Bah! Humbug! Challenge #20 - Silhouettes

I started off by spraying some shiny card with three shades of blue mica ink and when it dried I stamped the buildings (Crafty Individuals), reindeer (Clarity Stamps) and star (Papermania) in black Archival ink.

The star is embossed with Stardust embossing powder for sparkle and shine.

The ribbon is printed satin from Lidl and the backing paper is from Graphicus.

Thanks for stopping by and having a look - please feel free to leave a comment!

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #105 - Home Sweet Home

What a lovely challenge!

My backing paper this week is courtesy of The Graphics Fairy and I distressed the torn edges with Vintage Photo DI. The image is from Creative Expressions, I masked off most of the stamp and just used one part of the street scene, stamped in Vintage Photo and cut out with the Fleur de Lis Nestability pendant. I mounted this up over some lace and added pansies made from a butterfly punch and coloured with reinkers.

I do hope you like my interpretation and please feel free to leave a comment.

DragonsDream Tag It On Challenge #40 - Surprise Me - What's On Your Desk

I have taken this challenge literally and, with the exception of an inkpad - all the ingredients were on my desk. Prior to this I had been making a card for the Creating Rainbows Forum June card swap.

I sprayed a tag with lilac, violet and silver inks and then stamped in black versafine with SU Very Vintage Vogue stamping wheel. Wrapped some lilac chiffon ribbon around and added a silver butterfly charm. The flowers were made from left over paper from my card and I punched three sizes and added different brads. I also used a hole punch to give the petals a bit of a 'chewed' look. I mounted the tag onto a larger silver tag which I inked around with Victorian Violet Brilliance Ink.

Thanks for stopping by and do feel free to leave a comment.

CD Sunday Challenge - Elegant Ladies

I was given KraftyHands "The Elegant 1920's Vol 1" as a gift quite a while ago and have never used it. Making a card entirely from a CD is not my thing but I printed one of these beauties out and ended up making two - so I thought I would show you both.

All that is required is careful cutting out, shaping and decoupage together with matting and layering. It made a nice change for me and I enjoyed making them. They are very striking cards and I have been overwhelmed with the interest that has been shown from people who have seen them in the 'flesh'. This CD would make great fundraisers and very impressive cards for the less picky, non crafting members of the family!

Hope you like them and thank you for visiting.

OneStop Craft Challenge #81 - Birthstones

I have never entered this challenge before but when I saw the topic was "Birthstones", I knew I had to have a go! The birthstones I have chosen are mine - Aquamarines - for a March birthday.

The dragonfly image (Joanna Sheen) is embossed in silver and embellished with varying sizes of gems. I have sponged several shades of blue around the image and mounted this onto a piece of toning watercolour paper spritzed with glimmer mists.

The backing paper is by Artylicious and the sentiment from Stampin Up.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this card and am very pleased with the result! Thank you for visiting and do please leave a comment.

Crafty Ann's Challenge - Lots of Colour

For this entry I chose two of my favourite colours which have an instant affect on my energy levels - acid yellow and lime green. I need an energy boost after last weekend's battle with the horse!

The backing papers are by Kirsty Wiseman and the butterflies are from a MS punch. I made the flowers from 5 discs of thin cardstock, dampened and scrunched up several times to break down the fibres. A brad is pushed through the middles and then the layers of petals are pinched together and then fluffed out and left to dry. The stems and leaves are from Stampin Up.

I jazzed up the butterflies with Stickles and Pearlidoodles on the middles. Two toning ribbons complete the card.

I am pleased with the way the flowers have turned out and will experiment a bit more using different shapes of petals.

Thanks for stopping by and looking, please feel free to leave a comment!

Bah! Humbug! Challenge #19 - Ribbon

All I knew when I started this card was that I wanted to use the ribbon slot punch I bought ages ago and haven't used yet. It became apparent that I couldn't use it around corners very well so the straight design dictated the layout of the rest of the card.

