Just for you

How exciting! This is my first post as part of the Sentimental Sundays design team. This week's theme is Birthdays, and I have a card to show you that would be a great birthday card for a guy!

I used the 'Just for you' sentiment from the Garden Bun Bun Fairy digital set by Raindrop Echo Designs which is available at Whimsy Stamps.

I paired it with patterned paper by my favourite company - Kaisercraft - from my rather large stash that I should use far more often than I do. The collection of papers is 'Thrill Seeker' and the paper I used is 'Discover'. The whole collection of papers are available from Scrapping Essentials at half price!

I'm sharing a picture of how I construct these cards so that you don't think I print directly onto the card front... how fiddly would that be? I cheat! See the picture below for the evidence of my crime:

(sorry about the PJs but this is how I do my best work ;))

So as you can hopefully see, I have my card front (blank), the sentiment printed and cut out just larger than the circle (I print a bunch off at once to save time and paper and I have a little file I keep my cutouts in to use later). I die cut the circle using my bigshot and nestabilities, and wrapped some natural raffia on the left hand side to give the card some interest.

To line everything up when adhering I cover the back of the top layer with foam dots (I cut mine in half to save using so many) including quite close to the circle to prop it up nicely. I stick the sentiment on first and adjust it so that it's centred under the circle (trimming off any excess from the sentiment layer that pokes out the sides) and  then stick the whole thing down to the cardfront.

Hope that made enough sense! I should have taken some photos of other steps in the process so that you don't have to rely on my below-par explanations! Just let me know if you have any questions?

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the Sentimental Sunday design team have been up to!

Size of card: 4" square

Supplies:
Card/paper - Quill white cardstock, Recycled brown cardstock, 'Discover' from the Thrill Seeker collection by Kaisercraft
Stamp - Garden Bun Bun Fairy set from Whimsy Stamps
Ink - printer
Extra - Natural raffia from bargain shop
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Helmar glue runner, foam dots, Pixma printer, Bigshot, Circle nestability

Take care! 

Happy Birthday

MyGrafico challenge #72 wants everyone to add some sparkle - so I did!




The sparkle is actually not at all noticeable in the above photo, so how about another one?



Can you see it? The flower on the bottom left corner shows it the best. I love the subtleness of the spica atyou pen, but hate the unphotogenic-ness of it. This was the best photo of the sparkle I took... the hit and miss method I used was constantly tilting and angling it around, trying to find the sparkle and taking a shot every now and then. I used naked light [a cool daylight energy saver bulb from my lamp], don't try doing it from inside a light tent - trust me, it's a lesson in futility!
The flowers are my old favourites from MyGrafico - from the Contemporary Design Elements set by Mujka Chic. I didn't use a proper sentiment on this one - it's just printed directly from typing it out in word.

I coloured the flowers using my Prismacolor pencils as well as a blending stump dipped in baby oil. I've just recently bought some Zest-it which is an actual artist's blending solvent made from oranges (I think!) that isn't toxic and has a nice citrusy odour - it blends SO much better than the baby oil - I'll show a card that I've used it on soon!

Size of card: 4" square

Supplies:
Card/paper - Quill white cardstock
Stamp - Contemporary Design Elements from Mujka Chic (MyGrafico)
Ink - printer
Extra - Prismacolor pencils in Lilac and Lavender, blending stump, baby oil
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Helmar glue runner, scissors, Pixma printer

Challenge: MyGrafico #72

Thanks for looking, and I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Squigglefly Sentiments

Just a little post to show off the Squigglefly design teams creations using my sentiments!

Jane from Millie's Marvels used one of this week's new releases - 'Tis the Season on this card. I just love that cute little Santa she paired it with! Click on the image to see the blog post.

And Holly from Hogs Wild About Stamping used the Birthday Wishes sentiment from a previous release for the below card:

Isn't that a creative way of framing the flower? I'll have to try that for myself sometime! Click on the image above to see the blog post.

Well that's it from me tonight - I have to stop procrastinating and get on with some projects!

:)

Exciting news!

