A Couple More Birthday Cards

I've managed to get a couple more cards photographed, so here they are!

This is an unusual card for me - not least because it's watercoloured! The gorgeous image is from Becky Muir and I printed it out ages ago. I also watercoloured it ages ago - about the time I first got my Aquamarkers. But for various reasons, I never did anything with it and it's languished in a box until recently. I've always loved the image, and I was reasonably happy with the watercolouring although I'm not generally.

So, I cut and matted the image with various Labels 8 Nesties, added some paper from Papermania and a Sizzix die cut finished with some sticky gems, and that's it!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Craft Us Crazy where they want us to 'get cutting',
Lady Anne where anything goes,
Crafty Bloggers Network where anything goes.
Sweet Pea Stampers where they want digital stamps,

Now, for the second card, if, by any chance, my daughter is visiting here, she should leave now. No scrolling down, please. (I don't think it's likely she'll visit, but it's a possibility.)

So, now, the other card is for my daughter's 19th birthday.

Of course, this is a Ching Chou Kuik image, and it's been coloured with Promarkers. The stamped image was kindly given to me by a blogging friend ages ago, and I've been saving it for a special occasion!

In the background, I've used some paper I got on clearance from Craft Creations last time I put in a card order. It's really pretty - embossed and foiled too. The other paper is from Papermania.

The die cut is from Cottage Cutz. I'm reasonably impressed with how it's cut the mirriboard here - although it took a lot of passes through my machine. I think the problem I've had before with this die is due to the ejection foam. Attaching the die to the card as I would a 'normal' die doesn't work as the card seems to stretch during the first pass and subsequent passes shave bits off each cut line. Here, I've used eight bits of tape to hold the card securely all round, and I've then run it through with extra shims and at different angles until it seemed to be cut. Even so, there are a couple of areas where the paper behind the mirror finish wasn't completely cut, but I've managed to finish that by hand.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Forever Friends where they want animals/butterflies or birds,
Hanna and Friends where anything goes,
Moving Along with the Times where it's 'Only Girls Allowed',
Flutterby Wednesday where it's an open challenge.

March is Apparently Birthday Month

It seems to me that a lot of people have March birthdays. And, because I hate doing things last minute, and because I spend the end of every year concentrating on Christmas cards, I often find there's nothing ready-made in my box! So, I've been working on a few, and of course, Valentine's Day is coming up too.

First, the card I made for my OH. I'm a firm believer that valentines should never be signed, so although he's going to know it's from me, it'll be signed 'an admirer'! I've used some gorgeous shimmer card I picked up at the BSSBS at Alexandra Palace in September, and embossed it using one of my new Embossalicious square embossing folders! Thank goodness that there's one company out there who have realised that most people seem to make square cards! The heart dies are from Marianne, and the label die is from Spellbinders.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Top Tip Tuesdays where the theme is 'Let me call you Sweetheart',
Party Time Tuesdays where the theme is 'love and romance',
Crazy Amigos where the theme is 'hearts',
Celebrate the Occasion where they want a valentine card with ribbon,
Emerald Faeries where the theme is 'love',
Cards for Men where the theme is love/romance,
Created with Love Challenges where the theme is Valentines,
Kaboodle Doodles where they want hearts,
Dream Valley where they want valentines,
The ABC challenge where they're going dotty.

This is the first of two birthday card in this post. The image is from Delicious Doodles via Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps.I coloured it with Promarkers and Flexmarkers and cut it with my Spellbinders Octagon die. I matted with more octagons. The paper is from the Papermania Capsule collection - one of my absolute favourites from that pad. I finished with die cut 'leaves' and some flowers made from punched shapes. I added shading to the petals using Distress Ink.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Craftroom Challenge where they want us to make our own embellishments,
Bearly Mine where anything goes,
Papertake Weekly where anything goes,
Happy Campers where they want flowers and something digital (the image is a digi),

And another birthday card. This one uses an image from a stamp I bought at Alexandra Palace. I can't tell you whose stamp it is - it was in a bargain bucket and I just fell in love with the simplicity of it. It kind of reminds me of Clarice Cliff images. I stamped in Memento ink and coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers. The first mat is die cut using a Nellie Snellen die. In the background, I've got some paper I've had for many years - it was a magazine freebie. I've also embossed some card. The folder is a Sizzix one and I've added some colour to the embossing using some pastel sticks and softened the effect with a brush.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Artistic Inspirations where they want embossing,
Bunny Zoe where anything goes,

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 84

This Crafty Cardmakers challenge is hosted by my team-mate Kylie, and she says, 'I would like to see a challenge that incorporates "Vintage Love". Your project must be vintage and show at least one object that reminds people of love. Perhaps a picnic basket, gold locket, love letter, etc.' Here are some photos for inspiration.

I've got to say that vintage isn't my favourite style, but I raided my stash of digital images and came up with an image and paper from the Crafty Image Emporium CD which I've had for several years but used less often that I would have thought, and I came up with this:

I altered the image in Photoshop Elements, removing the background and adding one of the digital papers from the CDrom. (I had to do that to make the image fit a circular format!) I sized it for my circle nesties, added the text, and printed on glossy photo paper. I matted using a scallopped nestie, and then used one of my Christmas presents - a doily die from Cottage Cutz - and backed that with a circle cut with my Martha Stewart circle cutter.

I printed more of the same design paper, this time onto matte photo paper, and cut that, and the bits for the easel card using my circle cutter. The doily die I used cuts two separate shapes, so I've used the smaller doily on the base, and finished with a sticky gem and a locket and key die cut set.

I hope you can join us this time.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Die Cutting Divas where anything goes,
Party Time Tuesday where anything goes,
Shopping Our Stash where they want red/love/hearts/valentines
Tuesday Alchemy where anything goes,
Crafty Calendar where the theme is 'love and marriage',
Lady Anne's where anything goes,

Di's Digis where the theme is valentines/love,
One Stop Craft where anything goes,
Sugar Creek Hollow where the theme is 'romantic love',
Card Makin' Mamas where 'they're in the mood for love',

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 149

This week at One Stitch at a Time, our challenge is not to be square - so we're looking for shaped cards and projects.

Our sponsor this week is:

My image this week comes from Floppy Latte Designs. I've got to say, I had more fun colouring this image than I've had for a very long time! I generally love colouring flower images, but this one was especially good.

I've been using my first ever set of Grand nesties - in Labels 1 - to shape the card itself. I coloured with Promarkers. The paper is from a Kate Knight pad which was a magazine freebie last year. The flowers were made using a C'art US die.

I hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Lady Anne's Challenge where anything goes,
Die Cutting Divas where anything goes,
Party Time Tuesday where anything goes,
Tuesday Alchemy where anything goes,
One Stop Craft where anything goes,
Crafty Catz where they want 'anything but square',
Totally Papercrafts where they want us to make our own embellishments,