Wednesday 21 November 2012

Leap of Joy


When I saw the sketch over at Sketch Saturday I knew that I would just have to use it, and what is more I could just 'see' which image to use too along with the rows of bells cut files I would have to make to recreate what was in my head. Everything is easier said than done of course!

I had the image already, that of Crissy Armstrong's 'Leap of Joy' & I coloured this seasonal deer with Promarkers to match my chosen papers from Heather Jolly. Doesn't he look proud in his velvet attire?  It was the cut file for my row of jingling bells to match those on the deer's festive outfit that really stretched those 'little grey cells' this week. Welding circles, ellipses, parts of ellipses & layering - just to create my jingle bells. I did, you might have noticed, also cut the word 'Joy' on the front. The holly wasn't one of my own files, but one from Cre8tive Cutz & although very tempted to make it nice & dimensional managed to restrain myself & kept it all nice & flat instead so it will go through the post more easily & cheaply. Like the snow beneath the deer's feet, the holly was then duly 'Stickled' for a nice, crisp frost.

Card open - following the design layout loosely on the inside too.
I created more cut-files for the back/inside of the card to give me a narrower version of the bells on the front & added a further set between the sentiment I made myself on the PC and the box I added to sign in later.



Thanks for looking today.

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for are:
Sketch Saturday - design sketch
Whimsy - traditional Christmas colours
Our Daily Bread - Winter holiday (Christmas or Thanksgiving)
Holly Jolly - Christmas + 3 things beginning with 'R' (reindeer, red, row of bells)
Craft Room - die cuts/punches
Whoopsi Daisy - diecuts/punches
Creative Cutting - Christmas + SVG or similar (every element was a cutfile as I even cut the papers & image as print & cuts using my Silhouette Cameo)
Crafty Pad - it's beginning to look at lot like Christmas
Bunny Zoe - Christmas
Little Claire's - Christmas
OSAAT - use a digi
Crafts & Me - (creative) circles (the rows of bells)
Joanna Sheen - cold & frosty
Crazy - inside of the card
My Mum's Craft Shop - inspired by a song (I heard the bells on Christmas Day - trad. carol)
Eclectic Ellapu - either layering/ interactive /'openable'
Pan Pastel - red & green
Dream Valley - anything goes
My Grafico - anything goes
Forever Friends - anything goes
Creative Moments Bloggers Network - anything goes.

Friday 16 November 2012

Porcine Pal


This card was made especially for my friend who loves (you guessed it!) - pigs. The image is one from Precious Moments and was coloured, as I usually do, with Promarkers.  A little undecided as as to whether to give the pair water or mud to play in, but chose the former as I have used 'mud' before, LOL. Not sure if I have coloured the water entirely to my satisfaction, but not the easiest of substances to colour is it?


I did, it probably goes without saying now, use my Cameo to create the cut files & this time I made the frame to echo the papers I had chosen from Design House Digital (a combination of some from Gennifer Bursett and Celeste Knight). As for the layout of the card front I chose the sketch over at Sketchy Colours this week.

Opened up & laid flat.
The inside of the card was constructed using the same papers as on the front but I chose a digi sentiment from Bird's Cards to layer up (the white rectangle & mat are of course for me to write on before I send it - it is my friend's birthday Christmas Day).


Happy crafting everyone.

Tine :)

Challenges I wish to enter this card for:
Sketchy Colours - design sketch
Can You Digi It - favourite animal (my friend's fav)
Catch the Bug - things with tails (cute curly ones! LOL)
Love to Create - fancy edges
Craft Room - punches/dies (Cameo cutter)
Pink Elephant - punches/dies
Crafty Cardmakers - more than 1 punch/die (7 separate cut files, including the image as a p&c & its circular mats)
OLLCB - for someone special
Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes
Forever Friends (monthly) - anything goes
Sweet Stamping - anything goes
Divas By Design - anything goes
One Stop Craft - anything goes
Tammy's Scrapin' Corner - anything goes


