Elegance and Fairy Sparkle

It's my mum's birthday today so we will be popping round later to deliver her cards and presents.  My Mum hates fuss and as such, gets increasingly difficult to buy for, as every year all she ever asks for is a nice card.  Hopefully I have achieved that for her at least.
I relied once again on a Kanban kit for the gorgeous metallic purple embossed card which is ohhhhhh soooooooo elegant but being highly reflective makes photographing it quite a challenge.  I used some pearlised lilac card, embossed on the Cuttlebug with Swiss Dots,  as a contrast for the central panel and all layers, including the greeting, were matted onto silver mirri card for an extra touch of luxury.  

Despite a thorough rummage through my stash, I couldn't find matching ribbon but solved the problem by colouring some white satin ribbon with an Amethyst Promarker.   A flourish of white feathers combined with a string of pretty holographic pearls add a nice embellishment behind the bow.   This close up shows the richness of the purple much better than the wider shots.  Isn't it lush?

The final strip of metallic embossed card from the A4 sheet was matted onto silver mirri and used to decorate inside the card.  

A floral border was embossed into the lilac pearlised message panel before matting onto more silver mirri and placing it centrally, overlapping the darker panel.   Believe me that nothing short of a hurricane will blow it over!
Crafty Ann's Challenge 17 is Embossing, so I will submit this card as there's plenty of embossing all over this one.

I have been trying to buy the LOTV Tiptoe Fairy stamp from their online shop for several weeks but it's always out of stock whenever I visit.  I was beginning to think there was some kind of conspiracy going on and resigned myself to not owning one.   But my friend and fellow Bah! Humbugger! Ann managed to snaffle one for me when she visited the Dome last weekend ... thanks Ann xx ... sending it by super fast pigeon express to arrive yesterday afternoon in a flurry of feathers.  Whoo Hoo!   I inked her up straight away and made this card for the children to give to their Nan for her birthday.  

She is coloured with Promarkers ... think I am finally getting the hang of them at long last ... and matted onto some lovely background papers from My Mind's Eye "Pretty Please" pad.  Aren't these colour combinations fabulous?  There was just enough of the floral paper left over to decorate inside with a strip down the edge. 

All fairies MUST have sparkle so this was added in the form of Stickles Diamond Glitter on her wings, her dress, her shoes and a wee flitter over the flowers.   A pretty bow and a few coordinating buttons add the finishing touch.

As I followed the sketch design by Dawny P at LOTV Challenge, this sweet little card is eligible for submission this week.   This will be a first entry for me at one of their challenges and if I'm lucky in the random draw, then I may increase my fledgling collection of LOTV stamps - which currently stands at a grand total of ... ONE!
It is also eligible for Magical Crafts 18 - Flower Power and A Pocket Full of Posies 1 - One For The Girls which is a brand new fortnightly challenge blog for lovers of flowers.  I think that most crafters can be included there then so it is going to be popular.

Bah! Humbug! Challenge 24 - Santa

Friday has rolled around again all too quickly ... for me at least.  But on a good note this means it's Bah! Humbug! Challenge day and this week the topic is 

Father Christmas/Santa 

Once again the DT have all managed to come up with something to tickle your creative tastebuds and we look forward to you joining in with us with your interpretations of our challenge.
Using the Kenny K image last weekend reminded me that I have a gazillion folders on my PC filled to overflowing with wonderful PSP tubes that were originally used to make siggies and tags in the days when I dabbled with PSP.  Whilst many artists current Terms of Use don't permit hard copies to be printed, or require you to purchase a license to use, this is not the case for them all.
So I spent some time flicking through and rediscovered plenty of old favourites including this cute Santa from Tubes By Amanda. 

I opened the tube in PSP and then copied and mirrored it, floodfilling the reversed one to remove the text before printing.  He looks a little washed out in my photo but that is down to my (lack of) photographic skills and is actually much brighter in real life.
After cutting them out I drew around one onto a folded sheet of gold glitter card and then cut around the outline to make a shaped card.  

Then it was a simple case of adding some stripey paper from my scrap box and a few embellishments like the jingly bell and recycled ribbons.

