Happy New Year

First, I'd like to wish everyone a very happy 2010.

This is the end of my first year on Blogger, and it's been easier to use than I thought it would be. On the other hand, I still think my other 'home on the web' has a better intrinsic structure than Blogger. (I've been on Livejournal for about six years, although with a different interest base.) I like the facility for replying to comments there, and I really like the community structure which allows you to 'friend' those people you want to know all about and find out about shared interests via community entries for those you don't. Having said that, and probably because you get a lot of personalisation free on Blogger, many people have multiple blogs for different subjects while single accounts with multiple subjects is more normal on Livejournal - or at least that's the impression I've had so far.

And of course, on LJ, this whole bit of waffle would be under a cut so that only those interested would be bothered with it, and the rest would just get the good wishes at the top. And that's probably my cue to stop.

Two More Challenges

I had the house (more or less) to myself for a while today, so I managed to make a card. It's done to fulfill two challenges - Colour Create which called for a lemon and lime colourscheme with an added element of spring or summer flowers. The other challenge was a sketch from Mojo Monday.



I used some stamps I've had for a while (sorry, lost the packaging so don't know whose) and coloured them with Sakura Stardust pens. I also used a dark one to overwrite the text so it had some glitz and I edged the circle with Versacolor ink. The papers are a combination of some I've had forever and some magazine freebies. I used my Wizard and nestibilities, and some ribbon from my stash. I finished it off with a felt butterfly from Mad About Cards and a butterfly brad which was kindly given to me by Shirl from Crafty Cardmaking.

Two Challenges

The first one is Friday Sketchers and the other is the Crafty Cardmakers Favourites of 2009.

I liked the simplicty of the sketch (although I did add to it.) And the Crafty Cardmakers challenge is to use my favourite products or techniques of the year. Well, that's a tough one. I like a lot of different products and techniques, but one of my favourites is definitely my Wizard with nestibilities. I especially love using the flower dies to make my own flowers. This particular die is Blossom 2 which was new at Christmas and I suspect it'll soon be my favourite of the Spellbinder flowers. The papers were decorated with radiant rain, Starburst Stains and Moonshadow ink.



The stamp is from Debbi Moore. Now I bought a set of butterfly stamps from her early in 2009 and I've always had problems with them. They're clear stamps, and they smell much more strongly (even now) than any of the others I've got. They also curl towards the image side. I recently got some rock-a-blocks and I used them instead of perspex blocks. That definitely made it much easier to get a good impression although the stamp still tended to curl off the block. So, I suspect I'll like the rock-a-blocks, although I haven't used them enough yet to give them 'favourite' status. I coloured the image with Promarkers - definitely a favourite for the year, and the papers include the one decorated with Radiant Rain and others from Papermania. The circle cut used a cutter I bought several years ago and use rarely, but when you want a circle cut, it's invaluable since it'll cut a wide range of sizes. And the flowers were finished with sticky gems - definitely a favourite!

The Stamp Man Award

The idea of this award is to to go through the things you've made this year and decide on a favourite - one which is special in some way. I chose this one because (as various people who know me know) I've had problems with stamping in the past. Now, thanks to encouragement from various people, I'm not completely scared of it. And this card is one I did to prove to myself that I could actually achieve a result I was happy with. The details are in the previous post.

For full details of the award, follow the link in the sidebar.

Christmas Cards

Not entered for anything, but I thought I'd post a few of the over one hundred I made this year.



This one is magazine freebie! The image was a stamp which I watercoloured and the backgroud paper came direct from Papercraft Essentials.



This is a simpler one - two stamps from my See Dees collection and I've embossed them in silver. The paper is one I put together.


This one is similar, but embossed in gold and the paper is from Debbi Moore.








This is another pair of See Dees stamps, embossed in clear and coloured with Sakura Stardust pens.












This one is a recycling special. The main image is the front of a card from last year which I loved. I added some backing paper and ribbon, and there it is!









And finally, this is one I did for my other half. The stamp is one I bought from Mad About Cards in one of their 50p specials, but too late for most of my Christmas cards. I suspect it'll be heavily used next year. I inked part of it in black and embossed it with clear powder, then inked the stars with clear and embossed in gold. The background is my first attempt at the cling film technique from The Stampman, although using a different product. The background card is wizarded using a Cuttlebug folder.

Sketch Saturday No. 82

I really haven't had much energy to make cards of late. Of course, doing over a hundred for Christmas might have something to do with that, as might being generally under the weather for the past couple of weeks. Still, the sketch from Sketch Saturday this week looked interesting.