The ribbon is again courtesy of my friend Gladys and the central image was made up of a nestie cut shape from an old Christmas card which I edged with gold pen and a 4" doily that I sprayed with Red Lava Cosmic Shimmer Mist. I mounted this onto a gold nestie circle. I made it look a bit more of a rosette with the extra ribbon.

I like this because it has all the requisite shine, shimmer and bling I expect on a Christmas card!

Hope you like it too and please feel free to leave a comment.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #104 - New York, New York

I haven't used a stamp at all in this weeks entry. I Googled a picture of the fabulous Radio City building and a yellow New York taxi and mat gelled them to a piece of painted watercolour paper I made about a year ago!

The backing papers are a freebie courtesy of Stamptv and the heart and initial stickers are from Poundland (the thrifty crafter's Mecca).

I am pleased with the result as I really did not know in which direction I was heading with this card. It sort of evolved.

Hope you like my interpretation of New York and thanks for visiting. Please leave a comment as they are much appreciated.

DragonsDream Tag It On #39 - Journey with a Ticket to Ride

I was in the wars last weekend - doing battle with a naughty horse and wrenched my back. Four days of agonising pain later and I know the damage was only muscular! Hooray! Consequently I am a bit behind with my challenges this week and everything has taken much longer to do than usual.

For my tag I used two kraft luggage labels, stamping the larger with a world map and adding luggage which was stamped, coloured in and clear embossed for some dimension. (Stamps by Creative Expressions). The smaller stamps including the ticket (by Crafty Individuals) were also clear embossed and fixed with dimensionals.

Thanks for dropping by and please leave me a comment - I do appreciate them.

Bah! Humbug! Challenge #18 - Punched Borders

This week's entry uses Papermania "A Wonderful Christmas Time" papers and a bit of magic from my friend Gladys who lives down the road.

The card is very simple and keeps to a vintage theme that I am most comfortable with. The paper punch is from Martha Stewart. The sentiment is by Elusive Images and the gorgeous ribbon is a leftover scrap given to me by Gladys who makes the most glorious Christmas wreaths.

Red, green and cream are my most favourite Yule tide colours and I never tire of them.

Thanks for dropping by and do feel free to leave a comment.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #103 - Ocean Shades of Blue & Green & an Initial

I just knew straight away what I wanted to do - FISH! I am going through a very watery phase at the moment I think!

I made the background with alcohol inks, Lettuce, Aqua, Bottle and Stonewash then stamped the fish (Stampin' USA) in black archival, stamping off the page for some of them to create depth.

I drew the seaweed with Pinflair Gel and stuck seed beads and a few sequins on to give more dimension and shimmer. It is the first time I have done this and it seems to work well. The initial came from Rob Adams' Medieval CD which I clear embossed and mounted onto some green satin mirri board like the main image. To finish off I stamped some more fish in Versamark on the base card.

I hope you like it - I am well pleased with this! Feel free to leave a comment, they are very much appreciated.

Dragonsdream Tag It On #38 - Along the River

I am absolutely delighted and honoured to host this week's challenge and hope that you will all join in and give your interpretations of Along the River. This could be anything in, on, under or above the water including things you may see along the riverbank.

My tag recalls the many happy hours as a child and also as a parent with my daughter spent feeding the swans and ducks on our local river.

I brayered the water with Memento London Fog and sponged the sky with SU Bordering Blue. The trees (Crafty Individuals) on the far riverbank were stamped in several shades of green and the riverside sponged in Memento Desert Sand through a mask.

The foreground swans,fence, bullrushes and grasses (Creative Expressions) were stamped using Marvy Markers and the trailing willow (Lavinia Stamps) stamped in Memento Bamboo Leaves.

Thank you for dropping by and please feel free to leave a comment and I hope you join in the fun!

Rainbow Lady's Challenge - Your Own Choice with a Twist

The twist in this challenge is to make our own backing paper - so messy it is!

