Wednesday 30 April 2014

Bugaboo Mother's Day cards

It's the last day for the month over at Die Cut Divas.  Our sponsor is Bugaboo and I chose to use two of their images to make a pair of little Mother's Day cards.




 Aren't they super sweet.  And be sure to pop back to the blog on the 1st so we can inspire you with a new challenge.

Dawn

Tuesday 29 April 2014

Farewell is not Goodbye!

I'm here saying farewell Paula from our Die Cut Divas blog.  Due to personal reasons, Paula is stepping down from the challenge blog.

She is a woman that deserves the title "Diva".  I got to know Paula through the Flickr group of Die Cut Divas and was thrilled to assist with the challenges there and now on the blog.  I have also had the thrill of meeting Paula for real.... The first time nearly 4 years ago when she had a two week old baby!  (My, Paula, hasn't the time flown by!) and then again in September 2012 when I got to spend a whole day with her, talking and visiting her local stamp store and doing some crafting too.  I can tell you, this is one LOVELY lady.  Paula, I will miss you  on the blog, but I can tell we'll be friends long time.  Next time I'm in Mooloolaba you can guarantee I'll be popping in for tea and card making!

Here's the card I sent Paula to say thanks for being such a fabulous Diva.


I used an adorable little bee from Bugaboo to make my card,  I coloured and fussy cut parts of the been to layer. I used an embossing folder on the PP to make my base and when I cut the dies, I sponged with blue ink before removing the dies.  There's lots of Wink of Stella on the card both black and clear. 
(P.S. sorry for the poor photo quality.. I nearly forgot to take a photo and had to take this on my cell phone)

I will certainly miss Paula on the blog but am sure she'll still be around on her own blog - Scappy Me


Sunday 27 April 2014

Tag - you're it!

I am taking part in a tag swap with a theme of "Quotes"   There are six of us taking part in the swap so I had to provide 5 tags... I decided to do 5 different tags using the same techniques I used on my canvases.   Each tag is 5 1/2 inches tall and 2 3/4 inches wide.  I used Spellbinders dies to shape the top of the tags.

Don't Let Anyone Ever Dull Your Sparkle Tag

This one used a Spellbinders De-lite die and the sentiment is from Kaisercraft.

Live Beautifully Tag

This is the tag I made the other day, just shaped the top.

Butterfly Tag

For this one, I used some stencils, a Memory Box die, and a Penny Black stamp for my sentiment.

One Good Friend Tag

Another Memory Box die and this time the quote is from Inkadinkado.  

Within Your Heart Tag

For this final one, another Spellbinderd De-lite die with a Penny Black quote. 

Hope the recipients enjoy the tags when they arrive.  

EDITED:
I entered these into the "Paint It" challenge at City Crafter Challenge blog and am happy to say I got a "Spotlight Artist" award :-)


Dawn

Saturday 26 April 2014

For Mother....

I've made a few Mother's Day cards to sell at work.


This first one was inspired by a card I saw on Flickr from Kim (see here), I used some Hero Arts ink to sponge through a The Crafter's Workshop stencil and then used a Kaisercraft stamp to stamp the leaves and buds.  The butterfly is a Hero Arts one, coloured with Copics.  I had the ribbon in my stash already coloured.  The sentiment on the bottom is from Kaisercraft.


The second card uses a Hero Arts stamp.  Originally this  was as one-layer card, but I ended up with green ink on it somehow!  So a save... rather than recolour the flowers, I fussy cut them out and layered onto the card. I used some HA ink to colour some white card, to make my strip down the side,


And this final card is a digi image from A Day For Daisies.  I coloured with Copics and then used a finger dauber with Walnut Stain Distress ink to give some dimension to the centres.   Once again, used a Kaisercraft sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by my little piece of blogland today.

Dawn

Thursday 24 April 2014

Wedding Cards- a little non-traditional

On Saturday my friend's daughter was heading off to a wedding.  About an hour before she was going, she asked me if I could make her a card.  This with me having limited supplies with me.... an definitely no wedding stamps!
So I thought maybe just flowers would do.

Live Laugh Love

This card is made with all Kaisercraft stamps.  The lace along the bottom is from one set, the roses from another and the sentiment a third set.  The lace is stamped with some Golden Glitz ink.  The roses were stamped, coloured with Copics and fussy cut out.   

Once I had finished it, I remembered Sarah loved butterflies, so I quickly made another card so she had the choice of two...

Wedding card

I started by inking up a The Crafter's Workshop stencil with some blue ink.  I had the butterfly stamped so coloured and cut out.  The brown twine was already tied as I had intended to use it the day before but had changed my mine.... so all in all, came together very quickly.  The sentiment is from Kaisercraft.   And yes, this is the one Sarah chose!  Not really a traditional wedding card, but she loved that it would be personal!

And wouldn't you know it... on Monday morning I found that I did have a mini Kaisercraft sentiment set that was wedding based!  Didn't know it was in the bottom of my bag.  