The image is from a Debbi Moore CD of Art Deco and Art Nouveau images, and I've added some Sakura Glitter pen to the fireworks and detail on the woman's dress. The background paper is taken from an element of the image, and I've added some black glitter paper and textured purple from my collection. The flowers were Wizarded from paper painted with Radiant Rain and finished with a sticky gem. The scallops were done the old-fashioned way - with scissors - and I finished both that and the flowers with some glitter glue.

Colour Create Challenge 33

It's been a while since I made any cards - I blame pre-Christmas busy-ness and a long-running low-level lurgy. Still, I got inspired today by the Colour Create challenge which was to make a card with the colours lilac/purple, aqua, black and white. Now turquoise/lilac is one of my favourite colourschemes, but I was a bit wary of having black with them. Still, I coloured a couple of Cute Daisy May images and this is what I came up with.





They both pretty much fulfil the challenge, but if I've got to choose one, I'll go for the first one.

Both images are coloured with Promarkers. I've used some Co'ordinations card embossed in my Wizard with a Cuttlebug folder in both too, and the sentiment is from an Anna Griffin stamp, embossed with Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder.

The larger flowers are made with my Wizard and the smaller ones came from Craft Creations.

Non Traditional Christmas Card

The new challenge on the Crafty Cardmakers Blog is either to make a Christmas card in non-traditional colours or to use traditional colours and a non-Christmas image. Well, I went for the former.



I used a brass stencil - a Dreamweaver one, I think - and watercoloured the hat, scarf and carrot nose. I then added embossing pen to the star and wording and embossed them in silver. The card background is stamped in Versamark Baby Blue with a snowflake stamp which was one of the first I ever bought some years ago, and finished it with some blue and silver ribbon.

Faux Cloisonne (Again)

Or, I really should say this is the first time. A few weeks ago, I made this post, but said the idea inspired me to make a card for a swap. Well, I now know the card's been received, so I can post it here too!



This time, I used a fairly old butterfly stamp, embossed it in gold and painted them with my twinkling H2Os. When that was dry, I painted over the colour with a clear varnish. The detail butterflies were stamped on two layers of fantasy film - I can't actually remember which colour because it didn't seem to matter which I used, it always looked about the same. The theme of the swap was 'transparent', and the butterfly wings just about comply with that. After that, all I added was some ribbon from an Autumn collection I bought in Hobbycraft.

Friday Sketchers Challenge No. 78

I really liked this sketch - it's nice and symmetrical while still having something a little different about it. (What can I say? I like symmetry.)



The image is from Cute Daisy May, and it's coloured with my Promarkers and edged with Olive Versamark.

The paper is actually from a Christmas collection, although it's not specifically Christmassy, and the ribbon is some raffia ribbon I've had for a while with a little olive green added. It's finished with a couple of flowers and brads from my collection.

Stamp Something!

When I first got into papercrafting, I tried stamping and quickly decided (well, not that quickly - I still bought quite a few stamps) that it wasn't for me. Then, I joined the Crafty Cardmakers group and decided to give it another go. Now, it's something I'm starting to enjoy although I still get frustrated from time to time when things don't work the way I expected. Still, I recently got some Oliphant stamps which intrigued me because they've got a figure of a boy and a girl as well as several background elements.

The Crafty Cardmakers challenge this time is to stamp something, so I had a play.



As an additional challenge, we had to try something we hadn't tried before. Well, I tried something I've never had any success at before ... masking so I could add the chair, tree stump and robin.

I coloured with my Promarkers. I'm still getting the hang of them, and I'm finding it easier to get the effect I want but sometimes it still doesn't look the way I expected it to. I suspect that's my total lack of an artistic background coming through.

In the background is some paper from the Paper Cellar and I Wizarded some Co'ordinations card with a Cuttlebug folder and cut a snowflake. Then I added some glitter, a stick on gem and some ribbon.

Anniversary Card

One of my colleagues' parents' celebrate their 51st wedding anniversary at the end of this month. In fact, they got married one day after my own parents, although sadly my dad died just short of their fortieth anniversary. I did a fairly serious golden card last year, and this year, she decided she'd like something 'fun', so this is what I came up with.



The central image is one I got from Craft Creations. I've embossed the raindrops and puddle with holographic powder and decoupaged the image. The background papers I made in Photoshop elements, based on the umbrella. The sentiment is one of those 'needs no ink' stamps which have their own reservoir and it and the heart are also embossed with the holographic powder.

