CAS

Not often I make one of these cards. Clean and simple is not really my style - but change is as good as a rest they say. I would like to broaden my "skills" and try it. Please let me know what you think. I make no apologies for seemingly copying my type of project that I produced when asked if I'd like to be a GDT member the other week. I'm trying to get a few little pressies made as well for folks. Decorating candles is easy and can make a welcome gift.
Tuesday Taggers this week have asked for the words "Peace, Joy or Love" to feature in this week's projects. I was going to go for "Love" and have a great stamp for it but in the end plumped on "Peace".
Card and matching candle

In white, silver and black. Not your run of the mill Christmas colours, but I decided it would look better. The letters are mounted on sticky dots. The edges and corners are fine peeloffs - too chunky and the clean look would go.
The candle on the other side has a stamped image of a dove
You can just see the sheen of the silver gel pen I used on this. The silver organza and black satin ribbons from stash.
Simple, but I hope effective. I do have a recipient in mind. ..... but I don't want to tell just yet.

I am also entering this into the challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers - Card and matching gift
and Artful Inkables - Sentiment and corners

GDT spot at Tuesday Taggers

Wooohoooo Following the entering in of my "Nursery Rhyme" little book into Tuesday Taggers a couple of weeks ago and being chosen as the lucky recipient of those fabulous ribbons from Ribbon Oasis, I was asked if I wanted to do a little project as guest DT. What an honour.
Ildiko is the one who chose this weeks challenge. I must admit - it took me a couple of days to get my head round the colour combo she chose of 'Silver, Gold and Purple with some sort of stamping'. Silver and gold are not a combination I would normally put together on the same project, but I don't think it turned out too bad in the end.


I used a digi from Delicious Doodles, changing the colour to purple using my graphics program. I actually cut out all the white bits except a small sliver round the outside of the image and mounted it on the textured gold card adding a tiny gem where the earring would be. The purple background was stamped and embossed in silver (the rubber stamp was a freebie from when I first started collecting stamps and has no name on it). This in turn was mounted onto silver and then gold miri adding ribbon at each layer before a final back of more purple to which was attached a little box for the candle.

The candle ......

Using the same stamp and gold pigment ink stamped onto white tissue paper. The image was the right size for 3 hearts round the candle. I went over the outline with gold gel pen to make sure the image wouldn't get lost against the candle and then cut out close to the outline. With a touch of stick glue to the back of the hearts to secure and some greaseproof paper to protect, the heat gun was gently played over the area to melt the wax enough to draw the image in but not so the whiteish core of the candle is exposed.
The box has a top and bottom to keep the candle secure and a final piece of ribbon round it.

I thought this would make a nice small gift to a couple celebrating their love, anniversary or engagement maybe?

Going Oriental

A break from those Christmas cards.... we all need it don't we. So with Tuesday Taggers setting the challenge .... that's what I did.
A card with an added "little something" for the bookworm - a book mark.
I don't have much in the way of oriental figures but I do have dragons :)

The dragons on both are from Tanda stamps fantasy range. Both stamped in black and heat embossed with a red sparkle embossing powder. The BP was a digi freebie from ummmm - one of those mags that comeout, I'm sorry I can't remember at the moment.
The little dangly bits have butterflies stamped onto shrink plastic and threaded onto the same thin red ribbon that is down the side.








On the bookmark the tassle was home made using embroidery silk.





All other bits from stash.

I am entering this into the Tuesday Taggers challenge this week for a "Taste of the Orient"
As this also has a book mark as part of the package - I am entering this into the challenge over at Your Next Stamp Challenge for their make a book mark

It's Nearly Halloween

As if you couldn't guess. Everyone, it seems is gearing up for All Hallow's Eve. Seems like I'll be having my own little party. Me, myself and I, and any others that turn up. Hubby's away for a few days. This corner of Scotland doesn't "do Halloween". Even the pumpkins here are smaller than a witch's cats head!! I still indulge myself though and make a few things. One of which is this little coffin.......
I started off by stamping a Lost Coast "skull with wreath" stamp a few times on some purple paper. My intention was that the wreath from one image would be shared with the one above. It grew and the next layer shares jaws..... as you can see - "a bit" of masking was going on here.
This went on to cover the top of a prepainted coffin (purple acrylic paint).
Round the bottom, I used a digi from Smeared Ink "It's about Time" which I had printed on the same purple paper.












Inside there is a computer generated motto in the lid and a zombieboy digi from Make It Crafty.
The boy was stuck in using a paper spring and surrounded by little scrunched up red tissue paper that I had inked to make it look old and dirty.


A couple of rounds of black ribbon to finish it all of

I am entering this into the Tuesday Taggers challenge this week for their Purple Challenge who are being sponsered this week by the Craft Barn and into the Haunted Design House challenge #62 - Smeared and Smudged - the amount of inking going on here inside and out :). Also going to enter it into the Sweet Stamping challenge for Anything but a card.