Inside is the reversed image, perfect for a message, and luckily there was just enough paper left to decorate the inside back so it isn't too boring.
The Challenge Mania Blog helped me to quickly find some other challenges for which this little card may be suitable and they are ...
Fab's Big Christmas Card Challenge - Stitched Ribbon and Toppers
My Time To Craft - Yuletide in June
ABC Challenge - X-tra Dimension
Cute Card Thursday - Reuse, Renew, Recycle

A 'Par-Fect' Day

Forgot to show the card I made for my dad for Father's Day using this free funky image from Kenny Kiernan, who was a much loved artist from my PSP (Paint Shop Pro) days.     As he is an avid golfer this guy was the PAR-fect choice ... tee hee.   
He was coloured with Promarkers and matted onto several layers of card and background papers from my stash.  The sentiment was computer generated and popped onto a scalloped circle decorated with white gel pen.

 

There is a brand new Kenny K's Krafty Girls Challenge Blog due to begin in July and they are looking for DT members if anyone is interested but submissions must be in by 26th June so you'll have to hurry!
Thanks to my very dear friend Ann, it was easy to find several challenges looking for male themed projects. 
Can you believe she updates her new Challenge Mania Blog listing all the current challenges and updates them EVERY DAY?  You should check it out!
I decided to enter a few ...
Charisma Cardz 25 - One For The Boys
Magical Crafts 17 - Male/Father's Day
One Stop Craft Challenge 85 - One For The Boys

It's Bah! Humbug! Day tomorrow ... wow! ... 2 posts in 2 days!
Whatever next ? LOL!

Bah! Humbug! 23 - A Child's Christmas

Hooray!  
We have internet again which means I can now share my DT samples for Bah! Humbug's! latest challenge ...  

A Child's Christmas

I decided to make a duo of cards using this ultra cute penguin trio from Serendipity Stamps - a pink version and a blue version.

The little girly one is an easel card using lovely papers from DCWV Christmas Stack.  Both images were coloured with Promarkers and then embossed with holographic powder for added sparkle before adding some adhesive gems and stars.

The boy's card was dry embossed top and bottom on the Cuttlebug using a snowflake folder and I scored 2 lines to create a central panel for the snowflake paper from Anita's Christmas Blue Collection then added the cute penguins.

All I have to do now is add some greetings, but as I intend to personalise them with glittery letters I will do that prior to posting in December.
There are more lovely examples to see over on the Bah! Humbug! Challenge blog, so do pop over for a looksee - it will definitely be worth your while and may even provoke you into joining in, which would be wonderful as we love it when you share your ideas too.

Birthday Boy

My son Niall celebrated his 20th birthday yesterday and as a die hard Nintendo fan, it was a total 'no brainer' to use an image from their latest game release for his card.
Starting with an 8" x 8" card blank, I used primary coloured papers and layered up various panels ... with a little help from the cuttlebug for a touch of texture.  The greeting was a self adhesive sticker stuck onto a punched scallop circle and layered onto graduated Nestabilities Stars.

The inner sentiment was a little play on words, (relating to the actual game), and in hindsight, should probably have been printed rather than hand written, but gold peel off letters help to brighten it up a bit and improve the look.

Needless to say he was delighted with my efforts and rewarded me with a huge hug of thanks.  Tell me ... What more does a mother need?
The card I made for Naomi to give him was created using a glittery wizard decoupage image, which was trimmed with decorative scissors and mounted onto foam pads.   

It was teamed with the most gorgeous patterned paper, given to me by my fellow Bah Humbugger Ann, who kindly sent Niall a really fun froggy card with googly eyes, (posted HERE on her blog), and a gift of silicon cake moulds, which were a lovely surprise to him and very much appreciated.   He can't wait to get back to Edinburgh now to test them out!   
Hmmmmm ... Wonder if we'll be allowed to sample the results?
This paper has a wonderfully luxurious look, feeling almost like expensive wallpaper, and has the most amazing silky sheen.   For that reason the remaining sheets will probably only be used for those extra-special cards for extra-special people ... and maybe not even then!
I may just stroke it and put it away again ... Trust me! ... that's what we crafters do!  

Trio of Cards

I admit to not being the most organised person in the world and often get frustrated when I look at the mess I create after making just a single card that has taken hours to come together.  
I pull things out from hither and thither, opening drawers and dragging out boxes of 'stuff' all over the place, wasting endless hours hunting for bits'n'bobs I think I need to use, only to have to put them all away again because they weren't what I wanted after all.  
Last night I challenged myself to see what I could do using limited supplies and just a single sheet of 12" x 12" paper. The objectives were to, hopefully
* reduce what goes into the scrap box, 
(never to be seen again)
and
* improve my craft time-management skills.    
So I took one sheet of Celebrate Star double-sided paper from a 3 Bugs in a Rug collection, along with the matching stickers, mini brads etc. and set to work.