Tomorrow is a public holiday in New Zealand, celebrating ANZAC day.  If you are interested in knowing a bit more about it...I did a post last year...HERE

 

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great weekend.
 

Monday 21 April 2014

Mixed Media Canvas

I had an awesome weekend away.  We went up to Mangawhai on Thursday evening.  On Friday, hubby and our friend, Michael, decided to use the kayak's to do some fishing.  I dropped them off on the river near were we stay and  hours later I picked them up in the harbour.  Meanwhile, as Yvonne was still in town working, I got the crafting supplies out, and had a day of fun.  I had watched Jill Foster doing an Art Journal page on the Penny Black blog.  Loved what she did and thought it would translate to a canvas, so picked up a couple of 6x6 canvases and gave it a go.  I don't have any Penny Black dies, so made do with what I had.

mixed media canvas

I used three layers of a heavy card stock to layer my dies onto the canvas and added gesso


As you can see, I also did a tag.  I tried everything on the tag first, then onto the canvas.  Above, you can see the texture paste and gesso drying.

Mixed Media Tag

I really enjoy the process.  So much so, that this morning, I started another one.


Still to finish this one off.  

Over the weekend, I made 6 cards, the tag, and these two canvases as well as colouring a number of digi images... a very creative weekend.   And we also spend a day over on Kawau Island... 



Saturday 19 April 2014

Happy Easter to you

Happy Easter to you.  Today I'm sharing a card and gift box I made for a friend's daughter.



This is using a digi image from Bugaboo, the sponsors this month over at Die Cut Divas 

I also used the sam imaged, printed much smaller this time, on a little gift basket I also made for Jade and filled with hand-made chocolates


When I took this into work to give to Jade's mum, one of my other colleagues decide that these would be awesome at Christmas time to fill with cookies.  She has now made a note in her diary for early November to get me to make her half a dozen in reds and greens!  

Hope the Easter break is going well for you.  I managed to get a full days crafting in yestserday - making a 6 x 6 mixed media canvas, a tag, and two cards.  Then today I made two super quick cards as my friends daughter was going to a wedding and about an hour before hand asked me to make a card.  So with very limited supplies I managed two for her to choose from.  I've taken pics but as I'm on my tablet, haven't uploaded yet.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Dawn

Wednesday 16 April 2014

Hero Arts Sketch Challenge.

The latest challenge over at Hero Arts is a sketch one.   I decided to have a play

 

Take time

I had seen Lin using a technique with distress inks, stamps and a whole lot of water!  I decided to try it with an Hero Arts stamp that was one of the first I bought.  I stamped the leaf from the set in a variety of colours of distress onto some water colour paper (cheap variety of paper) and spritzed it liberally with water.  Once it dried, I cut it with a Simon Says Stamp edge die, and layered it onto the my card.  I added a length of ribbon and then using a Hero Arts die, cut the oval and sponged on some ink.  The sentiment is from the same set as is the little butterfly.  Finished with some sequins.  

I'm just finishing up packing to head up to Mangawhai for the Easter weekend.  I've packed a bigger suitcase of crafty stuff, then clothes!  

Have a great Easter break.  


Monday 14 April 2014

Ladybug Ladybug, fly away home!

Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home!

Over at Die Cut Divas this month's sponsor is Bugaboo.  Both Arlene and I used images that used Ladybugs.

I coloured my Ladybug with bright colours to tie into the colour/photo inspiration that Paula set for the challenge.   Arlene, used a single flower and Ladybug. I added some die cut photo corners and a little Hastings Rubber stamp sentiment.  

We'd love to have you join us.


Sunday 13 April 2014

Somebunny Loves You.

Yesterday I saw this adorable card from my bloggy friend, Joy and it reminded me that I had the same digi image but just hadn't got around to printing it out and using.   So today I did just that... amongst a few other things!

I started by printing Wryn from Tiddly Inks at 90% - but it was too small for my card design, so reprinted at full size and much happier

Blessings

I coloured Wryn with Copics and fussy cut her.  I found some pretty PP from a pack called "Japanica" by Rosie's Studio.  I cut it with a Lil Inker's rectangle die and then cut a white card circle with a Spellbinders nestibility. I made a bit of a mess of the sentiment, so had to make a save by white embossing it onto some black card.  

As I had already coloured and fussy cut the smaller image, I made up a mini (10.5cm x 7.5cm) card, using some of the PP I had cut for the first card.  

Mini Easter card

She looks very cute on this card.  I love the way you can change up the size of your images with digi stamps.   

I also took my crafting outside today.  Our weather has been superb lately.  A long late summer so it was too nice to stay in all day.  

 

I took some stencils, paints and inks outside and had a play.  Still have to make these up into cards.  Got a couple of ideas in mind.  

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope your weekend was full of crafty time.  I managed to get three cards done yesterday as well... some work for May's Die Cut Divas so awhile before I can share.  


Friday 11 April 2014

Water colour Paints

The other day I was playing around with some Tim Holtz Distress paints.  I smooched three colours onto my craft mat and spritzed with water.  I used some textured card stock and pulled it through to get a soft watercoloured background.