Abstract in Acetate

The cardmaking group I belong to has recently instigated a digital challenge. Each month there's a digital image freebie from somewhere which we're directed to, and then we can see just how different the results can be. This month gave some interesting results, and this was my attempt.



First, I coloured the image in Photoshop Elements using several opacity gradients in the various colours. I only coloured some sections of the image in each of three layers, and then I printed the base and coloured layers onto acetate. I layered the various images onto silver holographic card, separating the layers with a frame of card, then added a frame on the top, some peel offs and ribbon.

My original idea had been to have a completely uncoloured layer, but decided not to use it, so instead, I coloured that version with Sakura Glaze pens and a second card was the result!



As you can see, the colours are a lot stronger this time, and again I mounted it on silver holographic card.

The original image came from Dover Books. Each week, if you sign up for it, they'll send you some free samples from their various publications, and this is one of those. If you're interested, go to http://www.doverpublications.com/sampler1/ and sign up!

Friday Sketchers 75 and Trying Out My Winnings!

I joined Papercraft Planet this last week, and while there spotted a group with an emphasis on digital stamps called 'DZ Doodles'. I joined, and it turned out I was member no. 100, so I was awarded a free stamp from the collection. I chose one called 'Shelby Contemplating' and I used it with Friday Sketchers Challenge no. 75.



It's such a lovely image of a little girl lost in a daydream or thinking deep thoughts! I coloured it with my week-old Promarkers. (I'm still getting the hang of them and finding out which papers and cards are best.) The papers are from Papermania and Creative Cardmaking magazine, and the ribbon from the bargain bin at Hobbycraft! The text is perhaps a little deep for a little girl, but then again, you never know!

Many thanks to Diane Zyla of DZ Doodles for the image. There are some absolute beauties on the site.

Autumn Challenge Crafty Cardmakers

I was watching Create and Craft one night recently, or at least, it was on in the background while I was doing something. It was late and I got up to switch off the TV and a moment later I was hooked by someone doing a demo of what they called 'Faux Cloisonne' and I just had to have a go. Can't show you the card I made that night because it's needed for a swap, but when I saw this challenge on Crafty Cardmakers, I decided to do something similar.



The stamp is part of a set of clear stamps I bought in Partners, and I embossed the images in gold on dark brown card. Then, I pulled out my Twinkling H2Os and painted the leaves in Sunflower, Solar Gold, Indian Copper and Spiced Pumpkin. Once the paint was dry I coated each stamped image with 3D glaze and left it to dry. The card then just needed a topper, and I did that with an embossing pen and gold powder. I also painted on some gold Crafty Notions Shake'n'Spray then did the same with some die-cut leaves I've had in the house for a very long time. A bit of layering and ribbon and that was that! I must admit I love the effect, so there may be more of it in the future.

Creative Card Crew 32 and Sketch Saturday 73

This card is for Creative Card Crew Challenge 32 which was to include scallops in a card and Sketch Saturday Challenge 73.

I used a new (to me) stamp from Sugar Nellie coloured with my brand new Promarkers. It's not my first attempt, since it took me a while to work out (ask various experts) what sort of paper or card I should be using, but it's still an early attempt. It's mounted on various card, including a bit with scallops courtesy of my Nestibilities. (Why did I ever doubt how often I'd use them or my Wizard?) The paper is one I've had for quite literally years. For the bottom panel, I embossed a piece of the same gold card I'd used above, using a Cuttlebug embossing folder, and inked the embossed areas in green. I added some gems, ribbon and a sentiment from my collection, and there it is.

Note to self: Don't let people distract you while you're entering challanges. Otherwise you set up a post in your own blog but forget to link it in the challenge blogs. Fixed now.

Grey and ??? Card

One of the swaps on the Crafty Cardmaking Yahoo group this month was to make a card using the colour grey and one other. I considered all the options and finally decided to go for grey and white, and as I know my partner has received my card, I've posted it below!



I used my Wizard to cut smaller sections of the 'In Spades' medallion set, and mounted them in a square array. The backing paper pretty much makes the card - it's from a beautiful soft toned set from Paper Cellar called Victorian Classic. All I had to add then were some sticky gems and some ribbon.

Sketch Saturday 72 and Colour Create 29

Two challenges, one card.



The first is a sketch challenge from Sketch Saturday and the second is a colourscheme from Colour Create which called for red, yellow, black and white.

