Sunday 27 April 2014

Simply Betty Boudoir Series 1 Challenge Entry

My favourite digis at the moment are by Simply Betty. They are an absolute dream to colour and so much fun! There is currently a challenge running on her Facebook fan page (you can find it here- go on, click the link and join in the fun, you know you want to!) and I couldn't resist joining in so here are my entries.

I fancied getting a little adventurous with my colouring for All Polished Up Betty so had my first attempt at pink hair. I was rather pleased with how she turned out. 


I am on the DT for the Facebook challenge page Aly's Crafty Challenges and this months theme is yellow and green, which gave me no end of a headache when I was producing my DT projects, but Bubble Bath Betty lent herself quite nicely to that colour scheme so although she wasn't used for the DT I decided to stick with the colours for her.


Perfume is always such a delicate thing so I wanted to keep Perfume Betty pale and pretty so coloured her in a nice subtle pink and grey and embellished my card with flowers, lace and a doily and added texture with an embossed panel that I shaded with gilding wax.


I made Shoe Obsession Betty into and anniversary card for my husband (18yrs yesterday- not sure how that happened but I am pleased to say after all that time we are still very happily married and looking forward to the next 18yrs) , so wanted to make it more 'man friendly' with the colour scheme so chose pretty blues and greys. 


Having been emboldened by my pink hair experience I went all out and sexy with Powder Puff Betty and gave her fiery red hair and added interest to her stepper card by creating a lace panel for the front with a mask, Versamark and embossing powder. 


I adore all of the images but Morning Mess Betty is by far my favourite, not least because the sentiment completely echoes my house, where the morning doesn't begin until the kettle has boiled. I wanted to use her to create a piece of art for my newly painted kitchen. I coloured her and fussy cut her before creating the background on my MDF heart using my gelli plate. Once I was happy with the background I added a sun and stamped a flower and bird border around the edge (the birds are always up before me so it seemed fitting!). I coloured the detail with Twinkling H20's to give it a little sparkle. A ribbon and bow finished it off nicely. Tomorrow's mission it to pop a hook up so she can take up residence in the kitchen and make me wake up with a smile every day!


Betty very kindly recently gave the last digi, Perfect Curls Betty away on her fan page for a limited time, and while she isn't required for the challenge I couldn't leave her out of this post as she is just adorable!


This has been such a fun challenge to enter. I can't wait to join in more!



Monday 21 April 2014

Vintage Wedding Card

A friend asked me yesterday if I could make a wedding card for her in time for next weekend if it wasn't too much short notice. As it's a bank holiday today, and the happy couple will be sharing a wedding date with me and my husband (18yrs on Saturday- how did that happen?!) I couldn't possibly say no.

I used a Graphic 45 paper for the backing and added the date to make it personal. A doily,some lace,pretty flowers and a hat pin all helped add to the vintage feel. I used Antique Linen distress ink to age the doily and border the edges of the die cuts.



Because of all the embellishments I decided to create a special presentation box to hold it and finish it off nicely.


I hope the new Mrs and Mrs Hayes have a day to remember and enjoy many happy years together. Congratulations to them both.
xxx

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:


Sunday 13 April 2014

Magical Mermaid

A few months ago a friend asked me if I would be prepared to use my card making skills on a slightly different project- some art work for her house. I am no artist, so the prospect was a bit daunting, but I agreed to the challenge and set to work. The first two pieces I created for her were pretty straightforward and I had a plan in mind, but the third had me pondering for far too long as I just wasn't sure what to do. The request was for a picture with a nice quote on, in turquoise for her bathroom. 

Anyway, after far too many weeks pondering, I finally was able to get started as my friend and crafty guru Sam offered to loan me some of her Chocolate Baroque stamps with an underwater theme. As I don't actually own any sea themed stamps I jumped at her offer and with this week off work found myself with time to play.

A little pootling around Google came up with this beautiful free mermaid digital image from  Shyni Moonlightings. It was perfect for what I had in mind so I downloaded it and printed off a couple of copies.



  I used one to create a mask over the main image, and then created a background for her using my gelli plate and a mixture of greens and blues for the sea and my clarity Ocean Swirls mask.



I carefully lay my cardstock onto the plate and prayed it would work as I pulled the print.


And it did!! It needed a little more though so I added bubbles from the stamp set Sam loaned me with some distress inks.


 I removed the mask and coloured her with distress markers and used Twinkling H2O paint on her tail to make it shimmer, just like a real mermaid (who said mermaids aren't real?!)


She was starting to take shape but I felt she needed company so using the seahorse stamp and some gilding flakes I gave her a couple of little buddies to swim about with.


Some mesh and fabric helped give the picture more dimension- but was a pain to stick down! I got there in the end though thankfully. 



It still needed more though and what better than some sea shells and glass gems to finish off the underwater look. Oh yes, and fish gravel! As a childminder in my day job there is no end to the odds and ends I keep lying about for the children to play with and I found both of these lurking in my resources shed. Result!

Some seaweed stamped around the edge framed her nicely and good old Pinterest help me come up with a suitable quote. I really hope my friend is pleased with her as I certainly am. It's been great fun stepping out of my comfort zone and having a go at something a little different. 

