Colour Clash

Sarah Anderson, host of the Play Date Cafe "Colour Horribilis" challenge asked participants to use hot pink, navy blue and mustard yellow on their creations this week.  Here is my card using this particular colour combination, which isn't set to become one of my favourites any time soon, though it is fun to experiment with colour.  I stamped the PSX teddy image with Adirondack Denim ink and coloured it in with various yellow toned Promarkers, plus deep pink for the bow and heart.  The Autumn Leaves sentiment was stamped with Denim ink onto deep pink Coredinations cardstock and heat embossed.  The nestie label mat was made with a Martha Stewart background stamp using blue, pink and yellow inks and the round mats were made with nestie circle dies.  The cardstock is mainly Coredinations embossed with various Cuttlebug folders.

My Time To Craft - Xtra Special

Here is my latest card which I am entering into the My Time To Craft Xtra Special challenge (make a card for a special occasion.  This card is for a baby girl's naming day and it's the first time I have made a card for that particular ceremony.  The only stamp I used is on the back, very unusual for me!  The bear was cut with a Sizzix die in the Cuttlebug and coloured with Promarkers.  I used a rose punch for the corners and a lattice punch for the mat.....really cross now as the punch has broken!!!!  I also used Nestabilities and Cuttlebug embossing folders.  There are a few gems on the front too, though it's difficult to tell from this pretty awful photograph.

RSS Challenge 3

Here is my card for the latest Ready Steady Stamp challenge. The ingredients this week were:


Monument
Blue
Metal Embellishment
Cuttlewax technique
Cork

At first I thought I was going to have to give this one a miss as I was pretty sure I wouldn't have any cork. Then I remembered the old cork coaster on my bedside table....managed to punch a little heart from it! I had to think about the wax paper, had a good look through my kitchen cupboard and voila! I knew the wax paper discs which came with an ancient burger press I never use would come in useful one day (well, no, didn't really think that, but come in useful they did!).

Anyway, back to the card itself....I used various Cuttlebug folders (about 10!!!!!) to make the wax patterns and once ready I inked the papers with various red and blue inks before stamping the Paper Artsy Eiffel Tower several times, cutting out and layering the images. I have no idea where the can-can girls stamp is from but the wings behind the clock face hanging from the Tim H idea-ology chain are part of an angel stamp and the lace stamp is by Kodomo (I used red spray inks on the paper first before stamping with black Versafine).


The red cardstock shape with the tower image was die cut with a Nesabilities label in the Cuttlebug. The swirly bird stamp in the background is by Stampin Up and I used a Castaway inkpad on plain red cardstock to create the bleached image. You can just about spot the cork heart on the layered label bottom left. I used an white gel ink pen to make the dots on the red labels. That's about it really, just finished it off by threading some red grossgrain ribbon through punched holes down the inner right hand side of my blue card base and added a dotty bow, or is it a butterfly?

Neglected Stash!

I don't make childrens' cards very often but on Tuesday, whilst looking for some cardstock I came across a huge stash of 12 x 12 papers I bought a few years ago and decided I really should actually use some of them. I went through a phase when I started making cards of buying any pack of paper that caught my eye but never got around to using it. The large card blank was another impulse buy consigned to the back of a drawer! This all fits in very nicely with this week's My Time To Craft challenge (neglected or forgotten stash). Although the hills/grass were just cut from some pieces of thin card and coloured with various shades of green ink, the sky is ready made, as it's a sheet from a large DCWV photo stack and the pink dotty paper is by Doodlebug. I went a bit mad with the Cuttlebug when I bought some Nestabilities circle and scalloped circle dies a year or so ago and ended up with enough diecuts to last a lifetime. The happy birthday circle was embossed using a folder I bought at the same time as my Cuttlebug machine. I even dug out my first ever cardmaking purchase ....peel off stickers for the name and age, something else I bought quite a few of, then wondered why, as they got dog eared and stuck together every time I peeled one off the sheet and tried to cram them back into the storage box.

V is for Vellum

As I am off work and the weather is nothing like it was last week (typical!!!), breezy, dark and about to rain, I have spent the day making cards and ironing, not at the same time obviously! Here is my entry for the latest ABC Challenge, which is V is for Vellum. I can't remember where I bought the pale green vellum with gold butterflies but I have had it a long time and seem to recall having it in various pastel colours. Tilda is stamped in Versafine ink and coloured with Pro Marker pens. The gold sentiment was made with my Cuttlebug and matted onto a piece of card cut with stamp edge scissors. The petals were left over from Cuttlebug flowers I cut from papers stamped with a background pattern stamp and I finished the card off with eyelets to attach the vellum to the card blank.

GRAPHICUS JANUARY CHALLENGE

Well I have finally had some time to relax and craft as the pressure is off a little since the job offer on Thursday. Hopefully I will get written confirmation soon. Here are the items I have made for the new Graphicus monthly challenge, using inks, stamps and embellishments from the Graphicus online store.