I've been holding onto this piece of news for a couple of days but now I'm going to just blurt it out because I can't hold it in much longer!




I've been chosen to be one of the new Design Team members for Sentimental Sundays! You all know how much I love my sentiments, and it's great because the team comprises of such a lovely group of ladies.

So you can expect to see more sentimentality on this blog in the future! (Bad joke, I know!)

Bye for now!

Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge - giveaway!

Wee Memories - one of my favourite challenge blogs - is giving away some awesome stuff! Click on the button below to get the details:

Happy Sunday everyone! I will be back with some exciting news of my own to share very soon!! :)

Have a Hoppy Day + free sentiment!

I just love this week's sketch from Clean and Simple! Here's another card I have made using it:




Here's a slightly different angle:



How adorable is that little frog? He's from Pink Cat Studios (as is the little owl from yesterday's post).

And because I know how much everyone loves freebies, I'm going to add the sentiment used on this card to my growing pile of them! :)

Right click on the below image and select 'save target as...'.

Sentiment info:
File type: PNG (can be dropped into MS Word, background is transparent)
File size: 66.2kb
Full dimensions: 22cm x 4cm
Font: LD Cotton Candy, Vrinda

Enjoy!! Don't forget to give credit where it is due, and let me know when you use it so that I can take a look!

Size of card: 4" square

Supplies:
Card/paper - Quill white cardstock, Textured cardstock, Kodak photo card,
Stamps - Frog from Pink Cat Studios, Sentiment - freebie from me (see above!)
Ink - Printer
 Extra - satin ribbon, Prismacolor pencils
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Helmar glue runner, Big Shot, Big Scallops nestability, Pixma printer, fabric scissors, EK Success large corner rounder, Foam dots (to pop up scallop layer), Carl 1 1/4" circle punch

Congradulations + sneak peek!

Happy Thursday! I'm happy because I'm having a long weekend (Friday - Monday) so I can stay up late tonight and create!








The sentiment I used for this card is one I have had in my head for a while but I didn't have anything to pair it with until I found this cute little graduating owl at Pink Cat Studios last weekend. I found him so easy to colour (especially at the size he is - small enough to fit comfortably inside a 1 1/4 inch circle punch!)

I couldn't resist some more word-play which I just love to do, and if you like the sentiment you will be able to purchase it from Squigglefly this coming Saturday.
Edited to add: It's now available on Squigglefly - Click here to download.

I followed the Clean and Simple sketch for this week, and I love it so much I have many, many more cards planned out in my head inspired by it! I'll show you another one I've made tomorrow.

I'm also entering this one into this week's Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge which is all about celebrating - and graduation is definitely something that is celebrated!

Size of card: 4" square

Supplies:
Card/paper - Quill white cardstock, Textured cardstock, Kodak photo card,
Stamps - Owl Graduate, Congradulations from Squigglefly (by me!)
Ink - Printer
Extra - Christina Re satin ribbon, Prismacolor pencils
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Helmar glue runner, Big Shot, Big Scallops nestability, Pixma printer, fabric scissors, EK Success large corner rounder, Foam dots (to pop up scallop layer), Carl 1 1/4" circle punch

Thanks so much for taking a peek - catch you again soon!

be merry + free sentiment!

Even though I'm selling my sentiments over at Squigglefly these days, I still would like to offer the occasional freebie here, as I can see from my stats that they are pretty popular!

Here is my take on the scraplifting challenge over at Cardvaarks:






And here's the design team member's card that I scraplifted (Ashley's):

I can't get SRM stickers here in Aussieland (at least I don't think I can, honestly haven't looked that hard, but I'll bet they're expensive!) so I decided to make a digital sentiment in the same sort of style.

If you want it you can have it by right clicking on the below image and choosing 'save target as...'

Sentiment info:
File type: PNG (can be dropped into MS Word, background is transparent)
File size: 100kb
Full dimensions: 20cm x 20cm
 Font: LD Cotton Candy

If you use the freebie I only ask a teeny tiny favour - that if you blog about it please credit me and link back here so that others can download their own. Oh wait, actually I want two favours - send me an email or leave a comment telling me you've used it so that I can take a looksee!