I'm one of those who find it difficult to incorporate black in cards, but I remembered that I'd made a paper with those colours from a Dover Books sample ages ago. Of course, I couldn't find it, so I had to start from scratch. The original is an outline of fans against a background, and I took one repeat of the background, coloured it, and made it into an A4 sheet. The two parallel backing sheets were made by inking up my new Spellbinders Impressiblity (it's called 'Floral Stone') and embossing pieces of white and yellow card with red and black. A bit of matting finished both of those. The image is one of the Sarah Kay stamps I bought recently. I added some ribbon, flowers and a sentiment and that's it. The sentiment is kind of an experiment. I like the look of the new stamps from Spellbinders that are sized to fit nestibilities. It's a great idea, but when I looked, the only set I thought I'd use in terms of the sentiments was just too big to be practical for cardmaking. So, I decided to do my own! I played in Photoshop Elements, sized a circle and placed each letter and symbol separately. (Unfortunately, there's no option to have anything other than a horizontal line as a baseline for text in that software, so I had to twist each letter separately and place it.) Next time, I'll probably make things a little smaller, but the theory works and of course, I can have any wording I like - and any image (within reason) in the middle, so it looks like I might have saved myself some money ...

Crafty Cardmakers Ribbons and Fibres Challenge

Several years ago, I got a bouquet of flowers that had some pink, lacy fibre tied in a bow for decoration. I kept it and I've been looking for a reason to use it ever since. Well, thanks to the latest challenge at the Crafty Cardmakers blog, I've done it.



I've used one of my new Sarah Kay stamps again, this time watercoloured with the colourscheme in mind, added some satin ribbon and some little flower gems.

And there will be no more cardmaking for now - the new Stargate Universe is due to start soon, and if it's even half as good as the original series, I'll be hooked.

Fred she Said Challenge

For World Cardmaking Day, Tracey of Fred, She Said wanted a card made from one of her lovely images - free or paid for. As it happened, I'd made a card using her beautiful freebie flower image for a different challenge and I had some unused bits begging to be put together.



Apart from using a different layout, I also used some of the other papers I made using the colours from the flower. Then, I added some clear Sakura Stardust pen to key areas for some sparkle, layered with various nestibilities, and added a bow. Once again, the image is so lovely that it doesn't need anything complicated to make a really lovely card.

Two New Stamps

And to celebrate, I've made a couple of cards. Typically of me, I don't plan the card in advance, and in this case, I just stamped the images and coloured them as the notion took me. Then, of course, I've got the job of trying to find all the bits I need to make a card.



This first one had a ready-made flower left over from a recent swap on the Crafty Cardmaking Yahoo group. I scrambled through my papers and found the plaid-style one which is actually a little more pink than lilac, but which somehow just seemed to work colour-wise. The other paper is from a collection I got ages ago. It won't cut on my trimmer, tending to bend instead, but I was fairly pleased with how it cut in my Wizard.



This second one was actually harder. Although I've got a whole book-full of bluish papers, this one was the best option. Then, when I tried to pull out the pink from the image, it didn't work at all. It took me a while to realise that using the yellow of her hair (and of the flower centres on the paper) would be a better option for introducing a different colour.

I assume it's because of my total lack of any artistic background that things like that aren't more obvious to me. I think I'm pretty good at working out what works and what doesn't when I look at it, but I've got to try it out. I can't just 'imagine' it and know.

The detail on the stamps is very clear and they both stamped easily. I like the Sarah Kay stamps but would like to find some that are a little less old-fashioned looking. I'd like to get something as detailled as these, but still with a full-featured face. And preferably without animals. (Fussy, aren't I?)

And both photos were taken on my now two-week-old camera phone. I'm reasonably impressed with the quality - it's certainly not noticably lower than from the rather elderly camera I usually use.

Yellow/Blue Flower

I made this card for the Sketch and Stash Challenge using a (new-to-me) freebie from Fred, She Said. I love the colours in this so much. I used them to make a couple of backing papers and used one of them for the main card and I cut a flower out of the other for a simple addition to balance the card. I really struggled with this sketch, and played for a long time before I realised I'd be much happier with the layout if I rotated it - which is what I finally did. And apart from adding a little ribbon from my ever-increasing collection, and a couple of stick-on gems, that's about that. An A4 sheet was big enough to print enough bits for two of the main flowers, so I'll have to try something different with the image next time. I suspect there'll be glitter.

A Couple of Challenges!

Haven't done any of these for a while. I think the whole business of getting back to work after the summer kind of got in the way.