Wednesday 7 November 2012

With Love Secret Tilda



I needed to make a card for my MIL's birthday which is coming up next week and opted for Secret Tilda, hiding her present and a medley of soft pinks for my colour palette.  I coloured her as usual, with Promarkers, giving her a pretty, lacy mat and used a combination of papers from Celeste Knight to bring all my elements together. I chose the layout over at Totally Tilda for those delish floral based papers and cut my 3 flowers from them too. They were cut using my Cameo & both designs of flowers were the roll-up variety - which means too, of course, that I did battle with my glue gun! LOL. The pearly highlights were not actual pearls this time around but Cosmic Shimmer Pearl glue dropped into half spheres to give that illusion. I was quite pleased too, that I managed to get them of uniform size & shape.The white lace running along the top of my cut horizontal border is by Offray & which is also suitably subtly floral in design.  Having cut myself an extra banner sentiment when I made my last card (to use all my available space on my card as it went through the printer & Cameo, LOL), I utilised that on this occasion though I needed to cut it's mat to match this one's colour scheme.  This banner, along with Tilda's lacy mat, were attached to the card using Pinflair glue-gel to raise them up & add a bit of dimension.



For the inside, I went for a regular paper insert with chosen verse, but I emphasised the lacy, girly theme by adding wavy edges on 3 sides and by punching along the bottom with a Martha Stewart punch.


Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Tine :)

Challenges I wish to enter this card for are:
Totally Tilda - design sketch
I ♥ Promarkers - pretty in pink
Bunny Zoe - pink, pearls & lace
Pink Elephant - favourite colouring medium (Promarkers!!!!)
Lovely Hanglar or Sweet Magnolia - girls only
Brown Sugar - pearls & lace
Fussy 'n' Fancy - pearls & flowers
Card Crafter's Circle - patterned paper
Ladybug - monochrome/tonal
Inky Impressions - birthday
Stamping with the Dragon - birthday
Magnolia Mania - 3d
Technique Tuesday - 3d punched/cut elements (flowers)
Sentimental Sunday - dimension +sentiment
ATCs & Cards with Attitude - sentiment/anything goes
Raise The Bar - anything goes
Stampin' For The Weekend - anything goes
Catch the Bug - anything goes
OSAAT - anything goes
Papertake - anything goes.

Wednesday 31 October 2012

Touched By Love



Now, there is a story behind my cut-files this week. Well, I suppose there always is to be honest, LOL, but this design stemmed from me seeing a die-cut on a card which I thought looked lovely but although I knew the make of die, could I find it in the stores I regularly use?  As the card I had seen was a white on white one too, the actual intricacies of the design were almost none existent but I thought I would give my Silhouette software designing credentials a good work out and constructed my own variation/s of the cut out design I could see.

Yes, me being me, I have actually several variants of my theme, LOL - call it indecisive or call it giving myself a good start on another card. LOL. Anyway, it did involve giving those 'little grey cells' a good work out to use that new rotation tool, replicate & give that Modify button 'a run for its money' to arrive at my variants. On this one I used differing white card (matt, pearlescent & felt hammered) for a lot of the layering, adding definition with silver card which actually came with those tiny glistening dots all over it (nifty eh?), to peek out through the cut-work.

I chose this doting angel by Crissy Armstrong called 'Touched By Love' to be the centre-piece & I coloured her with Promarkers and gave the swaddled infant some extra warm bedding with a bit of paper-piecing.  I then added yet another layered cut file beneath it for my sentiment.

The insert has been kept relatively simple with a verse on one side and a circular sentiment on the other from Tracy Wray with enough room beneath to write when the time comes.


Of course, once I had completed my cut-file, I then came across the original die on a shopping site! Still, I had the fun of creating this one to my own specifications, even though it did take a bit of time to construct. Hope you like what I did with it too.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Addicted to Stamps - things with wings
Totally Gorjuss - things with wings
PaperPlay - things with wings
Christmas Card Challenges - Christmas (optional pop it up)
OLLCB - C is for Christmas
Crafty Pad - Christmas is coming
OSAAT - make 1 for Christmas
Crafty Hazelnut - no pattern paper
Christmas Stampin' - use a circle
Love to Create - lots of layers
I ♥ Promarkers - cute
Flutterby Wednesday - open challenge
Tammy's Scrapin' Corner - anything goes
Stampin' For the Weekend - anything goes
Anything Goes - anything goes.