Live Beautifully

I then stamped a Hero Arts background stamp in Versafine ink - doing a second generation stamping moving it slightly.  The sentiment in the centre is from Kaisercraft.  I finished with a punched vellum dragonfly that I coloured with Copics.

Some times it's fun just to play with no other thought in mind than just to have fun.  I hope that you get to have some play time over the weekend.


Thursday 10 April 2014

Earn your Stripes.........

Today is my first as a DT member for Southern Girls Challenge.  Our theme for this fortnight is "Earn your Stripes"  We got to work with some images from our sponsor "A & T Digital design - home of Emerald Faeries" and some Inklings from Artfull Crafts



 


For my card I used "Boo and Snookie"

I used Copic markers to colour the image and then used a Wonky Rectangle die to cut it out.  The orange striped background is a Hero Arts stamp inked up with a Distress ink.  Added some paper flowers and gems and a striped ribbon bow.  The sentiment is also a Hero Arts stamp.

For my Inkling sample I used one of the yet to be released images.  Hop over to the Artfull Crafts blog and find out all about the Inklings.  They are fun to work with.


I coloured the image with Copics and added some Stickles.  The background is made with some Simon Says stamps inked up with Hero Arts Neon blue inl.  The Happy Birthday is a Hero Arts stamp and the little rope bow is from the same Simon Says Set as the stripes and anchors.  Just love this little image.

Hop over to Southern Girls Challenge and add your striped projects.  Would love to see you there.   

Tuesday 8 April 2014

Butterflies, birds and dragonflies.

Our lasted challenge is underway at Chalk'n'stock.  Anything Goes as usual, as long as you use chalk somewhere on your projects.

Our sponsors are Bugaboo Digi stamps and I chose to use a delightful background image.


I used chalks to colour the image and then punched out the dragonfly out of some vellum and coloured with Copics.  The sentiment is from Kaisercraft. 

Thanks for stopping by today.


Saturday 5 April 2014

Some fun with Stencils.

Over at Virginia's View, this month's challenge is "Stencils"  A very on trend item these days!  I shared a couple of stencils cards the other day (however made prior to Virginia's challenge starting) but I have entered this one already

Stenciled Background

I used a Dreamweavers stencil and some embossing paste to make the background.  Once it dried I added some Hero Arts Passion flower ink (my new favourite purple ink)  I then finished it with the die cut leaves, the flower and sentiment from Simon Says Stamp.  This is heading off to someone special for her birthday.

Today I did some more stencilling.  This time I used a piece of lacy card for a stencil.  It was a 12 x 12 sheet that cost me $3.  I cut it into 4 pieces

And here is the card it made

It looks much better IRL... the textured card doesn't photograph well.  I used some distress inks to sponge over the stencil.  I added a little vellum and card butterfly and the sentiment by Hero Arts.  I'm entering this into Simon Says Challenge as well as Virginia's View

That's it for me today.  Off to visit with son and his girlfriend and her family for a barbeque.. will be the last one for the summer with daylight saving finishing tonight :-(  that means that summer is officially over even if the weather doesn't think so with the temp still in the mid 20s most day.  

Have a great weekend all

Thursday 3 April 2014

A bit of this and a bit of that!

I've got a few cards to share today.

First up:  It's a new month so a new challenge at Die Cut Divas.  This month we have a photo inspiration from Paula.


Our sponsor is Bugaboo Digital stamps this month and I used Sunbonnet Fancy Umbrella and used the green colours as my inspiration

I used some PP to paper piece the image.  My background has been embossed and sponged with some green ink.

Next a card I made for Moxie Fab World Stencil challenge

Stencilled flowers

My inspiration for this was a card from Donna Mikasa.  I CASE'd her design of the angled background.  My sentiment is a Stamp-It stamp. The inks I used are Hero Arts shadow inks with a stencil from Dylusions.  The sentiment is from Stamp-It. I've also entered this into Moxie Fab World stencil challenge.

And finally my card that I sent to Sally in England as part of Deborah's CCC.

Inspired by CAS 3 classes.

This is another one I entered into the challenge at Moxie World.  I used some water colour paper and a stencil.  I used some distress ink to sponge through the stencil and then spritzed with water to give the idea of bokeh.   Sentiment is from Hero Arts.  

I still have a few more cards I haven't shared here.  But that's for another day.  

Thanks for visiting and persevering with this long post.




Tuesday 1 April 2014

Black and White at Creative Craft Cottage

It's the first of the month so it's a new challenge at Creative Craft Cottage and it's my teams turn to highlight our samples.  The theme is "Black and White"

Black and White


My card uses a Rubbadubbadoo stamp.  I stamped it in black ink on white card and white embossed it onto black card.  I trimmed 4 squares and rounded the opposite corners on each one.  I wish now that I had embossed the black on white.. The stamped the Hero Arts sentiment and double matted it with black and white.  Finished with a double bow made with gingham ribbon.  I had forgotten my BowEzy and used a fork to make the little bow.

Do pop over to the blog to see what the other's have created.