There's a new challenge blog that Vixykins pointed out - Crafty Catz and they wanted a card with a green/blue/brown colourscheme. Then there's Sketch Saturday which is what I based the layout on.

The image is a freebie from Squigglefly which I've watercoloured with marker pens. I printed the image onto matte coated ink jet paper which, while it keeps the ink outline more intact during watercolouring than any watercolour paper I've tried, sometimes seems to 'grab' colour and refuse to let it go. I'm still working out the best way to use that paper, and I did manage some fairly even colour gradations. The overall effect is a little fussier than I usually go for, but that's one of the things about sketches - they get you to try things you wouldn't otherwise.

The border is done with a lattice borderability die from Spellbinders and the background paper is from a Papermania set.

A Wedding Card

I was asked by a colleague to make a card for a couple getting married in Barbados at the end of the month. There weren't many other details available - no colour scheme, for example, so I had to work with what I had.



I didn't have much stash with a suitable theme, so I hunted for a permission-free stock photo of a beach sunset, and printed it directly onto A4 card at 30% opacity along with some wording. Then, I picked a tone from the card and printed a silhouette of a palm tree onto polyester film.

I did buy some stamps of a stylised silhouette of a wedding couple and I stamped the largest of those onto shrink plastic in cocoa Versamark. I attached the resulting charm to the polyester with a gold jump ring and finished the outside with a cream ribbon and bow.

Blue Green Swap Card

The image is one of my Dover images - this is one of the flower set I bought a while ago. I printed it on my preferred Ryman matt coated paper then watercoloured it with marker pens - something I'm practising at the moment. The problem is that I like solid blocks of colour, so getting myself to consider shades is hard work - and that's before I start on my lack of skill.

The backing papers are both made by me using my trusty Photoshop Elements.

I was going to put up another one, but I've just searched for the photo and can't find it. Why do I take multiple photos of some cards but forget others?

My next challenge is to make a wedding card at the request of a colleague. The wedding's taking place in Barbados, and she's going to get me information on names, date, colours and/or photos, but the venue's really throwing me. I get the feeling I should reflect that, but it seems very unwedding-y to me. (But then, beaches and a hot climate really don't appeal to me at all.)

Another Christmas Card

I make a lot of Christmas cards. Well, for a start, I don't buy any, and I give cards to all the staff at the school where I work - and that's over fifty before I consider anyone else. Because of that, a lot of the cards are done on a production-line basis - but I still do some one-offs, and this is one of those.

I stamped Father Christmas' sleigh in graphite Versacolor and embossed with clear powder. I then stamped the trees in evergreen and watercoloured them with the same ink. Then, I used an embossing pen over the whole area of the trees and embossed with clear. I added some 'snow' dots with the embossing pen and embossed them, then masked the lower area of the paper with some scrap to make the ground and brayered the sky using a mixture of regal blue and lagoon ink. I added some shading of the white ground.The paper came from my collection, and the ribbon from Hobbycraft. The snowflakes were cut and embossed on my Wizard.

Kreativ Blogger Award

Thanks,Vix! (But I doubt there are seven people I could pass this on to.)



The instructions are as follows: 1) Thank the person who nominated you for this award
2) Copy the logo and place it on your blog
3) Link the person who nominated you for this award
4) Name 7 things about yourself people might find interesting
5) Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers
6) Post links to the seven blogs you nominate
7) Leave comments on all 7 blogs letting them know you nominated them

Seven things about me ...

1. I'm a Scot, despite having lived south of the border for longer than I lived north of it.
2. I'm a mum to three with ages ranging from 20 to 15.
3. I work in a special school with autistic children.
4. I have some strange sensory issues - especially around wet skin and hair. *shudder*
5. I've been married for 23 years.
6. I'm a scientist by background and can't help looking at colour that way. That makes it easier to work with web colours (hexadecimals), which I still do even if I'm putting something together to print on paper.
7. Apart from cardmaking, my interests are around Science Fiction, and Fantasy and I love reading.

Nominees: Toria
Lizzie
Teresa

(I'm pretty new to blogging, and just don't 'know' that many people And I'm not going to go posting on everyone's blog - that seems kind of pushy to me! Livejournal background - you can tag someone on your own journal, but if they haven't got time to read that, they also get out of doing whatever you're asking them to do!)

Christmas Cards

I've done a few already, but I've still got lots to do. So, when this week's challenge on the Crafty Cardmakers blog was for a card with complimentary colours, I immediately thought of red and green. And then there was a sketch on Sketch and Stash.