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Angel Tilda



I made a number of shaped stepper card designs a couple of months back but hadn't actually got around to using any of them. I did, of course, create them using my Cameo and I thought this particular Tilda perfect for my fancy shaped card.  What I did find in constructing this kind of shaped card was that it was better to add an extra strip of card underneath as a retainer. I had kept the weight of the embellishing elements to a minimum so that the card wouldn't just collapse down but a restraining bar added extra security so that the finished card could definitely keep upright when stood on a mantelpiece.

I am sure by now, that most of you know that I always use my Promarkers to colour in my images and my sitting Angel Tilda is no exception - but I also paper pieced her little dress. She is surrounded by more of my own cut-files in the shape of the poinsettia and leaves. I made these with cut out veins down the centre for a bit of extra interest. I utilised the cut out leaf veins as decoration in their own right as I thought they looked rather like frosted twigs.  The design paper mats were created as print & cuts on the Cameo (but I also needed to change the alignment &of & re-scale the dotty dp image too, ensuring that the smaller pieces I wanted to cut would to exactly match those on the larger shaped elements). The circular sentiment was from Sentiments4You.

I wanted the back to be 'fit to be seen', LOL, as well as giving me a place to write the 'to' & 'from' using similarly created mats as the front for the shaped back.


So I had also added an extra layer to my image's mat before I had adhered to the front - cutting it to be the same shape as one of the front mats, (as a print & cut featuring a sentiment from Bizzy Becs Store) but positioning it so that it would be seen from the back peeping over the top of the shaped card.



Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter are:
Creative Card Crew - fancy folds
Cupcake Craft - paper piecing (dress)
Magnolia Stamp Lovers - spots & dots (embossed as well as on DP)
Rogue Red Head - dotty
I ♥ Promarkers - Christmas is coming
Totally Papercrafts - Christmas
Tilda's Town - Merry Christmas
Sparkles Forum Christmas - traditional Christmas
Magnolia Down Under - inspired by a song (Angel Child - Oasis)
Crazy - handmade flowers (made poinsettia cut file & the leaves)
Pink Gem - flowers
Anything Goes - make your own embellishments (poinsettia & leaves)
Hiding In My Craft Room - die cuts
Perfect Sentiments - bingo +front sentiment (flowers, die-cuts, dry embossing)
ABC Christmas - U (up to you)
Challenges 4 Everybody - anything goes
Fussy 'n' Fancy - anything goes
Cards Galore - anything goes
One Stop Craft - anything goes.

Sunday 14 October 2012

First Snow



My followers, (certainly those who were with me during the last festive season), will know how I love snowflakes on a Christmas card. Any excuse & I will pop one on. LOL. So I am not apologising for using them again - in fact, expect more from me at some point so don't say you haven't been warned! LOL. Of course the difference this year is that I am using my Cameo to make my own variations.

The focal point on this card is that gorgeous image of 'Kai in the Snow' (Mo Manning) and I coloured him with Promarkers, paper-piecing all of his outfit (coz I like to paper-piece too, LOL).  I have surrounded him with grey-tonal snowflake papers from Jak Heath  but whilst my papers were devoid of strong colour, the same cannot be said for Kai, snug as a bug in his warmest clothes. I wanted him to be uber-colourful and added a touch of texture by giving him Flower Soft pom-poms. I did of course, also make the card base itself - a variation of one I had designed previously.

For the design on the card front I followed the sketch at CLP this month but rotated it, & then added the various snowflake elements I had created using my Cameo - including the snowflake mat rising vertically behind Kai as well as those glistening snowflakes dotted about as embellishments. Not that any sparkle is showing up too well on the photo of course. That sparkle, other than from the diamante gems, is from several different bottles of Stickles.


The card is basically a tent-fold, made in two pieces & the back section includes a cut-work snowflake panel (again one I made myself and suitably 'Stickled'), which can be seen when you open the card and the insert features a circular sentiment from Stamp Fairy.



Thanks for visiting my blog today. I really do appreciate your visits & comments so I know I am not talking to myself! LOL. Happy crafting!

