Inspiration

I was inspired by some articles in the last Craft Stamper (March 2012) magazine. One of the articles by Judy Laing, was about using markers and she produced some beautiful cards for the article.

I used her examples to make the two cards on this post. They were so easy to make!

For this card, I used sheet music that I cut with a spellbinders deckled rectangle and layered onto black card. Added some distressink to age it a bit more and layered onto craft card to which I had added a border punched piece. Stamped the butterfly and distressed it then cut it out. The flourish is a die cut from my elegant flourishes die by Tim Holtz. The sentiment is a new stamp I got recently from Gina K.

For this card I stamped the craft layer with 3 different flower stamps then white embossed them. The butterflies were stamps from a Graphics 45 set which I coloured using copic markers then cut out and attached. The sentiment is a Hero Arts stamp that I use a lot. Attached the sentiment then added some little blue pearl bling.

Experiments

Over the last week or so, I have been experimenting with some different ideas.

This card is made from acetate that was folded then embossed using a textiles folder in the Cuttlebug.

The flower is a Montarga stamp that I coloured using my Copic markers. (They have been having a rest lately!) The shapes for the front of the card were cut with the Cricut. I added some pearl dots at the top of the frame to add a little something!
The sentiment was stamped on a Spelbinders Tag die then attached with foam dots to the bottom of the frame.

The card was finished off with a narrow red ribbon that I attached to the inside of the card with DS tape then covered it with the ribbon on the outside.

This card I made after watching a neat video from stampTV on double embossing.
The blue layer on the left side of the card was embossed with the Alterations Gridlock folder. I then brayered Versamark ink on the top of the embossing and added clear embossing powder. After heating, it came up with the really cool pattern. It really makes the embossing stand out.

Added some paper from my stash to the other side of the card, a black ribbon down the centre and topped it with one of my favourite gentleman stamps from Hero Arts. The Happy Birthday stamp is from Montarga.

I like this technique and will try it out on more cards over the next few weeks.

Another one today

I decided to do another post today as I had made a card that fits a number of challenges for this week.

Card Patterns Sketch 68 was used to provide the layout for the card. I cut two black rectangles and rounded the corners then stamped a floral background with Versamark. I then used white perfect pearls to colour the background.

The ovals were cut with Nestabilities and layered. I punched daisies and layered those for the flowers after sponging with red Brilliance ink. The flowers have silver beads held on with Glossy Accents in the centres.
The lace was some that I had in my sewing drawer and was just right. Attached that then a red ribbon over the top. The sentiment is from my Hero Arts set.
I think this card would make someone very happy to receive it - flowers always do that to you, don't they?

Other challenges that this card fits:

Tuesday Taggers: All that Blooms
Stamp Something: Happy Something
Allsorts Challenge 56: Lace and/or Buttons

Autumn

Autumn is here at last. The leaves are starting to change and fall around the section - more mess to clean up!
Autumn is the theme for our card swap over at Card Making World. This card also fits the theme for the Allsorts Challenge this week as well - stitched!

I used a Bazzil Basics 12x12 to make the base card then layered it with some paper I had with oak leaves on it. I stitched some panels and not others to provide a bit of contrast.

The coloured leaves were punched from scraps of paper then glued on.

The sentiment on the front is from a Hero Arts collection, which I masked and stamped the leaves over the top.

Playing

Well, today was a bit of a not feeling like doing too much one, so I found some digital stamps that I had printed and spent some time colouring and cutting and making!

This was an image called HeartFairy that I think I downloaded from D2DDigi Stamps, but when I went back to the website to check, I couldn't find it. The label on the download says D2DDigi Stamps so maybe it has been shifted?  I printed the stamp onto watercolour paper to see what it would be like. I coloured the image with Tombow markers then added a little KindyGlitz to highlight the hearts and the wings and shoes. I used the Swiss Dots folder to emboss the pink layer and added a purple dotted ribbon and flower brad. The ribbon doesn't site straight because the slots in the brad are angled and the ribbon is a bit wider than the slots!! The sentiment is a Hero Arts one from one of my favourite sets.

This card uses some images from Tiffany Doodles that I won from Tiffany's blog - Thanks Tiffany the doodles are great. I coloured the images with Tombow markers and added some Kindyglitz to the mauve parts of the flowers. I thought I would use the diagonal today instead of up and down or across and layered a piece of dotted paper then a ribbon. Attached the knot separately as the ribbon would not sit properly. Again, the sentiment is from my Hero Arts collection.

Have just been had an email from one of the Administrators from Card Making World to say that my pink flower card has the highest rating currently.  Wow - never expected that! 

Be sure to check out the Tanda Teaser blog - I have been honoured by Andrew and Tanya by the inclusion of my blog on their blog!

Busy Tuesday

Well another day and another couple of challenges (I wonder if I can keep this up??)

This card is for the Paper Craft Planet sketch challenge sk012310.

I used a dark brown base card and layered it with a lighter brown. I cut out a whole lot of circles and other shapes with my Cricut at the weekend so I was able to use some of these on this card. The yellow circle I embossed with the swiss dots Cuttlebug folder. I stamped the other piece with one of my Tanda stamps and coloured it with Tombow markers and water brush. I then used  yellow, orange and mahogany distress inks to provide the colour around the edges. The sentiment is a Hero Arts stamp. 

The second card was for the 2 Sketches 4 You challenge this week.

For this one, I used a Montarga stamp for the centrepiece and layered the white on black card. The feature at the bottom of the black card was a border stamp from Fiskars that I embossed with white. I used a Fiskars scallop border punch to create the bottom layer for the ribbon.
The card needed something else, so used some stick-on dots for the corners.

Time to blog again!

It has been a very busy week this week and have not had time to make anything until today. Had a look at the Allsorts Challenge this week and liked the idea of a Kraft coloured card so here is my effort for the challenge.

Used kraft coloured card to make the base card. Layered with orange coloured Bazzil basic and some punched, striped paper that toned quite well, then added the ribbon trim. Stamped the owl (from CS magazine) onto kraft card, coloured with Tombow markers and cut it out. I cut an oval shape in some scrap brown card and stamped with a Hero Arts saying stamp that I acquired recently.

I added some shading to the edges of the oval and the actual card with coffee coloured Archival Ink, using the rubbadubba I also recently bought!

Christmas Cards Already

Well, this week I decided I should start making Christmas Cards for overseas. I always try to find something specifically New Zealand'ish for my overseas cards so this year I am using some photos I took of some NZ Pohutukawa flowers. Pohutukawa trees flower around Christmas time and the tree is sometimes called the New Zealand Christmas Tree as it is covered in a mass of bright red flowers - a little like the decorations on a Christmas tree.

I printed the photo on to glossy paper, then layered on black, then white to provide a contrast. I placed a tartan ribbon across a strip of red card, making pleats beside the space where the photo was to go, then placed it across the card.
I used a Fiskars punch to scallop the bottom edge of the front and used a white inner for the card to provide the contrast at the edge. The greeting is a Hero Arts stamp which I embossed with gold.

I have yet to discover the best way of taking a photo when there is a shiny surface on the card! I will have to practice a bit more I think. Anyway, you can get the general idea of the card from the photo.

Enjoy!