The colour scheme challenge is plum and gold and my entry is a pendant and bracelet set made from stampbord. I have used various inks in shades of plum and gold (Black Cherry Glimmer Mist, Pearlescent Purple & Galaxy Gold Brilliance, Colorbox Cats Eye, Royal Purple Stazon) with stamps from the new Elusive Images Harlequin Rose themeplate, plus ribbon, wire and beads from my stash.

For the Celebrate challenge I decided to make a new baby card in vibrant colours as a change from the traditional pastels. The mother and child is from the Elusive Images Madonna & Trees themeplate (minus the halos!) stamped onto white card using a Kaleidacolor Baby Powder inkpad. I then rubbed Glimmer Chalks over the stamped image and mounted it onto a piece of card, which also started off white before I spritzed it with Black Cherry, Sunflower and Candy Apple Glimmer Mists, and ran it through the Cuttlebug with the D'Vine Swirl embossing folder. The stamped image and mats are fixed to the base card with foam tape to add dimension.

To make the flowers I again took white card and used Versamark ink to stamp patterns from the Elusive Images Texture Blocks themeplate and heat embossed them with clear powder. I sprayed the stamped patterns with Glimmer Mists (previously mentioned colours plus Jazz Blue and Meadow Green) and when dry I removed the clear powder with an iron to leave a flat surface on the cardstock. I then used my Cuttlebug to die cut the flowers on the right side of my card. These are layered and differ in height but it's difficult to tell from my photo.

To finish off my card I added a Creative Acrylics new baby sentiment coloured with Glimmer Chalk, threaded onto Maya Road Soho Candy ribbon together with a Candy Paisley slide.

More Glimmer!

Here is another card using glimmer mists and the Harlequin rose stamp by Elusive Images. The frame on the sentiment is also an Elusive Images stamp, I just added the words. The embossing is courtesy of my Cuttlebug and the green cardstock is Coredinations. I think the ribbon is by Anna Griffin. This card is for a friend's birthday and I must make the insert NOW! (hate doing inserts).

Late As Usual!!!!

I do it every year.....leave my Christmas cards until the last minute as I really find it a chore making and sending them out, don't know why, I just do! Most of my cards this year were made either using the same vintage Santa stamp (black ink embossed in clear on white card or Versamark embossed in white on black cardstock), I really love this stamp!!!! or with the Cuttlebug tree folder, heat embossed with holographic powder. The black and white papers are by Kanban and the green & red is HOTP.

The odd one out isn't a Christmas card at all.....it's a birthday card for my brother in law made with Glimmer misted paper, Cuttlebug maple leaf die and Anna Griffin papers.

Competition Entries

I haven't been in the mood for crafting this week (again!) but quite miss blogging so I have decided to post pictures of 2 items I made recently for competitions.

The arch is for Sugar Lump Studios "Yuletide" Gothic Arch Contest at Gothic Arches. I think the closing date for entries is this weekend. I used Glimmer Mist for the background plus a vintage santa stamp and the cute little boy is from a collage sheet by Lisa's Altered Art.

The card was made using stamps from Elusive Image's Madonna themeplate (madonna & child, star and trees for the corners of my triangular shaped card. I also used sparkly embossing powder, irridescent spray inks, my Cuttlebug embossing folder, jump rings, rub ons and Glossy Accents. This particular card was my entry for the Graphicus Website October Card Competition and although I did not win a prize I enjoyed entering and the winning card is just gorgeous. Here is a link so you can see it.

Shabby Chic Tilda Card (Joanna Sheen Forum Challenge)

I really enjoyed making this card today for the Joanna Sheen Forum Challenge where the theme this week was 'shabby chic.' I am not sure why but that always makes me think of muted blues and creams so those are the shades I chose for my card.

All the papers and cardstock are Anna Griffin except for the blue ovals behind the frame and Tilda, those are Coredinations which have been embossed with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots, then sanded. I found it quite difficult to distress the lovely blue dotty paper but it was too bright so I got stuck in and found it quite therapeutic! The finishing touches were Anna Griffin gold ribbon and bow to which I added some tiny gold beads, a tiny blue organza bow for Tilda's ponytail and a Poppicrafts daisy and brad. I then added a rub on sentiment and added clear glaze to parts of the flowers on top of the frame.

I watercoloured Tilda with Lyra crayons and some pearly paints.

Magic & Mystery

I have finally finished the card I have been struggling with for Rainbow Lady's Magic & Mystery challenge. This has been a saga as I have found the stamped image difficult to colour in!!! Finally managed it with a mixture of Lyra watercolour crayons and H2O paints. The backing paper was a lot easier as I used blue and green Glimmer mists which are a joy to use and create lovely shimmery effects. The butterfly was made with a 2 part Cuttlebug die and I just added peeloff borders, blue and green gems and a length of green sequin ribbon. Hopefully the photo isn't too blurred!!!!

Large Card - Joanna Sheen Fashion Boutique

Here is a card I made this weekend at the request of a friend who wanted a card for a 50th birthday. The lovely art nouveau image is from Joanna Sheen's Fashion Boutique CD. I chose the backing paper (Artylicious) as the colours matched those in the main image. I embossed the silver mirricard with a Cuttlebug swirls folder and added a matching organza ribbon and bow.