Size of card: C6 (A5 folded in half)

Supplies:
Card/paper - Recycled brown cardstock, white cartridge paper
Stamps - "Be Merry" Digi stamp by me (see above!)
Ink - Printer
Extra - Bow Tie grosgrain ribbon in red
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Helmar glue runner, Big Shot, circle nestability, Pixma printer, fabric scissors

Challenge: Caardvarks Sensational Stickers

Thanks for looking! Hope everyone had a lovely relaxing Sunday. Back to work tomorrow. *sigh*

Congratulations

I haven't taken part in the One-Layer-Wednesday challenges lately, but something made me want to join this week's challenge though - the theme is Heavy Metal!

Here's my card:




And here's a view of it opened up:



I used a combination of Fiskars stamps for this card - the dress is from the China and Glass set and the sentiment is from the All Year Greetings set. You can't really tell from the photo but I stamped both using Silver Versacolor ink.

The card itself is a precut/scored one I got in a 5 pack from my local bargain shop ages ago and sat neglected until now.

And as I have so little supplies and have them all listed in the text above, I call this entry done!

Thanks for looking ;)

Another Squigglefly Release!

More of my digital sentiments have been released at Squigglefly! Click here to see all of my sentiments for sale: http://www.squigglefly.com/shop/artist/35. The design team for Squigglefly have been using them, and I'm loving what they are making! Here is Holly's card with the 'Love is like a butterfly' sentiment:

I absolutely adore the colouring on the butterflies, and the way they match the hearts in the background. Gorgeous! Click here to see the full blog post. The sentiment is available from Squigglefly here.

Next up, Tracey used the 'A book is like a garden' sentiment:

I love how she has framed the sentiment with the scalloped nestie - it just sets it off so beautifully against the patterned paper she used for the background. Click here to see the full blog post. The sentiment is available from Squigglefly here.

Millie used one of my 'punny' sentiments - 'Owl Miss You' for the below card:

Isn't that owl just the cutest? I love the two patterns together - they go really well, and the popout circle with the same pattern as the background is eye-catching. Click here to see the full blog post. The sentiment is available from Squigglefly here.

Hope you enjoyed this little showcase - I'll be back with a card made by me! :)

Just Saying Hello

A mid-week post from me? I know, it's shocking right? :) This is just a quick one for a card I made on the weekend for FTL #110:





Here's the sketch:

As you can see I turned the sketch around a bit. I made a digital banner using Paint Shop Pro X2 and coloured it to match the background paper (by Kaisercraft).

Size of card: A5 folded in half (C6)

Supplies:
Card/paper - Cre8tive textured cardstock, Kaisercraft Little Miss "Angelic", Epson matte photo paper
Extra - Pupcat font
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Helmar glue runner, Paint Shop Pro, Printer

I'm an artist!

I've been keeping this news under my hat for over a week now, and have almost been bursting at the seams! You see, the lovely Ashley of Squigglefly Digital Stamps responded to a tentative email I sent her early last week asking her if I could sell my sentiments on her store with a very enthusiastic yes! I am so flattered by this, you have no idea! I don't know if I'm alone in feeling like this, but sometimes I get a bit disheartened and don't think I'm very good at this craft, but then something like this happens and I think, perhaps I have something to offer after all!

You can find my artist page on Squigglefly here. All new images are released on Saturdays and they have an amazingly wide range of images and sentiments which are perfect for any card you wish to create!

I came across one of the Squigglefly design team members - Hog Wild about Stamping - who has already made a card with one of my sentiments, check it out:

You can read the blog post about it here. And of course, you can get the digital sentiment itself here for $1.00 (USD).

You don't have to have a Squigglefly account to buy the digital images (via Paypal), but I should mention that if you join My Squigglefly you can track your spending and every $15 you spend gets you a free digital image. I don't know about anyone else, but I love getting freebies!

Thanks for reading, and go check out Squigglefly, you won't be disappointed!