I'm Dreaming of a Yellow Christmas

Challenges:

Cr84fn Colour Challenge - Yellow, Kraft, Neutrel

Wild Orchid challenge -Sketch

Cupcake Craft challenges -Giftcard holder


Yes, I feel crazy to be making another Christmas card before October (this is still very early for me to be thinking about Xmas cards lol) but I needed to come up with a design for a friend's craft class. I saw the colour combo over at Cr84fn Colour Challenge, and thought it'd be fun to try something different for a festive cards in terms of colours.

I've layered kraft, white card and this yellow/gold damask paper, and got my doilies out again (can't seem to get enough of these recently!) topped with a stitched circle. I love music / script papers at Christmas, and used my fave 7Gypsies paper for the central rectangle, which has been edged with TH Brackets die. I've used hand rolled roses,  made by cutting a spiral into a circle, then inking the edges, spritzing with water, scrunching and fold the edges back and then rolling into a rose. All out of simple white paper. I added a touch of glitter as it is a Christmas card! The Cherry Blossom paper blooms have been flecked with paint for a 'snowy' look, while the leaves were distressed around the edges and inked.

The fun part of this card is the pull out tag. Just a standard kraft tag I decorated and stamped which has been tucked under the square, which was lifted with foam to allow the tag to move freely.
scrunched seam binding, which I coloured with a yellow Pro Marker and ran under the tap to dilute the colour, and pearl snowflake tops the tag off.

Cherry Blossom flowers and small pearls, Wild Orchid Crafts
Music Note paper, 7Gypsies
Yellow Damask paper, Pink Petticoat
Snowflake paper (on circle) Dovecraft
Kraft card
Pearl snowflake, Artoz
Tim Holtz 'Brackets' die
Doily

Feeling Krafty

Another Friday has rolled around, and this week is my first dare (how fun!) for Daring Cardmakers. And I'm challenging you to get... Feeling Krafty


Which means I'd like you to use 'natural' items on your projects, ie. wood, leaves, kraft card, balsa wood, cork, burlap, rope, natural twine etc. The choice is endless, you just need a bit of imagination!
There is a catch though - you must use 3 natural items not just a bit of kraft card!


The natural elements I've used are: twigs, canvas, wood paper, wooden button, wooden skewers and wood print paper. Phew!






I love this birds image from Etsy, which I've used as an iron-on transfer by printing the image onto special transfer paper an then (yes, you've guessed it) ironing it onto a square of canvas. It's a really cool way of using digi images. This has been layered onto Crate Paper wood print card, some distressed peach damask card and wood paper.

I've backed this with a digi frame and added some paper strips for colour and a Tim Holtz ticket greeting. The little green 'sticks' embellishment was made with wooden skewers (!) which were painted with Crackle Paint and finished with a crackled wooden button, which I painted with a layer of green and then a layer of pink on top and picked bits of the crackle off when it was dry to get a shabby two tone effect.


The flowers have been hand made by folding flat blooms into quarters and sticking together. This is the first time I have done this, and I was really pleased with the outcome. I may find / post a tutorial, they are so fun to make! I have accented the flowers and bird canvas with some twigs for a realistic look.

 The card has been finished with crinkled and tea-stained seam binding and a yummy Websters crystal button.


Challenges:
The Shabby Tearoom 'Sweet Days Of Summer' - Pink, peach, green, neutrals and handmade flowers
Ribbon Girl - Ribbon Challenge
Tuesday Throwdown - Texture and Dimension

Wood print paper, from 'Restoration' collection by Crate Paper

Peach Damask, Pink Petticoat

Wood Paper

Canvas

Birds On Wire image from Etsy

Digi frame, Echo Park 'Be Mine' elements from Jessica Sprague

Seam binding
Doily
Tim Holtz 'Love Ticket' and Crackle Paint in 'Shabby Shutters' and 'Tattered Rose'
Webster's 'Sparklers'
Handmade flowers

Sugar Plum

I'm delighted to announce that I've been asked to join the Design Team over at the The Ribbon Reel challenge blog! TRR is one of my favourite blogs/shops so I'm very happy to joining such a great team :) The new current Challenge #9 is 'Sugar Plum' - a colour challenge using: Plum, Silver or Grey, Green

So here is my first DT card!

I started out by using my doily lace punch along the bottom of the Core'dinations backing card and sanded the edges. I've used the lovely grey paper from the new Echo Park 'Victoria Gardens' collection and layered, embossed and sanded strip of purple card then used lace, ribbon and twine across the card. To make the newspaper flower, I cut lengths of paper and gathered them into a rosette onto a sticky die cut circle and finished off with some tissue paper and a brad.

A doily and Nesties Labels 2 which have been embossed and sanded (no, never!) add some shape to the card, and crinkled seam binding topped with scrunched tissue paper discs and paper rose which I've highlighted with white paint give texture. The card is finished off with Perfect Pearls dots and a chipboard heart with glazed with Crackle Accents.

Lace, pleated satin ribbon, Bakers twine, seam binding and rose from The Ribbon Reel
Echo Park 'For The Record' Newsprint paper and
Sentiment, Pink Petticoat
Nestibilities Labels 2 dies
Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder

Banksy

It's Samm's turn to set the dare at Daring Cardmakers this week and her challenge is:
'Inspired by Banksy'

If you're not aware of who he is, then pop on by to Banksy.co.uk and take a look at some of his amazing street art across the world - you could also try a Google Image search on "Banksy" to find lots of fabulous ideas for your card.
So now is your chance to dig out those stencils, use that paint, throw in a few ironic sayings and give your card some 'street life' and show us what you've created.