Tine :)

Challenges I wish to enter this card into are:
CLP - design sketch (I rotated it)
Mo's Digital - 'B' is for..... baby Kai (aw...don't you just want to give him a hug!)
Oldie but a Goodie - inspired by a song (Baby, It's Cold Outside) - old stash used - image/flowersoft/card/papers
Craft Us Crazy - children &/or autumn/fall
Elke Kaart Een Feestje - deserves a hug (doesn't he just...)
The House that Stamps Built - masking (Kai so I could colour the sky)
Craftyhazelnut - snowflakes
Paper Crafting Journey - add some bling
Whimsy - all things sparkly
Sparkles Christmas -  traditional (can't beat snowflakes, LOL)
Christmas Cards All Year - either non traditional image with traditional Christmas colours or traditional Christmas image using non traditional colours
OSAAT - inspired by a song (Baby, it's cold outside)
Crafty Sentiments - anything goes
Deep Ocean - anything goes
Divas By Design - anything goes
Crafts & Me - anything goes
Eclectic Ellapu - anything goes
Through the Craftroom Door - anything goes.

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Little Shepherd Boy


Well, another Christmas card to add to the collection, and this one features an adorable image from LOTV called 'Little Shepherd Boy'. He brings back memories of making an angel outfit for my daughter and a shepherd's one for my friend's son as they were in the school nativity play. How those years have flown by! This particular little chap with assorted cuddly toys has been coloured with Promarkers. You may have spotted too that I have been paper-piecing again, this time with the lad's headdress and the little toy up against the box 'manger'. Don't you think it looks cute in its checked fabric .... and don't I make life difficult for myself trying to cut those tiny bits out?!?!  LOL. Although I added some colour with these elements, I kept the rest of my colouring more subtle this time around as the papers (from Aimee Harrison) were colourful enough - chosen as they reminded me of the fabrics everyone seems to use for their offspring's Nativity outfits. Where would we be without the tea-towel headdresses? LOL

The inside of the card has matching starry borders.
The sketch I have chosen to follow is this week's offering from Sketch Saturday, so I layered my digital papers from Aimee Harrison Design Studios accordingly, matting it all up onto a card base I created myself using my Cameo and cut from a very substantial navy card - so basically giving myself stars in a night sky. I know..... but I keep myself amused! LOL. The back of the tent-fold card is a little smaller than the front piece so that the cut work edging can be seen properly. This back piece features cut work too echoing the stars of the front design but setting white behind one border for extra effect. I have used as you will have seen, two circular sentiment - the one on the front was from Bizzy Becs and the one on the inside of the card was from Marion at 'When the scrap hits the fun'.



Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Tine :)

Challenges I wish to enter this card for are:
Sketch Saturday - design sketch
Lili's Little Fairies - Christmas card for a boy
Elke Kaart Een Feestje - you deserve a hug
Craft Your Passion - square card
Crafting For All Seasons - costume/dressing up
Nutcrafters - paper piecing
Delightful - winter holiday
Sentimental Sunday - anything goes (+sentiment)
Incy Wincy - anything goes
Crafts and Me - anything goes
Creative Inspirations - anything goes
Deep Ocean - anything goes.

Monday 8 October 2012

Siku & Shiya in the Snow


You can tell Christmas is a-coming when I am sat with bottles of Stickles on my craft desk and as I am now wayyyy behind in doing my Xmas cards I thought I had better get down to doing one more at least.

This one features the image of Siku and Shiya (by Mo Manning) rubbing noses for an 'Eskimo Kiss'. The adorable little girl has had her coat fabric paper pieced so there is a hint of a pattern in it and the image was coloured as ever, with Promarkers before I gave a bit of sparkle to the snow at their feet courtesy of the afore-mentioned Stickles.

The fabby blue design paper was one from Jak Heath a good while back and the white card layers between have been embossed with 2 different embossing folders - the 'Me to You' snowflakes of 'Winter Wonderland' and a Cuttlebug dotty one. I am sure that you cannot fail to notice all the extra snowflakes around the border of the card itself as well as embellishments. I have, of course, been busy with my Cameo making the 'snow' bordered frame onto which I had welded some of my own snowflake cut-files. Yes, I have a LOT of different flakes (got a bit carried away when I was designing them, LOL). Made in two separate pieces as I have done before, the back part of the card attaches just underneath the text of the card front to give me a traditional tent-fold but keeps the card front edges clean & clear for all that cut-work to show clearly and has the added bonus of all being able to be cut from a single piece of A4 card.  I used my favourite pearlescent card - do just love that sheen, especially for Christmas or special occasions.  I also added text and snowflake 'parts' down the sides of the back section - giving the flakes that sparkly touch too which I hope also emphasises the non-sparkling 'Let It Snow' sentiments in the middle of the cut out sections.


I cut the insert to lay over the back section of the card using a sentiment from TLC.


Thanks for looking!

Tine :)

Challenges I wish to enter this card for are:
Mo's Digital - anything goes
Nutcrafters - paper piecing (her coat 'fabric')
Holly Jolly Christmas - glitter & bling
Sparkles Forum Christmas - traditional Christmas (snowflakes have to be a seasonal fav)
Digital Delights - winter holiday
Stamp & Create - winter wonderland
Winter Wonderland - across the miles
Lollipop - something old/something new (old = my image/new = my cut file)
Sunday Stamper - JFF snowflakes
PaperPlay - shine on
Penny's - die cuts/punches
Christmas Cards All Year - either non traditional image with traditional Christmas colours or traditional Christmas image using non traditional colours
Sentimental Sunday - anything goes but use a sentiment (cut & printed ones)
Sweet 'n' Sassy - bingo (glitter, die-cuts, paper piecing)
Crafting For All Seasons - in a costume/dressing up
Clearly Inspired - use a sentiment (cut text as well as the printed internal one).

Thursday 4 October 2012

Background card variations

Well, I managed to track down the cause of all my computer woes - a new external drive.

With all the messing about I have had to do trying to get the new drive to work, I have of course, had cards to post which I haven't been able to. Some have been diligently made but have been sent on their way before I have had chance to tell you about them. It didn't help that I couldn't post their photos to my blog either as the corrupted software for the said drive was not only stopping the card reader from working but preventing all attached drives, cameras etc. to the computer from being recognised - so no way to get photos to the PC at all. Grrrr. I even had to reformat the said new drive in the end. I was not a happy chappy! :(  Still, fingers crossed I should be OK now (well, I will know for sure if & when my new drive starts to do it's scheduled back up).

My aim with this one was to create a card suitable for a male without going down the fishing/yacht/beer/sport  route. There are some men that just don't fit into any of these categories aren't there and let's be honest, those images must get boring year on year. So no, I haven't coloured an image this time around (shock-horror! LOL).  To complicate things more, I wanted a design which was also 'young' enough for a twenty-something and accommodating enough to work just as well for an older gent or anyone else for that matter.

So I created a cut background using my Cameo (bit fiddly trying to get the positions of the welded design overlapping just as I wanted - always worth remembering though, the 'back' button is your friend, LOL). I then welded a square into the centre of my design as a base for my permutations and variation #1 was as you can see from the photo, one for a 25 year old (red & white - the colours of his football team) so I welded his age into a square to add to the centre.


#2 went to my brother in law (different football alliances, can you tell by the colours? LOL) and this time I cut a centre from a design by Bird's Cards, resizing to suit and didn't layer the central panel. I thought this one, with a more general birthday wish in the centre could be a great 'stand-by' card for those hasty last-minute makes and would actually work well for any age from teenager upwards, especially with the 'text-speak' message.


My aim for #3 was to adapt the design to create a more feminine variation of the same basic card design, using a digi rose background paper on the outside of the insert from Crafter's Companion's 'Love' CD and cutting with a deckled cut. I did re-colour it to suit my needs but they allow you to do that. :)  Using a solid centre to my cut-file this time, I layered up using a very dark navy and a floral design. I was in two-minds whether the flower's centre should have something in it or not but decided that it made the card 'too busy' so opted not to add anything further. I thought this variation of the design also lent itself nicely as an anniversary card.

Photographed this one with the insert to one side so you could hopefully see the deckled edging.
A helpful tip for cutting out backgrounds like this is to make sure you use a heavy-weight gsm. Might mean a double-cut, I certainly had to with each of them but there again, maybe with all this use my blade is going a little blunt!  All these three were in substantial card and yet they still wanted to 'bow' slightly at the opening edge due to the open nature of the design.

That's all for now then. Thanks for visiting my blog and as ever, thanks for your comments too.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Here Come The Boys - monochrome
Crafty Sentiments - happy birthday
Fab 'n' Funky - no patterned paper  
Digital Tuesday - text me (using digi cutter - and paper too on #3)
Creative Cutting - teenagers
Penny's - die cuts/punches (digi cutter)
Card Mania - handmade flower
Lexi's - pink
Dream Valley - pink
Papertake - anything goes (optional celebration).