For the main image I made a background of alcohol inks and then stamped the hollyhocks (Creative Expressions) in Grape archival ink. When it had dried I applied Crackle Accents to the flowers for some shine and dimension.

The background was made from watercolour paper sprayed with various Glimmer Mists and Cosmic Shimmer Mists until the colours toned. It is very shimmery but this does not show on the photograph. I used my new large nesties (oh how I love these) to cut a mat and mounted it all on cream card which I had sponged with pink around the edges.

Hope you like it, I must say I am pleased with how it finally turned out!

Thanks for visiting and please leave a comment.

CD Sunday Challenge #4 - Country Charm

For this card I have used some backing paper from Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady from Joanna Sheen. The subject matter close to my heart - thistles because I live in Scotland and have hundreds in my garden and bees as they are the guardians of the countryside and keepers of secrets.

The thistle is from Crafty Individuals and the bee from The StampMan. Both are stamped in black, embossed in black and sponged with toning inks. The verse is from a much longer poem called The Bee Boy's Song by Rudyard Kipling. Don't forget to tell the bees of any news you have!

Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment.

Crafty Ann's Challenge #14 - Anything Goes

Second post of the day! Must have an election a bit more often ....

I thought I would use the prizes I won from Crafty Ann's a few weeks ago. I know this is not very seasonal but I have been itching to try out the squirrel digi.

I coloured him in with pencils and OMS, cut him out and clear embossed. The leaf litter is stamped in Rusty Hinge DI and some of the leaves (x Tattered Angels) embossed with Dark Bronze Lustre. I also cut out and embossed a separate leaf for a bit of dimension. I used two of the embossed dots backing papers, beige for the leaves and pale green for the background.

Thanks for dropping by and do please leave a comment!

Bah! Humbug! Challenge 17 - Christmas Food

After having sat up half the night watching the election I am rather weary today so I needed to make a clean and simple card.

This is the only image of Christmas food that I possess - a free download from one of the crafting magazines. I coloured it using Marvy markers and then clear embossed and mounted it on a couple of die cut circles. I punched a hole and added a ribbon. Voila!

The backing papers are courtesy of Scrap Girls again a free download.

Hope you like it and I do appreciate all your comments.

Dragonsdream Tag It On #37 - Under Lock and Key

This week's challenge appealed to me particularly as I am a retired police officer, so please indulge me a little on my choice of subject.

My image is from the public domain which I matt gelled to a peeled paint type backing paper (to give the impression of a grotty cell), I stamped handcuffs (Joanna Sheen) in black Archival along the bottom and used Vintage Photo DI around the edges after I had roughed them up a bit. I then mounted this tag onto another stamped around the edges with keys. This was also roughed up and sponged down with Vintage Photo DI. I used raffia for the ribbon part.

Many times in my career I have had to deprive someone of their liberty, I must say, there is nothing quite like the feeling of a heavy cell door slamming shut on a deserving individual.

I hope you like it and do feel free to leave a comment!

CD Sunday Challenge #3 - Baby Talk

Visitors to my blog will probably know that sheep are some of my favourite animals so I was very pleased to have an excuse to feature them in another card!

Laura the Springtime Lamb CD by C.A. Studios was used for the images and backing papers for this card.

Laura and her lambs are decoupaged and mounted on a selection of the lovely pastel backing papers. I used a MS punch for the paper frills and added a ribbon and bow. The sentiment was a magazine freebie and was stamped in Certainly Celery.

Thank you for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment.

Bah! Humbug! Challenge 16 - Snowflakes

I've had a rest this week and let my cuttlebug do most of the work! This card is the prototype for our 2010 bulk Christmas cards. It also has the advantage of being flat so will post at ordinary rates.

The bp is from Papermania's A Wonderful Christmas Time 6 x6 paperpack. The die cuts are by Sizzix and Cuttlebug.

All I had to do was lightly colour with DI Fired Brick and add lashings of Diamond Stickles and a red ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment!