Shine Bright!

I have been playing around with this set and matching dies since it arrived in the mail from Concord & 9th.  They are a new stamp company and I just love what they are creating.  I used the Peek a Frame by Mama Elephant to created a stitched base and added the bulb using pop dots for added dimension.  Coloured with copics and three layers of glossy accents - very shiny in real life!

Thanks for peeking.

Meet James the Bear!

Meet James the Bear!  I found him in my stash recently and he had never been inked!  He is a Lili of the Valley stamp but I fear no longer in production.

I decided to stamp him on copic friendly paper and get colouring!

I "created" the Merry Christmas sentiment by cutting a sentiment in half!.  It was Merry Chrismtas DEAR - part of the SSS Gnome for the Holidays stamp set.  I see Jennifer McGuire do it on a regular basis but reckoned I would never have the nerve, (well I did! LOL!!).

I added lots of gold stickles to the tinsel and glossy accents to the baubles.

Thanks for peeking.

HELLO!

Well hello!  No I haven't fallen off the face of the earth but in recent weeks my crafting mojo got a kick start and I am back creating.

I am inspired by Jennifer McGuire daily but particularly her "Share Handmade Kindness Campaign" and here is my take on her cards for kids here.

I dipped into some of my unopened Studio Calico card kits and got inky.  The little images are from Mama Elephant.  I gave the little girl shiny red boots by adding glossy accents.  The tags were cut from Simon Says Stamp - Bundle of Stitched Shapes.

Thanks for peeking and thanks so much for stopping by!.

Good Luck - Day One

Supplies:  WMS Free Spirit Boy, WMS Free Spirit Sentiments, Glossy Accents, 

PTI Dark Chocolate ink, PTI Dark Chocolate cardstock, Distress inks - 

tea dye and walnut stain, blending tool, glossy accents and water.

I had fun creating these "boy" Good Luck Cards.  This week the State Exams start for Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate students and I seem to have lots of recipients on my list this year.

I used this fun set from Waltzingmouse stamps - Free Spirit Boy and Free Spirit Sentiments to create these two cards. 

I added glossy accents to the skater on the top card and to some of the circles/dots in the graphic design.  Then I added some drops of water on top of the inked image and the water erased the ink directly under it.  I then used a rag to lift the remaining water so the paper wouldn't warp.  It has a "bleaching" effect - which I like.

Supplies:  WMS Free Spirit Boy, WMS Free Spirit Sentiments, Glossy Accents, 

PTI Dark Chocolate ink, PTI Dark Chocolate cardstock, Distress inks - tea dye 

and walnut stain, blending tool, glossy accents and water.

Thanks for peeking - hope you will enjoy my three days of "Good Lucks!"  - Be sure to pop back tomorrow for some more Good Luck Cards.

Anniversary Card & Tuesday Trigger

Today is our Wedding Anniversary.  My DH and I are married 12 years - where does the time go?  The above shot of the "lippy" is from O Magazine and is the Tuesday Trigger this week over on Moxie Fab World.  Here is my card inspired by the photo.

I made this card using the wonderful Digital Kit by Jen Martakis called "Watercolours".  I added some machine stitching, glossy accents and a computer generated sentiment - flemish script font.  The glossy hearts are meant to represent the shine from the lipsticks!.

Today is also the day that Hero Arts starts hosting their Virtual Cardmaking party (10-12 Sept) as Operation Write Home celebrates it's Birthday. 

Be sure to check out the details here. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day and great weekend.

Beautiful Birthday Dahlias

I was late with my post for this month's challenge over on Tiffany Doodles and I still feel bad about it.  So, I have another "flower power" card for you using Tiffany's wonderful image - Dahlia w/Oval

I coloured the image twice and added a second "flower" layer raised on pop dots to add dimension.  I also added LOTS! of glossy accents to the bottle which I hope you can see in the first photo.  Sentiment is from PTI. 

Thanks so much for peeking and I hope you get a chance to play along with this month's challenge over on Tiffany Doodles - all details here.  Remember - Tiffany has lots of flower freebies available on her site too - check them out here.  Hope you have a great weekend.

Fun Funky Flower Card!

Made this card using the wonderful digital kit called "Fun in the sun drawings" by the super talented Holly Brooke Jones. 

Supplies: Digital Kit - Fun in the Sun Drawings by Holly Brooke Jones, 

Bazzill dotted swiss cardstock, Spellbinders curved rectangles, 

copics, glossy accents and white cardstock.

I just love pink and orange together... can you tell!!! LOL!!!  Coloured with copics and added some colouring pencil shading.  Then got busy with my glossy accents!.

Am just loving this kit and have several more made to share with you. 

I am dashing out the door to my DS's end of school performance.... "Billy Bee has lost his buzz!".... they are all going to be dressed in bee costumes....!!! so sweet!!!  He has been very busy practicing his lines and songs..... so adorable.  Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday.

Paperplay - Use a stamp/digi and some bling!

This week's challenge on Paperplay is set by Liz - "Use a stamp/digi stamp and some bling.... "  It is very kindly sponsored by Stitchy Bear Stamps who very kindly gave us some digis to work with.  Just adore this image.... so much fun to play with .  The Dino digi image is available here.

Supplies Digi from Stitchy Bear Stamps, sentiment from PTI, fimo button made by myself, 

ribbon from Sally, copics, white gel pen, glossy accents, Quickutz cookie cutter circles 

and Papermania textured cardstock 

So I made the above and realised.... oopppss ... no bling... so here's what I did!!!  I am liking these new square mosaic style gems by Papermania.

I coloured this dino with copics, added a sentiment from Papertrey Ink, a handmade fimo button, some beautiful ribbon that Sally sent me (thanks Sally) and faux stitching around the edges. I love the glossy accents which I applied over the green scales on his front/belly.  Just makes you want to rub his belly... great card for a younger person!.

Then I decided.... to make a girly dino card.... 

I used glossy accents on the scales and then used my pee wee glitter to sprinkle the "bling"... decided not to add any more colour to the dino (stay away from the copics!! LOL!).  Used my new sentiment set "fillable frames" from Papertrey Ink to stamp the sentiment and some ribbon from the new Smirk range with a matching fimo button I made recently to finish it off.

Hope you get a chance to play along this week.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

April CCC

This is the card I made for Deborah's April Card Chain Challenge (CCC).  I try to participate each month as it is so much fun getting a card from somewhere in the world and sending a card to someone (normally not in the same country as you).  This month I got to send one to Corey in the USA.    I used a Pure Innocence digital image by Heather Ellis.  I just love these images.  I played around with some colour pencils, sansodor (gamsol) and a paper stub!!! so fun as it was my first time trying it.  Will need to practice quite a bit I think!!!  Added glossy accents to the mail box, a fimo button which I had made recently and my new MS lace punch.

This month the template was this (Deborah also provides a colour swatch or theme that you can use... but I went for the template!).

and I made this....

Can't understand why the colour/contrast in the photo isn't so great.  Will try and retake and post it again.

I also want to share the beautiful card that I received from the super talented Sally.  Last month I sent Sally a card for the March CCC, so it was so fun receiving one from Sally this month.  Sally worked on the sketch/template too.

Be sure to keep an eye here for the next month's sign up if you want to play along.  Thanks for peeking.

I want to give a HUGE shout out and THANK YOU to all supporters of the Dream Team that have helped us on our way over the past five weeks.  It has been quite a journey!!! and Kathy, Fika and I had a wonderful time.  The last 24 hours of the Battle was absolute nail biting stuff and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your help, support and encouragement.

Hope you have a great day.

Paperplay - "Use Stickers"

So, it's Thursday again... where does the week go?  This week I set the challenge over on Paperplay to use stickers (chipboard stickers, quote stickers etc.) on your card/project.  I reckon we all have a couple in our stash and they so frequently go overlooked.

So... I checked my stash ... .and boy do I have a LOT of stickers.  I found these by DCWV - they are "saying stickers" that I think I have had for quite a while.

This week's challenge is sponsored by The Scrapbook Store and you could win €10 store credit.  They have a great selection of everything... including stickers!.

So I peeled a sticker off my sheet - they are printed on a see through vellum type surface - added it to my card... and hey presto...

I decided to leave my Forever Friends Bear stamped on white cardstock with only his hat coloured red with copics and the glossy shine is from glossy accents which I added on top.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope that you will dig out some of your stickers and give the challenge a try this week.

March Card Chain Challenge and Happy St Patrick's Day

"Beannacht Lá Fhéile Pádraig" - Happy St Patrick's Day to everyone. 

I was delighted to be able to sign up for Deborah's Card Chain Challenge for March and was even more thrilled to be able to send the wonderful and talented Sally Sherfield a card.  I decided not to go for the array of colours on the colour swatch and stayed away from the sentiments too as I didn't have any stamps that fitted with it.  So in the end I went with the sketch/template that Deborah provided.

I had a stash of butterflies that I had printed and cut out... so decided to have a go at using some.  I coloured them with light shades of blue/blue green copics and had the flower already subtly coloured in a pale pink/beige colour.  Added a kraft card blank, the hello sentiment from Hero Arts and hey presto - card made.