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Star


Real life has certainly been interrupting my crafting of late and just as I think I am getting back to some semblance of normality my technology thinks otherwise.  Have I had problems with my computer & all it's related gadgets!  Computer, hard drives, card readers, software: all are playing me up!  Won't bore you with the details - just don't be surprised if I vanish again. Still, I did manage to get this one posted so I hope it was worth the wait. LOL.

I coloured the LOTV image (Star of Wonder) with my Promarkers - but of course, that is only half the tale as I also paper-pieced her woolly pully, skirt & boots so she is at least as snug-as-a-bug in her snowy scene. The papers I used for this, like the ones in the background are all from Ashalee Wall.  As for that glittering & glistening snow, that at her feet, alighting the tree & star not to mention falling from the heavens is courtesy of a couple of bottles of Stickles. The little snow-drifts surrounding all the layering isn't my usual distressing/acrylic paint but a new product to me, that of Aleene's Glitter Snow. As far as I can see, it is a bit of a misnomer as I cannot really see any glitter showing. Vaguest of traces whilst in the pot, but not exactly visible on the card itself. Well, I tried! LOL. Another snowy element is that of the Martha Stewart snowflake punch towards the bottom of the card and to finish it all off, extra pearly embellishment (from MeiFlower) and 'girly' lace across the top made by Offray.

The sentiment circle I made myself using my Cameo, echoing the star subject of the image, naming, framing and welding my various sized stars together before cutting out of pearlescent card, the same as I used for the card-base itself.



Hope you all like it!  Right, back to the beeps and whirls.....arghhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for are:
Inspired By Stamping - sketch
Lili's Little Fairies - bingo (pearls, lace and glitter)
Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - lace & pearls
Ladybug - Christmas cupcake imagery inspiration
Little Miss Muffet - writing/ text (I cut mine)
PaperCraftingJourney - sentiment
Creative Card - tree
Lollipop - at least 2 punches/dies
Sassy Cheryl - die cuts (digi cutter)
Penny Black @ Allsorts - (stamped images) Christmas
That Craft Place - bling (pearls & sparkle)
Creative Cutting - anything goes (using SVG cut file or similar)
Creative Craft - anything goes
Tammy's Scrapin' Corner - anything goes.



Monday 13 August 2012

Mandy's Birds



Yes, I have indeed used Promarkers on my card this week it is just a little more 'discreet' than one of my 'normal' creations - if there is such a thing as 'normal!' LOL.

The card is for my sister-in-law who dotes on her two cockatiels.  As I like to make cards appropriate for my family & friends, a bird themed card it was - and whilst you probably can't see them very well hiding away behind the cage, I made myself a 3-layered cockatiel cut file and coloured each one with appropriate cockatiel markings using my Promarkers. The wings were put on with a dab of glue-gel so I could add dimension but of course, you can't see it properly because of the cage. LOL. Don't I make things unnecessarily difficult for myself? LOL. I then made a circular tasselled perch for them both to 'stand' on.

You can if you look carefully actually see the layers of the birds.
I didn't however, make the bird-cage itself.  This time I used one from a selection (birdcage3- from the appropriately named, Bird's Cards), bowing it out to accommodate my avian twosome.  Bird is also responsible for the two larger flowers (rolledflower1), I cut out of printed card stock, the leaves (branches1), which I embossed to give me the veins and even the sentiment, though I did re-colour this and put it in a tag. The smaller two flowers were a 5-petalled cut file from Pamela Conner, (thanks Pam).  I often have a love/hate relationship with my glue-gun when making my flowers. I need the fast-fix the glue-gun offers but I am useless at getting the right amount of glue out of it for my needs and then there are the copious amount of 'strings' emanating out of it. They go everywhere!!! LOL. Still, back on to the subject of my card,  I then got out my Promarkers once more and coloured my white satin ribbon with Ivory.