I must admit, this challenge was a bit of a 'head scratcher' at first - how do you translate the artwork onto card? After perousing the internet for some time I came across this image which I thought would be fun to use. Now obviously I didn't want to make a 'love rat' card, so I've modified the image lol.


I printed out our furry friend and used a white ink pad to create highlighted fur. I've heavily distressed the edges of the card and used ink and paint to highlight them. I hand painted the text and then flicked the paint brush over the card to create paint drops. The heart in the corner has had the same treatment, and I've added to the grungy look by using staples as an embellishment.

Sunny Side Up

Challenges:

Card Patterns sketch

The Ribbon Reel 'Citrus Sunshine'

Simon Says Stamp ands Show Tim Holtz techniques

Firstly, I love these colours aren't they beautiful? I'm pleased that I managed to make a smaller card this time - usually I go for 8x8 or make my own size up, but I've got everything on a 6x6 lol. I started this card by heavily distressing the edges of my paper, then did some fun layering - a die cut scallop, doily, and more die cut circles in various forms and topped it with this fab chipboard bird.

 

 

I've Shabby Shutters crackle paint on the bird and then flicked white paint over to give a mottled effect, and of course inked it! I used seam binding, lace for the bow and finished with pins and a Websters chiffon rose (cut of a length of trim)

I finished with a digi stamp butterfly and some little paper roses.

 

 

Pink Paislee 'Butterfly Garden' print paper

My Minds Eye 'Hazel' papers

Echo Park 'Lace Stripes' paper (yellow)

Tim Holtz Crackle Paint in Shabby Shutters and Picket Fence

Rose chiffon trim, Websters

Basic Grey rub on

Butterfly did stamp, Two Peas In A Bucket

Doily

Pins

Lace & Seam binding

 

So Kawaii

At Daring Cardmakers we have a new challenge this week, and it's Leo's first dare - she wants us to create cards that are So Kawaii!

Kawaii means anything that is lovable, hug-able and basically cute! Think Hello Kitty and food with smiley faces. Most of the colours in kawaii are sugary, fun and bright so we want to see a little fun bright pop colour too. If you're totally stumped this week check out this Kawaii blog for some super cute inspiration, Super Cute Kawaii


Well brace yourself people! This project is bit of a change for me lol,  but I really enjoyed doing something completely different. And I got to use some old stash up, yay :)

I started with a kraft card blank and layered card and these fab Doodlebug paper borders (old stash)
I had the die cut lattice lying around for a good long time, which I used to add some interest to the plain lime card. I cut an uneven sqaure frame with a craft knife and popped a couple of die cut / embossed squares in the centre. The bunny image is from the internet, which I accented with a cute pom pom tail, Glossy Accent eyes and a little flag cake decoration.
I made the star springs by coiling memory wire and attaching stars, sanded uneven circles and buttons.






A bit mad, but So Kawaii!

Papermania 8x8 kraft card blank
Doodlebug 'Paper Frills'
Glitter doodle border and dot paper, Doodlebug
Core'dinations 'Balck Magic' card
Small Kawaii stickers, Paperchase
DMC memory wire
Pink Petticoat greeting and pink doodles paper

City Crafter

Thank you very much to the ladies at the City Crafter, who chose this card as winner of Week 67's challenge 'Vintage Garden'. The prize was a spot as Guest Designer, so look out in the coming weeks :)
And also thanks to the The Shabby Tearoom girls for putting my Cute as a Button card into the 'Terrific Top 3'.

August Flowers

This week it's the first challenge of a new month at Daring Cardmakers, so we'd like you to use the flowers associated with the month of August as the starting point for your cards. August's flowers are

Poppies and Gladioli. You have a choice of using either flower, or go the whole hog and use both of them as the inspiration for your cards!

For my card I chose a poppy, as I had some new Crate Paper rub ons that I wanted to use. I started with die cutting a scalloped card blank and layered a doily on top. I cut a smaller circle and layered die cut strips of card then made a concertina flower, which I've embellished with a stamped doily I cut out and my poppy rub on. I cut the leaves from an Echo Park embellishment which I thought looked rather good! Topped the card off with a tissue bow - I love these, I think they add a nice flair to projects.

And the Challenges...

Papertake Weekly Anything Goes
The Shabby Tearoom Mix 'n' Match - use 3 or more papers

My Minds Eye 'Hazel' papers

Crate Paper 'Restoration' rub ons

Pink Paislee doily stamp from 'Butterfly Garden' collection

Perfect Pearls

Epoxy Button

Tissue paper

Twine

Once Upon A Time

I'll be entering this card into:

The Shabby Tearoom - Mix & Match / 3 or more patterned papers

Card Patterns - Sketch 126

The City Crafter - Vintage Garden (CCCB#67 ); taking inspiration from this gorgeous photo :-

 

When I first saw these inspiration pics, I was instantly inspired by the colours and patterns - and knew I had some papers that were made for this! Said papers are from Pink Petticoat's 'Vintage Rose' collection, which I've used as strips.  I painted this beautiful ornate chipboard frame with Crackle paint and used this as the focal point, and decorated the frame with flowers that have been flecked with paint, I really like the dimension it gives the flowers and pleased I gave it a go! Also used was a corrugated heart with (more) paint and some stamens and a resin rose. The bird is a Tim Holtz die cut which I've inked.

I finished off with a Basic Grey rub on greeting and paper twine and lace bow topped with a little brad and pearl embellishment I made.

 Pink Petticoat 'Vintage Rose' and script paper from 'Perfect Papers'

 Tim Holtz 'Birdcage' die

Martha Stewart 'Doily Lace' punch
Time Holtz Crackle Paint in 'Picket Fence'

Mulberry flowers and stamens

Leaf die
Lace, grosgrain, paper twine