Sugar Nellie 'Maggie' Card

I played with a new stamp tonight.....Dress Up Maggie by Sugar Nellie...saw it and just had to buy it because it's so cute! She is coloured with pearly paints in shades of lilac. Can't wait to try my other new Sugar Nellie now :)

Tilda with Bouquet Card

I went about this card in a strange fashion as I started with a new paper I wanted to use (Basic Grey's Gypsy (the pink and green floral on the left of the card) and matched everything else to that. The basic card is a lilac/pink card blank with the front folded in half.

The pink and green patchwork paper on the inside right of the card is by Crafty Secrets, the flower with gem below that is K & Company, the ribbon and paisley slide are Maya Road Candy/Soho & the pink flower to the side of Tilda is Prima.

Tilda has been coloured with brush markers and Sakura pens and attached to the square with foam pads (unknown pink textured paper and green Crafty Secrets paper which is the reverse side of the patchwork paper).

Glenda's Direct To Paper Challenge

Although I have tried the direct to paper technique a couple of times in the past I had no idea how to build up layers of colour using inkpads and stamps until I read Glenda's brilliant step by step guide to this technique. I was so inspired by the beautiful papers she created I have had a go myself today. They aren't great but for a first attempt I am pleased enough to go back and have another go as I am always nervous of trying new craft techniques and find a lot of guides difficult to follow but Glenda's instructions were cystal clear! http://artylicious.blogspot.com/2008/01/direct-to-paper-technique-plus.html

This was my first attempt (and the one I like best). I started off with a not very nice shade of green cardstock and built up the colours with cats eye chalk inks. The first background stamp was one of the new Elusive Images Damask Squares, followed by a stamp with waves and a turtle in a darker blue Versacolor ink. The ship is stamped in Ranger Adirondack denim blue.

This was my first attempt with the cat stamp but I thought the background stamp was too prominent on this one. I used the largest stamp from the new Elusive Images Damask Squares set for the first background stamp, followed with the butterfly stamped in a slightly darker shade. The cat is stamped with Sepia Versafine ink.

Here is my second attempt at the cat using the same combination of stamps.

This next picture shows paper coloured with various shades of pink and lilac inks...mainly Brilliance and the lady is stamped with Imperial Purple Versafine ink. The background is stamped with a lovely large floral stamp and dragonfly from the Elusive Images Damask Squares set (again)...I love those stamps!

My final attemp at this technique was using a mixture of deep yellow and red chalk and Versacolour inks. The background was stamped with a border stamp and flower from the damask set and the Elusive Images Mackintosh bauble is stamped with Versafine ink.

Hide & Seek

Today I made a card for this week's Daring Cardmakers Challenge which was to make a card with a hidden element of some description. I enjoyed the challenge, it certainly made me think! There is a hidden message inside the flower ("lots of love" sticker). The papers are all Pink Petticoat and the flower is from a template by Cardigami.

Me and My Shadow!!

I haven't had time to take part in the Daring Cardmakers' weekly challenge several for weeks now and decided I would have a look on Friday and take part no matter what the theme was....luckily it was an interesting challenge which I enjoyed very much (to make 2 cards using the same embellishments but with different wording). Here's my attempt...a birthday and a get well card. For the cards I brayered Kaleidoscope inks onto glossy A4, cut and folded the blanks. The images are stamped with my new Tilda onto flesh, pink, blue and yellow paper then cut and pieced. I made 2 tags from cream card added eyelets and threaded multi pastel yarn through, then mounted the stamped images using 3D foam. I wrote the greetings on a couple of blue bubble stickers and finished the cards off with a blue and pink gem. I have had the rainbow inkpad for a while but this is the first time I have used it and was pleasantly surprised by the result.

Birthday Cards

I have just been trawling through lots of scanned images and photos on the computer and forgot all about these birthday cards made over the past month! I have got my picture folders in a bit of a mess....copies of copies etc. etc!

First cards of 2008

My first cards of the new year are all made using images from craft CDs. The good luck card is from Andy Carolan's brilliant Card Toonz Vol 1 which has some very cute and quirky little characters. The lady on the 60th birthday card is from Sharon Duncan's Decoupage Delight's CD Rom (the backing papers are Hot Off The Press) and the embossing is courtesy of the Glitter Girls' Keepsake board. The main image on the birthday wine card is also from Sharon Duncan's great CD. It was wonderful to say goodbye to all those Christmas cards, though I really MUST start making them in the summer this year!