I printed some papers I got on a CD from Crafts Beautiful a while ago, and added a image of a tree that came from a See D's set I bought recently. I coloured it with a mixture of Sakura Stardust and Glaze pens and fibre tip markers. I finished it with a dome sticker, some ribbon and holly leaves from my collection.

Crafty Cardmakers Blossoms Challenge

The final kick for me to start a blog here was the formation of the Crafty Cardmakers blog - and it's got its first challenge on right now. The idea is to use flowers somewhere on the card, and, as usual, I take things kind of literally.



I used my nestibility flower dies to make three flowers using scraps from a box of such things, playing with ways to make them more dimensional - in this instance, mountain folding each petal and cutting between petals, and finishing them with silver brads. Then, for contrast, I used an embellishment that was part of my secret Santa present from Vix on the cardmaking group. I used some coredinations card in the background - two shades, each embossed with different Cuttlebug folders and lightly sanded,and topped that off with some hand made and some textured paper I've had for a while.

I'm sure there are better ways yet to dimensionalise those flowers, so I'll keep trying different things. (Up to the limit where they're difficult to post anyway ...)

Playing with my Medallions

It seems like a while since I last finished a card - especially since it's still the summer holiday!

A couple of days ago, I got two medallion dies to match the borderabilities I got a little while ago. I had to have a play, and these dies just seem to beg for a bit of glitz, so here's the result using the Spades medallion and borderability.



I've used gold mirriboard (scallopped octagon) and pearlescent cream for the medallion. The inside of the card has a strip of some paisley paper I've had for so long I'm really not sure what it is! And that's it. I think it'd make a lovely golden wedding card in those colours, and of course, with a colour change, there are lots of other possibilities!

Got tired of the background of my blog so I went searching for something I liked better. Didn't find anything, so I went back to plan a): to do my own. Last time I tried that here I failed - couldn't get the background to size correctly at all. As I made it bigger, it got smaller and other crazy things. Realised the problem was probably Photobucket trying to keep the file size down so I reduced the quality a bit and viola! It actually worked! I may tweak or completely change it in a day or two, and in the meantime, it really does need a matching banner. I'll have to see how this evening goes!

Dragonflies

I have a love/hate relationship with stamping. I've been so disappointed with some of the results I've had that I all but retired my stamps completely. I've been encouraged to have another go courtesy of the Crafty Cardmaking group, and had a few successes, but I'm still not entirely comfortable with it.

Today, I set about trying to make a card for the Sketch and Stash challenge. The stamp is fairly new - definitely not previously used - and it was a freebie on Craft Stamper. I used it for the main feature as well as the backing papers, and finished it off with flowers made using my Spellbinders blossom nestibilities. The backing papers are stamped in Versacolor in olive, ash rose and marigold, and the feature is stamped in Hobbycraft metallic ink and embossed with clear, holographic powder.



Having stamped a whole A4 sheet with the dragonflies, I decided to do another card - this time my preferred square format. It also fulfils the criteria of the Colour Create challenge - to use pink, green and orange.




The dragonflies are done as above, but this time I used the Spellbinders Impressibilities die (Butterfly) to emboss the side panel, and I inked it with more of the Versacolor olive. (I love that effect!) I finished it with some dragonfly brads given to me by a generous friend on Crafty Cardmakers - thanks again, Shirl!

Flowers Card

I'm actually rather pleased with this card. The image is one I put together using some basic shapes on a vector drawing package. I printed it, then coloured it with Sakura Stardust pens. I cut layers using my Wizard and nestibilities. The background paper is a freebie from a magazine a while ago that just seemed to work. I embossed some lilac Co'ordinationscard using a Cuttlebug embossing folder (again in my Wizard), sanded it and put everything together, before adding some flower gems.

Peacock Card

I'm pretty inexperienced when it comes to watercolour - but I loved this image of peacocks, and had to have a go. I used twinkling H2Os, and I was fairly pleased with the result. The background paper was made from a couple of elements of the original digital image and coloured to match the main image using Photoshop Elements. The original image is from Dover Books - I got it as one of their weekly sampler images.

My eldest will be twenty next month, and like all males, he's almost impossible to design cards for. This year, I decided to keep it simple, and designed a card on my computer. I used a bit of software I've had for a while called Namo Webcanvas which is a vector image editor and that allowed me to fill the various letters with patterns. It's printed on specially coated card from Ryman that gives excellent quality results but looks like standard, smooth white card. I put the name on the front of a 144mm square card and cut out the centre of the 0 and around the outside.

The name is completely cut out and mounted on sticky pads.