It wasn't easy to resist the urge to go raking but I was determined to stick to the limits of the kit and soon got into the swing of things producing this trio of simple cards - perfect additions to the 'Grab'n'Go' box.

 

AND ... there was even enough left over to add a little to the insides too!

By doing this little experiment, I have proven to myself several things.
*I can work with limited supplies and still produce something acceptable
*There is little, to no, waste heading for the scrap box
*Creating 3 cards in the same time as it usually takes for 1 is much more efficient
*There is hardly any mess to clear up afterwards - whoo hoo!
All good positive points.
Now I'm not suggesting for one second that I have reformed my messy habits ... that would be too much to ask ... but at least I now know there is an alternative and I CAN be more efficient when I try, so mission accomplished. 

Challenge 22 - Anything Goes

It's been a funny old week 'cos I've been really busy but have done nothing, if you know what I mean?   Maybe the school's being closed 3 days for in service days and local public holiday had something to do with that but it's really strange when that happens.
One thing I do have to show is this card created for our Bah! Humbug! Challenge which this week is 'Anything Goes' and I'm afraid it's another easy peasy card made from a Kanban kit.  
I took an A4 sheet of black card and folded it to make a z-fold card blank.  Then it was a simple case of trimming the gorgeous pink embossed card slightly smaller than each panel ... matting onto silver mirri card ... adding strips of message ribbon top and bottom and adhering it all in place.  

I stamped and embossed the Papermania ornamental bauble onto black card and then cut it with a Nellie Snellen Rectangle Frame die.  
The stamp was too large even for the largest frame but I was able to extend it by following this recent tutorial posted over at Ikkle's Cuttlebug Cupboard.  If you own a Cuttlebug but you've never visited this blog then you really should try to as she shares some fantastic ideas and has written some great tutorials.  

This was then matted onto a panel of pale pink card ... can you see it through the holes? ... and a pink spotty ribbon bow was added.  A few dots of pink glitter were randomly dabbed on the stamped ornament and small circles, left over from silver chain border peel offs, were popped around the decorative edge before mounting it with double-sided tape onto pink embossed card and then matted to black card.  This panel was then mounted onto the front of the finished card, overlapping the card edge.
Sorry it wasn't more exciting this week ... but don't worry because my fellow Bah! Humbug! DT members have been much more creative and their shares include a beautiful project from our Special Guest Designer Claire ... so plenty to get your creative juices going.  While you're there you can find out who was the lucky winner of our June Prize Draw ... but cover your ears 'cos she screams! ... LOUDLY!
Hope you all enjoy a Fabulous Friday ... wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Dino-Magic

I was 'clickitty-clicking' around the net the other evening ... as you do ... and stumbled across some really cute images available to download for free.  
Yes ... FREE ... every crafter's favourite word!
They belong to Elizabeth O. Dulemna who is an author/illustrator of children's books and she offers her images for free provided the conditions of her Angel Policy are followed.  CLICK HERE to read the details and then follow the links to check out her lovely cute characters.
This afternoon I sat out in the glorious sunshine, armed with a mug of coffee,  a box of Promarkers and a sheet of images downloaded from Elizabeth O. Dulemba's free colouring pages.  The time just sped past and I was lost in my own little world of colouring bliss.
After dinner I came upstairs and made 2 cards using this ultra-cute book-reading dinosaur image.  

Isn't he absolutely adorable?  He's coloured with Promarkers and matted onto patterned papers from the Forest Friends Kit which I was lucky enough to win in a recent Creative Cottage Challenge.  
It just so happens that their challenge this week is Father's Day and they have a June Freebie which is perfect for this occasion ... I have used one of the circle sentiments ... so hop over and snag it while it's available.
The other version is a birthday card and it fits in with the Simon Says Challenge and For Fun Challenges as they're both asking for 'Male-themed' projects.

