{make a wish}

Happy Sunday all - I hope you are all having a good weekend!  My card today uses  I made her for the Pollycraft Monday challenge for "swirls and pearls"...

 

I used Cherry Kisses Fairy Socks - I think she is just the sweetest!  (I think I say that for all my stamps and digis, lol!!)  I wanted to create my own background paper and used my Gel-A-Tins called Spiral Symphony - this set is soooo old but it's the one I always turn to when I need a flourish!  I used my Viva Decor Gloss Pen and Viva Decor Pearl Pen in pale blue.  I used my Bazzill Basics Jewel template in Mystical Flourish to line up the pearls.  Simple!


I am also entering this card into Flutterby Wednesday for anything goes and One Stop Craft challenge for fairies and angels (thx for telling me about them, Alison!).


See you all again real soon!

Paper/cardstock: Doodlebug cardstock

Stamps: Cherry Kisses Fairy Socks, CC Designs sentiment

Mediums: Copics, Viva Decor gloss pen in opaque white, Viva Decor Pearl Pen in pale blue

Accents: pearl star (from Quixotic Paperie here), white floss (Quixotic Paperie here)

Tools: Sew Easy Tool (from Quixotic Paperie here), Tim Holtz distressing tool, Bazzill Basics Jewel template in Mystical Flourish

A big 4-0!

One of my favourite clients hit his big 40 last week so of course I just had to make him a card. He's a great guy who is very easy to get on with and we always have a good laugh! He's also a sophisticated, tall Italian and, of course, I wanted a card to reflect his personality. When I saw the new Signature Greetings by Papertrey Ink, I knew it was the perfect sentiment for his card! Dawn McVey has a made a gorgeous card with it, see here. Unfortunately, it was only released on 15 November and couldn't get it in time for his card so I made up my own, but I'll be getting my credit card out to get the set (and perhaps some other items might fall in the 'basket' too!). So here is my card...

And then I made this card for no particular reason apart from liking the papers!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Papers/cardstock: various cardstock, SEI Jake papers

Stamps: none
Mediums: none

Accents: BasicGrey die cut numbers
Tools: EK Success Binder Edge edger punch, various Woodware star punches, Crop-a-Dile Corner Chomper, pc (sentiment)

A double whammy! A first for me!

Yay! I've completed Mojo Monday sketch #113 AND Sparkle's Christmas card challenge #50! It's the first time I've done a double whammy as I find it difficult enough to just focus on one challenge at a time! So here's the sketch...

And here's my card...

I surprised myself by creating this card in less than two hours - it normally takes me a few days to mull over what it will look like and then a few hours to bring it together. I wish being creative came more naturally to me, rather than having to work at it so hard!

Now let's see if I can squeeze another card in by Sunday...

Papers/cardstock: various cardstock, DCWV glitter card (snowflakes), Tinkering Ink Yuletide paper pad
Stamps: Gel-a-Tins Holiday Mail (sentiment)

Mediums: Pebbles Inc paint (combination of colours to match the paper), Stickles glue in Diamond
Accents: ribbon from stash, Queen & Co gems, Cosmo Cricket chipboard Christmas ornament, Bazzill white floss

Tools: Martha Stewart Cornice borderpunch, circle and scallop circle punches, snowflake punch

Sparkle Creations challenge - how square can you go?!

Have you seen Sparkle of Sparkle Creations yet? I love her style - her cards are always really interesting yet keeps them fresh and fun. I especially like the way she uses embellishments. I struggle to get the right balance with mine so I always keep them to a minimum - I'm sure I could do better though as I often think my cards lack that extra "zing" (think of a whitening toothpaste advert!).

Anyway, in her Christmas Card Challenge week #48, you need to use multiple squares. Here is my entry...

I used 1mm foam pads under the squares to give them a little lift otherwise it looked flat and boring. I tried using gems and dew drops but I couldn't make it work (again!) so left it pretty plain with just the ribbon. Overall, I think I like it! And did you notice that it's NOT square? Yay, I managed it!!

Cardstock: various Bazzill cardstock, BasicGrey Eskimo Kisses

Stamps: Gel-a-Tins Holiday Mail

Mediums: various VersaMagic inks

Accents: Maya Road Trinkets Season ribbon

Tools: Martha Stewart New Scallop border punch

JUGS challenge - 3D flower

I recently found this great blog called Just Us Girls Challenge from one of the designers, Kristin Bueter. Well, I had a double whammy smile on my face after finding Kristin! First because I love Kristin's designs (look at one of my favs, her Very Tweet Thank You card here) and secondly because the JUGS challenges are a little different. A great way to start stretching my cardmaking skills now that I'm more confident since first starting my blog!

This week's challenge is to create a 3D flower. Unfortunately, I didn't have any tissue paper to create their pretty fluffy version so I had to improvise. Hhmm, not my greatest crafting skill. Instead, I used my Nestabilities Blossom 2. I die cut three sizes and then used a pen with a wide rounded end to shape the back of them. I then layered them up, reversing the side of the middle size to create a bit more interest. Not as clever as those fluffy flowers, but I liked the way the paper got creased - a look that goes well with that paper! Here it is...


Actually, there was a third smile from meeting Kristin. She directed me to Picasa where it was so simple to fix the awful lighting in my cards - by simply clicking on 'feeling lucky' it freshed them up and it doesn't leave that awful glare you get after using MS Office Picture Manager. A HUGE thanks and HUGS to Kristin!! You're a super cool generous girl!


Papers/cardstock: Bazzill vanilla cardstock, Cosmo Cricket Little Girls paper collection
Mediums: Elzybells White Pigment inkpad in Sugar Candy (this is fabulous stuff!!), detailed white embossing powder
Stamps: sentiment from Gel-a-Tins Mini-Fancy Flakes & Sayings
Accents: BasicGrey buttons, Crate Paper Blue Hill pink trim, string from stash
Tools: Nestabilities Blossom Two, end of a pen!

Wedding card

At last! I've created the wedding card for my friend! I mulled over it for ages because I wanted it to be perfect for her. Not sure if I achieved that but I think it's a style she'll like - simple and elegant. What do you think...?



I spent ages looking at all of the gorgeous papers I've bought and got myself into a twist with the choice! I turned to my stamp collection (not those kind of stamps!) and found a Gel-a-Tins damask stamp that I haven't touched yet (and there's a lot more of those, I can tell you!). I decided to create my own background. At first I wanted to get that flock look and tried various inks to make the flock stick to it, but it just wasn't giving me the coverage I was looking for! I abandoned the idea and just inked it up with my favourite Versafine black ink. After putting it all together, I felt it was a bit flat so I used Liquid Pearls in the middle of each "flower" of the Hero Arts background stamp. Not sure if you can see it in the photo below...



So, still not sure if I love it, but I do like it. Any advice on improving it would be most welcome!


Cardstock: Bazzill Basics
Stamps: Hero Arts Dots & Flowers, Gel-a-Tins Wallpaper Series #1, sentiment from the Papermania Boutique stamp set
Mediums: Versafine Onyx Black ink, Liquid Pearls Silver Pearl
Accents: Anita's silver satin ribbon, Anita's silver organza ribbon
Tools: Fiskars Scallop Sentiment border punch