Initial Reaction

Here is a card I made for the latest Caarvarks challenge which was to make a monogram themed card. My base card has been embossed with Cuttlebug leaves and branches folders. The leaves are also cut and embossed with the Cuttlebug. The main images are stamped with birds from Elusive Images and a tree stamp I cannot remember the name of. I used various Ranger, Stampin Up and Sticky Fingers spray inks on both the cardstock and the chipboard letter B. I matted the birds onto a piece of turquoise mirricard and mounted it to the base card with foam pads after glueing on a strip of torn inked and stamped cardstock. Finally I threaded natural raffia through the We R Memory Keepers eyelets then added 2 large eyelets and one bradlet to the bottom of my card.

Acetate/Pink Challenge

Here is a card I made today for the latest Dottie's World challenge (to use acetate and pink). It is probably hard to tell from this photo but the card blank is entirely acetate...the back is acetate embossed with Cuttlebug swiss dots and the front is plain acetate. I punched holes down the right hand side and threaded various ribbons through. Dottie is coloured with Sakura pens, matted onto white embossed cardstock (swiss dots again) and I fastened that to the front of the card with a couple of large pink eyelets from We R Memory Keepers.

Art Nouveau

Today I used some lovely Art Nouveau style images from Joanna Sheen's Fashion Boutique CD set to make this card and matching bookmark and notebook. I used my Cuttlebug to emboss a piece of white card and matted the main image onto that on the front of my card and threaded some pink organza ribbon through punched holes. I used a rose corner punch on the card base and added the smallest toppers to the bottom right of the card front and also to the back of the card. I laminated some of the remaining images to make the bookmark and notebook covers.

ARTY GIRLZ BIRTHDAY CHALLENGE

Here is my latest card which fits in with the latest Arty Girlz challenge # 52. As their blog is 1 year old the challenge was to make an item for a birthday. They are offering a prize for one lucky participant.

I have only just discovered the fabulous Coredinations cardstock and bought 4 sheets yesterday from Paddy's Stamping Place where I saw some beautiful examples of cards and boxes made using this cardstock in conjunction with the Cuttlebug embossing folders. I embossed a piece of the teal card with the leaves folder and lightly sanded the surface to reveal the inner core colour of the cardstock, adding highlights. I coloured 4 small squares of Stampbord with various shades of blue ink and stamped the bird and branches over them with Black Versafine ink. The stamp is part of the beautiful Elusive Images bird set and is entitled 'Dawn Chorus.' I used a water brush over the finished image to add a bit of sparkle with Sakura Stardust but it doesn't show up in the photo.

Good Luck Owl

This is my latest, very simple card, using an owl stamp from Papermania's 'Secret Garden' clear stamp set. The owl has been coloured with Sakura pens and mounted onto a Nestabilities scalloped circle brown card mat. The dotty paper is Sweet Nothings, again by Papermania. I added a simple sentiment and brown ribbon to finish off the card. I made the card last night but have only just found time to post on my blog as I have spent most of the day drafting up a new CV ready to send off with job applications tomorrow.

Sugar Nellie Recycle Challenge Card

My last card for today is for A Spoonfull of Sugar's latest challenge - # 11 Recycle. I used blue and green cardstock by Stampin Up...the green was embossed with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots. My Sugar Nellie stamped image is the lovely Sweet Art Ebony Flowers, coloured with brush markers, Stickles, Sakura Stardust and Liquid Pearls. The sunflowers and little green Prima daisy are from Cuddly Buddly and the spotty bow and little blue brad are again from Poppicrafts. I think the green eyelets came with my Cropadile and the two recycled items are the green tape down the left hand side, which is actually a paper carrier bag handle and the crystal flower on Honey's hat is a stud earring which has been at the bottom of my jewellery box for years, waiting in vain for me to find its partner!

Dottie's World Challenge # 13

Here is my latest card....the first time I have used Dottie & George images which are available as a download from Charmed Cards & Crafts. I really enjoyed making a card for this Dottie's World challenge and chose the Love & Marriage images as I wanted to make an anniversary card for friends.

I don't think it was a great idea shrinking the image down as it was so difficult to colour in. I used brush marker & Sakura pens, Doodlebug flock and Stickles glitter glue. The blue and green cardstock (inside the circle aperture) is by Stampin Up. The blue card was embossed with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots.

The blue and pink ribbon, flowers, brad and flower eyelet are from Poppicrafts and the pink padded heart in the aperture and bow with irridescent hearts are both from Wilkinsons. They were attached to pony tail bands for little girls but when I saw them in the store I thought they could be undone/cut and used on cards, quite pleased with them, I do like a bargain! I am not too sure about the swirly doodles on the top of the card but the rule was to add a doodle somewhere. Well that's it, hope my friends like their card.

It's a bug's life new home card

Here is my latest card, a new home card for this week's Tilda & Co challenge. I used my Cuttlebug to make the butterflies then stuck a punched flower on each so I could write on them. The main image of the Magnolia house has been coloured with Stickles glitter glue in black diamond and magenta shades. The dotty paper is by DCWV.