Nursery Rhymes

Tuesday Taggers set the challenge - Nursery Rhymes..... well I didn't need a nursery rhyme card. The stamps I have don't lend themselves to what I would have ReallY loved to do. I do however need to start making some little gifts for some of the family. One 2 year old little girl is going to be getting this in her stocking........

It's, as you can see a little book. It was made using some of the pages of a keepsake book from a beautiful blog candy win earlier in the year. It depicts Mother Goose on the front - that teller of so many rhymes. Inside cover has the rhyme......
and Humpty Dumpty. The other pages have different rhymes.... and finishes to the pages.



Glittery paint, acrylic paint, papers, alcahol ink daubed PVA. There are still another couple of rhymes I want to put in - but you get the idea. Each page is sealed so should last that little bit longer in the hands of a 2yr old. The images are all freebies off the net for childrens' activities. The holes in the book have been given an eyelet and the ring binder has had several ribbons tied on.
Hope you like my voyage into making a little book and thanks for looking.

I am also entering this into the 2 Sisters Challenge for anything goes, and the brand new Crafty Purple Frog Challenge blog, where again - anything goes.

The Duck challenge

.... yet another mermaid tilda!! Now you girls should know by now .... I don't do Tilda. BUT I was challenged by another dear friend to do a Tilda card AND blog it. Well I couldn't do an 'ordinary' one! Could I? She is coloured using water colours and sparkling H2O's, although the glimmer is hard to photograph. I just couldn't bring myself to colour her pink. Green she had to be! The weed is a die cut and the shells are decoupage. The "anchoring strip" is made by stamping bubble wrap onto paper. The backing papers are from the 'fragrant mint' selection over on Crafty Choas.
You ready for this **evil laugh**


What did you expect?
I am however going to enter this into the Tuesday Taggers watery challenge this week.

Black, Lovely Black

One of my fav. colours but oh so difficult to photograph!! I've had this card made for nearly 24 hrs trying to get the light just right - no glare and reflections and not brown. Well I think this piccy is about as good as I'm going to get.
Using a skull stamp from Happy Daze, first stamped in platignum ink onto matt black card stock and embossed with white pearl powder then, masking the first image, in black ink with the same embossing powder, I got the "shadow" effect I wanted. Mounted this onto glossy black card stock. I printed a black swirly design onto acetate and layered onto the lower part of a grainy black paper (unfortunately this doesn't show well in the pic) securing with black brads, all from stash. The black flower is from 2 sources, inner sent from USA and outer, together with the black dew drops from Crafty Feelings. The black velvet and organza ribbons are also from stash.
There we have it. Great fun to make, not so much to get a piccy as I said.
I am entering this into the Tuesday Taggers challenge for this week's BLACK request, and for the recipe challenge #13 over on StampInsanity - black paper, skulls and pearls - well dewdrops are nearly the same.

Don't mess with the Faerie

Alison over on Friends Having Fun has asked all the friends to make a card using the colours Hot Pink, Lime Green and Plum. These colours are great to work with and as I was asked to make a 21st birthday card by someone ...... might as well combine the two.
Using an image from that wonderful fantasy artist Selena Fenech, blooms from Crafty Feelings May kit, some digi papers and other bits from stash, this card was born. It's coloured using promarkers, with my new favorite - two toned voile - pieced onto a second set of wings and pieced on then to the faerie to give a bit of extra dimension. this was then layered onto plum coloured card, but with the light as it is on this dreary day, it doesn't show up very well. The sentiment is computer generated by me.
Also entering this into Bee Crafty's challenge for their "Blooming Marvellous" challenge and Tuesday Taggers for their "All That Blooms" challenge.

Birthday boy

It's coming up to that time of year again when I get to feel just that bit older. My eldest son is nearly 22. Where have the years gone? Well this year because I have started making cards instead of buying them - he gets one specially designed round him. He's been a skinhead for about 4 years now. The red DM boots, Ben Sherman shirts, rolled up jeans and close cropped hair look. He is also no angel, as many mums will identify with. When I saw this digi stamp from Cuddly Buddly, it reminded me so much of him I had to use it for his card. Had to be red, white and blue. He even has the union flag design for his bedding.
Dragon from Tag It On challenged us to make a tag with what ever was on our desk this week. Well among all the bits and pieces was the making of the card. I made it all smaller to fit on a tag. So we now have matching tag and card.
Tuesday taggers are requesting "cards for men" this week so I thought I might as well enter into their challenge as well. I'm also entering this into this weeks PolkaDoodles challenge as top and bottom of the card has been sewn and that is the wish of the team this week - to see some sewing on a card.
The beer glass stamp is on the back of the tag as it's just a bit big and I couldn't fit all the elements on to one face of the tag. Also found one of his old boot laces to thread through the hole.
Had to get a little fallen halo in there as well didn't I.