Now, of course I couldn't leave it there could I? LOL. So for the inside of my card I repeated my layered cockatiels but this time they are much larger - and just as naughty as my sister in law would recognise. They are coloured with Promarkers. One, slightly more placid cockatiel is just holding a recoloured greeting (from Bird's Cards) in his two-layered beak but the other mischievous creature is playing his favourite game of sitting on the picture frame and picking the wallpaper off!!!!  Yes, that is how they repay her when she allows them some freedom. LOL. As for the cut files here, other than the birds, I enlarged the same perch as I had created on the front and also made a bell hanging from a chain (with my SIL's name at the bottom). I added the layered frame so I can write the 'from' on later and this is 'hung' using some crochet thread onto the picture rail.



Thanks for looking.

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter are:
Great Impressions - walk on the wild side (animals but I hope Mandy's mischievous birds count! LOL)
That Craft Place - things with wings
Clearly I Stamp - things with wings
Scrapbook Sisters Card Challenge - things with wings
Digi Doodle - things with wings
Can You Digi It - bird is the word
Wags 'n' Whiskers - birthday
Corrosive - birthday
Divas By Design - for a female
Dream Valley - die cuts/punches
Poodles Parlour - die cuts
Totally Papercraft - frame it
Tammy's Scrapin' Corner - add flowers
Unstampabelles - paper flowers (no stamp or digi image either - for once I can comply, LOL)
Hooked on Craft - celebrate
Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes.

Thursday 9 August 2012

Floral Anniversary


Hi folks - I've been missing for a few days - have you missed me? LOL. My card on this occasion is for our anniversary, so is being given to my OH next week and yes, shock, horror - I haven't coloured it!!!

The navy card base has a fabulous scintillating silver all over it and the exact measurements of my centre-step design (cut using the Cameo), were done to fit the image from Floppy Latte called Floral Monogram Frame in the centre section. Yes, I am sure you can you see have been 'playing' with my Cameo again in order to cut out the 'Anniversary' sentiment into the front panel and also 'Love' into the back panel (keeping some room there of course so I can write the 'from' too.   I didn't colour the floral frame as I wanted the actual central cut-work to be the main focus.  However, maybe only fellow Silhouette users will be able to appreciate the amount of time & 'fiddly' nature of pulling out some of the image to create the decoration for the side panels - so that all the other parts of the image were removed. I also had to alter the size of the top of the lower-case 'a' by point- editing as it would have been too delicate & fragile otherwise.

On the back - a smaller variant of the front - leaving space for me to write too.
The front panel was added using foam pads but I kept the other panels nice and flat and adding a narrow navy ribbon as the only embellishment feature. So, a little different to one of my usual cards - mainly as I didn't get out a single Promarker, LOL, but keeping it white I was hoping for a more sophisticated card which was not too 'girly' either.

Front view - so you can see the both side panels.

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for are:
Crafty Sentiments - CAS
365 (Monday) - CAS
Sparkles Forum - wedding/anniversary
Crafts & Me - use a digi
There She Goes - use a sentiment
Dream Valley - die cuts/punches
Love to Create - die cuts/punches
Di's Digis - no squares
PaperPlay - shaped card
For Your Inspiration - night scene photo
Inky Impressions - use ribbon
Lollipop - monochromatic
Catered Crop - use white
Through The Craft Room Door - white + two
Papertake - anything goes

Friday 27 July 2012

Thank You Tilda


I haven't managed to use Tilda in a long while but I have remedied this today and whilst this cutie was designed as a Christmas image (So Jolly - Unwrapped Tilda), I thought she was perfect for any occasion where opening presents was applicable.  I reckon she has crafting goodies in that box of hers. LOL.  Anyway, she was coloured to match in with these gorgeous papers by Corrinne Silke using Promarkers and Trias. You might have to look carefully, but I tore the edges of my papers (very carefully!!!) and gave them a bit of a 'ruffle' - just enough to give a bit of a white texture at the edges.  I then got the sewing machine out and ran a wavy line over the main dp before adding a straight sewn border to the image itself.

I made the card base using my Cameo so that I cut out a 'Thank You' border (using the Eras Bold font this time). The base comprises of a square card front attached to a separate back piece which is slightly smaller in width than the front so that all the cut-work can be seen to full advantage. I then made the insert to match the shaping too. Although I made the sentiment lettering 'For You' myself, I set it into a fancy shaped tag from Bird's Cards. This tag is actually longer than the original so I adapted it to accommodate my lettering by welding a rectangle into it using the Silhouette Studio software but then did the exact opposite for the two little decorative elements to the side of the image, as I cut those down.