I added the antennae with glossy accents (just like Jennifer McGuire's video instructions here), I also layered one of the butterflies.  Fingers crossed it travelled over the Irish Sea and got to Sally in one piece! (edited - Sally sent me an email on Monday evening to let me know that my package had arrived safe and sound).

Also entering this card into this month's Hero Arts Challenge - Spring and Easter.  Looking at the card now that it is gone... I should have added butterfly trails...aaahhhh well, something always needs tweaking! (will add them to the next one!).

Look what I got in the post yesterday morning - this amazing card from the talented Isha in Switzerland - she got the task of sending me a card for Deborah's March CCC.  It is so lovely to get a beautiful card like this landing on the hall floor instead of bills!.

Thanks so much Isha, I adore it. 

One more thing in this rather lengthy post.... I reheld the draw for the free digital image from Jane (as Sally had already won one on another blog).  Here is the result of the random.org (still can't get the whole widget to copy across!).

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1
Max: 21
Result:
4
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

and the winner is ...Katie said... Deirdre these are FAB! Thanks also for the chance to win!! xxx 
Katie, let me know which image you would like - Congrats.

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

For you!

I just adore Heather Ellis's images - these are from her Pure Innocence Range available here and are just great to work with.  Coloured with copics, added some glossy accents on the flower heads, cut out with my dies and nesties and mounted on some textured cardstock.  Added some Papermania ribbon - just perfect for Mother's Day.

Isn't she so sweet?  Still dirt on my camera which I have tried to clone out of the photo - will have to have another go at cleaning my camera or switch the lens and see if it improves. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Shoes Card!

Happy Saturday!  I think this was the digital image that got me hooked on Alison Spelman's images over on Stretch n Bubbles.  I saw it back in October 2009 - it was a freebie then and this is the first time I have used it.  Love the sentiment - "give a girl the correct footwear and she can conquer the world... " - as a shoe lover.... so true!  LOL!!

Printed it out on cardstock, coloured with copics, rounded the corners and mounted on kraft with pop dots.  Added stickles to the stripy tights and glossy accents to the grey shoes (not clearly evident in the photo). 

Thanks so much for peeking... remember Alison does freebies on Fridays!!! and also has another site - Free Digital stamps - be sure to check it out.

Card Drive cards and digital freebie

My DS turns 6 today and while this isn't his Birthday Card - I decided to share a "boy" card today.  These  are cards I made for Jennifer McGuire's Card Drive for Kids.  If you don't know anything about it and are interested - I posted here about it.

The image is by Maurie J Manning aka Mo - and I won it in one of her recent Challenges - thanks Mo.  Just the perfect image for those boy cards!  I coloured it with copics, added glossy accents to the helmet.  I used Glitz distressing background stamps on the red deckle edged card which I clear embossed and added chipboard stickers and hey presto... card done!  Mo's images are available here and she very kindly gives out freebies to her Paper Craft Planet members occasionally too - join up here (or to her SNR Card Universe if you are a member there).

 

I also made this one using a Little Musings Image - by SJ.  She does freebies on Fridays and I picked up this image called "Finn" to play with.  I coloured him with copics and added glossy accents to the eyes.  Used the same stamp for the background but just stamped with versamark ink.  Sentiment from Hero Arts set.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday... mine will be Astro boy filled!!!!

Card Share as promised

Two posts in one day!!!!!! wow!

I promised to post a card later in the day - so as promised!. 

My HA Flickr Friend Donna has made some incredible cards with amazing images by Heather Ellis - so I popped over and bought some a few days ago and had SO MUCH FUN with them.  They are just adorable.

Supplies: Red cardstock, Spellbinders Nesties - Blossom, Pure Innocence Digital image,

copics, Ribbon from Tesco, pop dots and glossy accents.

I used a new embossing folder and nesties which I bought earlier in the week too.  I put glossy accents on her wellies and on the heart on her watering can just to add some shine. 

Thanks so much for peeking.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Hero Arts Challenge - Flowers and St Patrick's Day

This month's theme over on Hero Arts is Flowers and St Patrick's Day.  My SIL asked me to make a card for a very good friend who celebrated her birthday yesterday - so didn't post it until I knew she had received it!!!  I made a Miss Party Owl with a party hat/hair accessory!!!

Supplies: Hero Arts K5059 Big Owl, pp by K&Co, MS border punch, prima flower,

fimo sparkly white button made by me! embroidery floss, pop dots, pee wee glitter, glossy accents,

glue dots, HA smooth gemstones and copics.

The colours are a little off in the photo - very gray/grey and dull here this morning.  The face of miss owl is actually glittered with pee wee glitter.  The wings open back to read - Olivia, Happy 30th Birthday - have a hoot!.

Hope you are having a great weekend.  Thanks so much for stopping by and would love it you left a comment.  I love reading them all.