Card catch up.

Here's a brief rundown of some of the cards I've made this month. I'm holding one back until next month so as not to spoil the surprise for the recipient.

First up is a card for a friend's little girl who turned 2 this month...

 

I particularly enjoyed the paper piecing on this one and I love how the rainbow came out.

 

This is a thank you card for a friend who lent an ear when I really needed it. I coloured the Hero Arts stamp with my Stampin' Up markers and blended the tail with water. The patterned paper is from Domestic Goddess SU set, which matches perfectly with the Calypso Coral cardstock.

Finally, two cards for twins who turned 3 this month. I really wanted to make them a card each, and make each card personalised, as I would imagine it's hard to have a real sense of identity when you're a twin.

A similar layout to the earlier card, but this time I've used papers from the Just Add Cake DSP from Stampin' Up! The letters are created using the Timeless Type alphabet dies (also from SU). I also added a little educational element to each card by making one of the animals on each card the 'wrong' colour and asking inside which one it is. Can you spot them?

Willowing ATC swap - February - Stars

There's been a distinct lack of blog entries this month because most of it has been spent dealing with illnesses, either my own or that of my family. I have still been making cards and getting a little bit of art done, I just haven't had chance to blog about it. I'll blog my cards in another post later tonight but for now, here's my latest ATCs for the Willowing swap.

The theme for February was Stars and it was great to see the different ways in which the theme was interpreted by participants. Some used star shapes while others used 'stars' to mean 'celebrity'. I decided to go down the astronomical route and try to recreate some of the amazing pictures I'd seen of various Nebulas on the NASA website. Here's a couple of examples of the look I was going for...

Now, nothing I could ever produce could compete with those beauties of nature so my efforts are merely a tribute.

 

 I used a mixture of Stampin' Up's Craft ink in Whisper White and various oil pastels. The tiny stars were added with a gel pen. These ATCs are currently winging their way over to Texas, USA.

Willowing ATC swap - January - Ladybirds

One of the new artistic adventures I've signed up to this year is the ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap over at willowing.ning.com.

The theme for January was Ladybirds and all I knew was that I wanted to do cute ladybirds as I think realistic ones are horrible looking things!

I've never done an ATC swap before, although I did make a set of 4 ATCs for a challenge last year (my first ATCs ever). It's quite tricky to get used to the size as they are only 2 1/2" x 3 1/2". I started off by sketching the ladybirds and filling in the space around them with sponged distress inks.

Then I stamped the sentiments before adding some embossed flowers and dots. I also added a dot of crystal effects to the centre of each flower.





Finally, I coloured the ladybirds with my SU markers and added a cheeky face with a gel pen.

I hope my swap partner (Marlene in Nevada) likes them. February's theme is Stars so I need to get my thinking cap on for that one.

Art and Sole Postcard Challenge Week 5 - France

A rather delayed postcard this week but I'm still thrilled that it's materialised at all as I felt it was beyond my capabilities at one point.

The country this week was France. For some strange reason, rather than the usual symbols of French life (the flag, Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rouge etc) I immediately thought of Jules Verne. Verne wrote science fiction novels in the late 1800s, many of which were made into feature films, and I've incorporated elements of four of these into my postcard.

The moon (with 'rocket' stuck in one eye) is from 'From the Earth to the Moon'. The Giant toadstools and flying Pterodactyl are from the novel 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth'. The hot air balloon is a nod to the famous 'Around the World in 80 Days' and the Giant Squid (attacking 'The Nautilus') is from '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'.