For the insert, I replicated the image but made it lighter so it was more like a watermark in the background before adding my own sentiment over it. The insert shape replicates the back of the card shape so doesn't reach all the way across like a regular insert.


Hope you like it (certainly hope the recipient does!) & thanks for visiting my blog today and taking the time to leave a comment.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Sketch Saturday - design sketch
Digital Tuesday - photo inspiration
Paper & Such - stitching, real or faux
Crazy4stitching, real or faux
CRAFT - stitching
Tilda's Town - name the techniques - tearing, creating cut files/using Cameo, layering, sewing
Sassy Cheryl - polka dots (very subtle ones admittedly in the dp)
Love to Create - spots & dots (see above...LOL)
Allsorts - distressing (tore papers)
Papertake - make your own (cut files to make card base)
ABC - use 2 (2 papers, 2 cut files for card base, 2 images)
Stamptacular Sunday - dies (digi cutter)
Digital Tuesday's inspirational picture.
Inky Impressions - dies/punches 
Aud Sentiments - sentiment on a tag
DYSU - for a friend
Card Makin' Mamas - recipe 1 image, 2 papers, 3 embellishments.
CMC - anything goes with a girly twist (& use markers to colour)
Jackson's Digital Expressions - anything goes
Crafts & Me - anything goes.


Thursday 26 July 2012

Shall We Dance


Yep, another one that has been a labour of love this week as I think I had to make a fair number of separate cut files for this one before I even got my Promarkers out! Think it is 7 cut files in total - not to mention one from Bird's Cards.

The bit I hope you focus on first of all, is of course the image and I am sure you will recognise it as being from LOTV and is actually called 'Shall We Dance'. This cuddly two-some giving Fred & Ginger a run for their money were coloured with Promarkers (and one Tria marker, LOL) & I kept the colour-scheme relatively subtle, highlighting my elements with gold.

The layout is actually one from CLP (but June's therefore not the current one), so I had better go into my layers in more detail.  Behind the image is a scalloped frame I made especially to fit my image and behind that is a doily - another of my designs but you can only see the edges of it!!!  LOL.  This rests on an embossed strip which I then ran an ink pad over for colour and definition.  The horizontal elements I hoped would give a theatrical overtone to the overall design consists of 2 cut files, made by my good self, of course. :)  Well, as if anyone else would be daft enough to go to all this trouble for one card. LOL.  The one stripy dp is from Bearly Mine matted onto felt-hammered card. This medley of layers rests on the card's front base - cut out of some of my fav pearlescent card stock & using yet another of my own cut files for a scalloped loop border. This was then embellished with gold peel-offs, including those tiny ones dotted about (which were actually the residue from the chain-like peel off border). Waste not, want not, I say. LOL.  The 3 flowers were cut using a design from Bird's Cards and were inked to varying degrees.


I then had to make the back of the card, yes, another separate cut file which echoes the design elements of the front with a scalloped - looped edge to stand on and a smaller scallop at the other side, similar to the scallop of the image's frame.  There is a good reason why this is a different file - I wanted to get it to fit onto a single A4 piece of card and so needed to be necessarily smaller.  The paper insert is yet another cut file  incorporating a sentiment from Netty's Cards. I made this to follow same design as the back of the card but a little smaller so that you can see the scalloped edges on the card behind. I then inked the edges of the insert before attaching.


So, this anniversary card is going to my sister-in-law who says she keeps all the cards I send her so at least all my efforts won't end up in the bin after a couple of days! Hope you like it.

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for are:
I ♥ Promarkers - gold, silver & bronze (all or just one)
Lili's Little Fairies - a touch of romance
Totally Stampalicious - texture
Stamp With Fun - lace doily
Truly Madly Crafty - animals
Hanna & Friends - celebrate
CardMadFairy - photo insp
Stamp & Create - something in their hands (each other, aw....)
Papertake - make it your own (made my own cut files, card base, flowers & decorative elements)
Inky Impressions - dies/punches
Stamptacular Saturday - dies (digi cutter)
Jackson's Digital Expressions - anything goes
Crafts & Me - anything goes
Crafty Bloggers Network - anything goes
Inspire Me Fridays - anything goes.