I have added some 'faux stitching' which follows the theme set at The Res-Q-Challenge and Books are the hot topic at Passion For Promarkers.
Finally, Stamp Something are having their first Digi-Day Challenge and have lots of prizes on offer so if you are a 'digi-fan' then you MUST check them out for sure.
Our sweet Naomi is due home shortly after enjoying a school trip at Alton Towers Theme Park - lucky spud.  Wonder if she braved the new ride TH13teen?   GULP!
She'll be absolutely shattered when she gets in after all that lovely sunshine and excitement ... not to mention an 8 hour journey in a stuffy coach - Bleurgh.!  Can't wait to hear all about it.
Hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend, with plenty of sunshine, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.  

Bah! Humbug! Challenge 21 - Acetate

Not sure what happened to my scheduled post ... it's disappeared! ... completely gone! ... 'vamoosh vanished!  It was there yesterday but  ... now ... it's not.  Very strange.   However ... here's another version of what I wrote ... the bits I can remember anyway.

The 1st challenge of the month is always exciting over at Bah! Humbug! because we have a wee Prize Draw for you and have recently started featuring a Monthly Special Guest Designer.  Our lady for June is ready to wow you with her creative wonderfulness  - and you'd better prepare to be 'wowed' this week let me tell you!   
Welcome to the team
Claire : Claire's Crafty Creations
This week's challenge to use acetate had me slightly concerned as it's not something I use very often.  I love to see what others do with it and promise myself to try some of the fabulous techniques I've seen, but somehow my efforts never quite make the grade.   So in light of that I decided not to get above myself and stick to basics.
I took a sheet of the gorgeous foiled acetate, which was included in the birthday box of goodies I received from Ann when we were in York - thanks big muchness Ann xxx  I trimmed and folded it to a DL size card and added panels of black card inside and outside, placing them so that the stamped image on the front hides the message panel inside when it is closed.  Are you with me?
Tied a narrow gold ribbon down the fold for decoration and black adhesive gems in the corners ... voila!  DONE!

The stamp is one of the Secret Christmas Set from Waltzing Mouse Stamps which was available for a limited time last year ... I have e-mailed Claire to ask if it is still available and will let you know if she gets back to me.

**The answer is YES!** 
Thanks for the quick response Claire.

It was simply stamped onto black card, embossed with gold embossing powder, matted to a slightly larger piece of gold mirri and then adhered to the front with double-sided tape.  

A slightly larger panel of black card was stuck directly behind this on the inside, which cleverly hides all the sticky stuff.  The same thing was done with the message panel inside.   Not very adventurous I know but quite a nice card all the same.  
If you'd prefer to see something MUCH more adventurous, then you need go no further than check out what the other Bah! Humbuggers! have been doing with their acetate - you will not be disappointed!

Think I may go and enjoy the sun for a while now that the washing is out on the line - might take the Promarkers with me.

Blooming June ...

... and it's tipping down!  Typical!
Have got loads'a' birthdays and other celebrations, including Father's Day, this month which means loads'a' cards to make so here are a couple of today's efforts to kick things off.

The first is for a special friend whose birthday is in a couple of weeks time.

An 'Elegant Ladies' Kanban kit  from QVC provided everything needed for this large A4 card except for the inside decoration, where I used some K. and Co. papers matted onto gold mirri card for the decoration and a FunStamps Happy Birthday Wish greeting.  

The smaller ... and much cuter ... card below was inspired by Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 22 which requires entrants to combine our least and most favourite colours.  Hmmmmm ... might be some unusual colour combinations for this one!
Actually, there aren't really any colours I don't like but I chose ORANGE as my least favourite option simply because I very rarely use it.  Obviously BLACK was my most favourite choice.  YES ... I know it is a contrast not a colour, but the challenge rules say it can be included ... PHEW!

The cute little characters are from Penny Black 'Hugs' set and are coloured with Promarkers ... as are the roses which started life a bland cream colour until I attacked them with vanilla and bright orange.  
The zingy orange/yellowy papers are Papermania Sunshine Collection which have been cut with Spellbinder Nestabilities and matted onto black card.  You'll just have to trust me that they are much brighter in real life as the photo doesn't show how vibrant they are - it is really dull and rainy here today and my camera skills leave a lot to be desired so probably that explains that.
The layout follows the Pixie Cottage Challenge 20 - Sketch and using buttons and flowers allows me to enter Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge 85 - Buttons and Blooms too.  Hopefully the weather will improve as the month progresses and we will experience some 'Summer Delights', which is the theme at Cupcake Craft Challenges 93 this week so am going to sneak in there too. 
So ... 'til the next time, take care and hope you have all enjoy a Terrific Tuesday, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.