then create a post where you post the "LOVE BLOG" image.  You should also blog the person's link that gave you the award and inform him/her that you accept the award.  You can then choose 3-5 favourite blogs which you also link in your post,t hen each blogger will inform you that they have been tagged.

Dear bloggers:

The aim of this action is that we bring unknown, good blogs to light, so I would ask you not to blog fellow bloggers that already have 3,000 followers.

It is difficult to select a few from the many great blogs I follow and visit but please hop over to visit each of these which I have chosen to receive the Love Award:

Ikki
Linda
Sue
Lynne
Jenny

Please pop over to have a look at their blogs.