I would like to enter this picture in the following challenges:

Thursday 10 April 2014

A Cause for Celebration

This weekend, at a family gathering, my sister announced that after 16yrs with her other half they were finally getting around to tying the knot. She followed that news up with the sentence -'but you're not all coming so don't get excited'. Charming!! Actually, anyone that knows my sister as well as I do knows that this is exactly what they could expect from her, and I don't mean because she is mean and nasty, she is completely the opposite of that, and there is nothing that she wouldn't do for anyone. It's just that she is the last person on this earth (next to me that is) who would enjoy the fuss and attention that a 'proper' wedding would bring and just wants her day to happen very quietly in a way that is comfortable for her, and as someone who wanted to do exactly the same thing 18yrs ago when I got married (but didn't quite manage it but that's a water under the bridge now!), I totally understand how she feels.

That said, she is now engaged and fuss or no fuss it's something worth celebrating and so I wanted to make her and her husband to be a card to congratulate them. The stamps I used, which came with a recent issue of Creative Stamper magazine, couldn't reflect the happy couple any less (other than the fact they are both vintage era- sorry sis lol!). My sister doesn't do dresses or elegance and is more often than not clambering around in walking boots or converse and jeans (we have so much more in common than just shared parents that's for sure!),but she does love the vintage look, so hopefully will like the card.

I used Graphic 45 Typography papers for the backing, made the large flower from pages of an old copy of Jayne Eyre, and added more from my stash to finish it off. 

I love making cards as you know, but making ones for my most special people always gives me so much pleasure, and this one couldn't be for a more special couple. I wish you both many many years of wedded bliss and hope that you get exactly the kind of wedding day you want.

xxx



Monday 7 April 2014

New Baby Card With a Twist!

Now I like a challenge, but I have to confess the brief I was given for the card I made today had me scratching my head for a while! It was to be a card for a dance tutor who was going on maternity leave, and I was asked to make it 'quirky'. When I suggested a dancing baby my friends response was - 'can it wear Converse?'!! 

After a bit more mutual head scratching over how to make it work my friend came up with a genius plan- asking another mutual friend who happens to be a very talented artist to draw something unique for us. He agreed straight away and the beginnings of the card were born.

Knowing that I only had the original artwork to work with I decided that rather than risking messing it up I would scan it in (and resize to a more card friendly size it as it was dauntigly huge!), which also means the lady it is intended for can keep the original print herself. 


I wanted to create a funky feel to the card so created the backdrop using silver acrylic paint on my gelli plate with a mask that was created by my friend Sam at A Bit of Crafty Genius. I pulled the print onto red cardstock and mounted the whole thing on black mirror card. After pondering how to best create disco tiles for the floor I decided that my Dylusions and cosmic shimmer mists would give the funky colours I wanted and so sprayed some card with a mix of both and die cut small squares which I then mounted on black card stock. They weren't funky enough though, so some stickles soon sorted that out!


Sam was also kind enough to lend me one of her Stampendous stamps this week, and the lights on it were perfect for giving it a bit more disco fever so I stamped them onto some of the sprayed card and fussy cut around them, then mounted them on foam pads to make them pop. I found a glitter ball on google images so printed that and gave it some sparkle with a gel pen to finish off the whole card.


As I said, this one was certainly a challenge and is about as far away from a traditional new baby card as you can get, but hopefully that will make it all the more special for the expectant Mum!

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:


Sunday 6 April 2014

Clarity Stamps Family Tree Picture

It's a little past Mother's Day but as I didn't see my Mum to give it to her until today, when I visited for her birthday, this is the first opportunity I have had to share the gift I made for her.

A little while ago, while I was staying with her to help her following an operation, we were sat watching Create and Craft (like you do when you are both keen crafters!) and the stunning Family Tree set from Clarity Stamps was demo'd. No sooner had I commented that I liked it than she was on her laptop ordering it for me as a gift! After such a kind thought I just had to use it to make something unique for her of course!

I used my trusty Gelli Plate to pull the print of the tree, and used gilding flakes to create the leaves. Mum is a fan of Autumnal colours so I wanted to make something that reflected that (and would fit in with her colour scheme at home!).


I used distress inks to colour the rest and stamped the individual leaves in co ordinating colours and added our key family names. Our whole family tree is huge as we all have children so decided it was best to stick to Mum, Dad and their five children to keep it simple!

The Inkylicious stamp sentiment ' The family is one of nature's masterpieces' added the finishing touch to the main picture, and I mat and layered it onto a backing paper created with a leaf stamp I had in my stash and framed it in a box frame.


 I am pleased to say that she really loved it when she saw it!

I would like to enter this in the following challenges: 



Saturday 5 April 2014

A Special Card for a Special Lady

Today is my Mum's birthday and as she also makes cards herself I wanted to be sure I made an extra special card for her. 

Mum loves all things nature related and had already hinted that she wanted a card along these lines (not that she's demanding or anything!) , so the Chocolate Baroque Butterfly Poppy stamp set that I recently purchased was the obvious choice to use. 

I stamped the main image onto one of the many Gelli Prints that I have in my drawer that I created using acrylic paint and masks, heat embossed it and coloured it with twinkling H20's. I stamped the single butterfly, coloured it the same way and layered it onto the main image to give dimension, and mat and layered it onto cardstock.

I used a paper from docarfts Madame Payraud range underneath, distressed with a little ink, and added some lace and embellishments from my stash.


I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and I hope Mum is too. Happy birthday Mum- may your day be full of nice surprises!!

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges: