Hello + Work in Progress!

A simple one-layer mini card to make it just under the wire for this week's Wee Memories challenge to make a one layer card. Susan from Simplicity wants us to colour our one-layer cards, and I'm also playing along with CAS-ual Friday's challenge this week to create a mini card.



I'm all about the mini cards these days and I love one-layer cards, so these two challenges were made to be combined in my opinion! Here is what I came up with:





I printed the flower from Mujka Chic's Contemporary Design Elements from myGrafico on thick lightly textured cardstock (I can't remember the brand) that measured 4" x 6". I eyeballed it to come up with the correct placement of the flower on the cardstock and ran it through my printer.



 I stamped the sentiment from Simple Messages by Hero Arts in Versafine Black Onyx ink before doing any colouring just in case I had a mishap (it happens rather often unfortunately...)

I then coloured the flower using a combination of Prismacolor pencils (Lilac, Lavender, Salmon Pink, Parma Violet, Canary Yellow, Spanish Orange and Burnt Ochre) as well as Light Orange to accent the polleny bits in the center of the flower. For blending I used a stump sponged with Zest-it blending medium. I took pictures as I went (fun!) and put them together in a collage:

Click on the picture above to see it a bit closer!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you've found some inspiration in this week's challenges! I might go and brave the heat outside and tidy up the garden a little bit.

Enjoy your day!

Happy Birthday + Memento for Android

A mid-week post from me? I know I'm shocked as well! I just wanted to share the card I made for my sister-in-law to give to her daughter who is turning 1 this month.

Here's a side on view to show the wonderful dimension and sparkle:





Oh Glossy Accents - how I love thee. This effect was VERY trial and error but was salvagable in the end. And I took pictures of the process!

See at first I just had the balloons (from this set by Goodness & Fun on MyGrafico) printed on the cardfront. I showed my husband (as I always do) and he hemmed and hawwed and said it needed a little something. I seethed a little inside (as I always do when he doesn't exclaim and declare it the most beautiful! card! in the universe! immediately) but then thought a little bit of sparkle would do the trick. I used my clear atyou spica pen (which I also love) which made the balloons sparkle but looked awful and blotchy whenever looking at it from a non-sparkly angle (see image below) - I think because the 'clear' pen is really a sort of light greyish colour. Back to the drawing board.





I then thought STICKLES. Gosh I'm clever. So I squeezed a blob of Frosted Lace onto some acetate and painted away with a fine little paintbrush I have just for these types of jobs. Hmm. My husband declared it 'better'. However they just looked sharp and pointy to me, not balloon-like at all (see below and click on it to see it up closer!)





Then I had another lightbulb moment - GLOSSY ACCENTS. I usually make a hash of it so I was very careful - I applied it over the large areas first and then moved or dotted more Glossy Accents into the teeny tiny areas using my little paintbrush. I left each balloon to dry quite a bit before moving onto the next as Glossy Accents has a habit of spreading if you join two circles for instance.

So that's the wonderful journey that this card took me on. I enjoyed sharing the mistakes today, as I read other blogs that do this and always like seeing the 'before' and 'afters'.

Size of card: 11b (5 1/2 x 3 7/8)

Card: Matte photo paper, Bazzil cardstock
Ink: Printer
Stamp: Birthday Girl stamps by Goodness & Fun on MyGrafico
Tools: Pixma printer, Carl rotary trimmer, Helmar glue runner, clear Spica atyou pen, Glossy Accents, Frosted Lace Stickles, paintbrush

Oh and the second thing I wanted to talk about was Memento for Android. I recently got an android phone which uses Google's operating system for mobiles (it's a Samsung Galaxy S i9000 in case you were wondering). I'm not really big into the whole application thing - I have my mail and my internet and that's about all I need, however I discovered a fantastic database app called Memento which people normally use to catalogue their dvd collections.

I thought it would solve the problem I have with remembering which Prismacolor pencils I currently have in my collection, as I have to admit I've come home from the art shop more than once to discover one of the colours I bought is already sitting in my pencil caddy - usually still unused. So now when I go to the art shop I can bring out my phone and check the pencil I'm holding against my collection.

And tonight I made a database for my meagre collection of Copic Ciao markers. I really don't want to buy duplicates of those because they aren't cheap! At least with the Prismacolors while it might be annoying to buy duplicates, it isn't an expensive mistake - they only cost a couple of dollars each.

I buy the majority of my markers at my local craft shop so this database will come in handy there too.

Here are a few images of my device and database in action:

It's a very easy to use application and versatile too - you can catalogue just about anything you want! I've just started one for my custom card sizes to fit certain envelopes because I kept losing the little bits of paper I had lying around with the measurements on them.

Another great thing is that you can sync with Google Docs which means that you can never lose your database if something happens to your phone or memory card.

Find out all about it at the developer's website: Luckydroid

I hope I haven't bored you silly with this extra long post! I promise to do better next time!

 



You make life beautiful

Hello! It's Sunday, so it's time for another Sentimental Sundays challenge!

This time the challenge is Happy Anniversary + a sentiment.

I think my fellow design team members have gone all out for this one - so many lovely creations on one page - check it out (link is in the last paragraph of this entry), you won't be disappointed!

Here's my little card:






And here's another angle:




Both the sentiment and the background it is printed on are digital. The gorgeous sentiment is one from Raindrop Echo Designs called "Marriage Sentiments".
The background pattern is from a Christmas release from MyGrafico by Jazzy Patterns called "Christmas Time". It's such a beautiful pack - lots of damask (you know how I love damask!) and in sort-of-traditional Christmas colours - perfect for non-Christmas cards!

So that's it from me, but you can see what the rest of the Sentimental Sundays team have created this week at the Sentimental Sundays challenge blog. You have until next Sunday to submit your entry if you decide to play along, and the random winner will receive four individual sets of digital sentiments from Raindrop Echo Designs Whimsy Stamps Digital Collection, and a custom watermark from the Custom Designs at Whimsy Stamps!

Size of card: 4" square

Supplies:
Card/paper - Canson textured cardstock (white), Kodak matte photo paper
Stamp - Marriage Sentiments set from Whimsy Stamps, Christmas Time by Jazzy Patterns on MyGrafico
 Ink - printer
Extra - Natural coloured crochet yarn, Twill
 Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Pixma printer, scissors, Helmar glue runner

Thanks for looking, I hope everyone has a lovely day!

Welcome Little One

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





Here's a slightly different angle:



The sentiment was released last weekend at Squigglefly [click here to get it!], and the little rattle is from the Baby Stamps set by Tainted Sweets on MyGrafico - love that set!

Size of card: 4" square

Supplies:
Card/paper - Quill white cardstock, Matte photo paper, Inque Boutique 'Isn't it Romantic' 6x6 pad
Stamps - Welcome little one from Squigglefly (by me!), Baby Stamps by Tainted Sweets
Ink - printer 
Extra - Prismacolor pencils, Kaisercraft grosgrain ribbon
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Pixma printer, EK Success large corner rounder, Papercraft adhesive tape, foam dots, Bigshot, Big Scallop nestabilities, Carl 1 1/4 inch round punch

Thanks so much for looking, hope you have a lovely day!

Merry Christmas

Just a quick little post to share these tags I've made to put up for sale in my Madeit shop:




I used my own sentiment (available at Squigglefly here!) and three of the snowflakes from this set by Lil Ellaboudy design at MyGrafico.

The twine is from Jay Gee's Nook that I will probably regret only getting small amounts of ;) The colours I've used are Peapod (green and white), Maraschino (red and white) and Caribbean (teal and white).

I've left them blank on the other side for the message as sometimes I think 'To' and 'From' is a little bit limiting, don't you think?

Thanks for looking! :)

Sweet wonderful you + free sentiment

Hallelujah, it's the weekend!

When I saw the below picture from Jay Gee's Nook's Monthly Challenge:

I was immediately drawn to the wrapping paper on the left. It reminded me of damask which made me think of the latest challenge at Moxie's Fab World - Diggin' On Damask. I was so inspired I had to blend the two challenges!

Wee Memories are hosting an 'Anything Goes' challenge, so I'm going to sneak this into that as well ;)

Here is my card:




I can't stamp damask patterns (or anything that's supposed to line up really, even clear stamps!) to save my life, so I quit while I was ahead and created the pattern digitally. I used one of the stamps from a lovely Mujka Chic set I bought on sale a while ago called Decorative Design Elements.

I tried something different with the ribbon for this card - I burnt the ends using a small tealight candle, which is how I stop my bookmark ribbons from fraying as well. It sure beats wrapping it around the card!

It was easy for me to change the colour of one of the words in this sentiment because I had the 'raw' file to work with, but there's nothing stopping you from changing the colours of the sentiments you have in .png format. Just use the 'Flood fill' option in your picture editing software (I think most have some form of this - it usually looks like a paint can) and coat each letter with the colour of your choice.

And here's the free sentiment I promised in the title of this post:

Right click on the above image and select the 'Save target as...' option.

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

See my terms of use here.

Size of card: A5 folded in half (C6)

Supplies:
Card/paper - Quill white cardstock, Epson matte photo paper
Stamps - Decorative Design Elements by Mujka Chic on MyGrafico, Sentiment - freebie from me (see above!)
Ink - Printer
Extra - American Crafts ribbon
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Helmar glue runner, Pixma printer, fabric scissors, tealight candle

Challenges: Diggin' On Damask / Jay Gee's Nook's Monthly Challenge / Wee Memories Anything Goes!

And before I go, I just thought I'd share a picture of my darling girl Abby that mysteriously found its way into my blog photos folder:

That's where she hangs out almost every night - behind me in my craft room, hoping I'll get up and feed her some more food! Well I might go and give her a cuddle - I'll be back on Sunday with next week's Sentimental Sundays challenge!

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!

Happy Birthday

I love the beautiful flowers in the Contemporary Design Elements set by Mujka Chic on MyGrafico and use them all the time! I paired the flower with leaves from the Hand Drawn Floral Stamps by Lil Ellaboudy on MyGrafico.



This is a card I've had in my head for a while now. The spotty background on the petals was originally what I had planned for this card, but decided to go with the beautifully textured Canson Mi-Teintes instead.

It's also another mostly digital card - everything was created and/or manipulated in PSPX2 except for the sentiment. I would have done that digitally too except I didn't think of having a sentiment until after I printed it and thought it needed something in the corner to balance it out. Now looking at it I think I could have stamped it a little bit further away from the corner... oh well.

The flower and leaves are paper pieced, not printed straight onto the frame as I love the dimension this brings!

I also used Glossy Accents to accent the middle bits of the flowers. It's my new favourite extra!

Size of card: 4" square

Supplies:
Card/paper - Quill white cardstock, Kodak matte photo card, Epson matte photo paper
Stamp - Contemporary Design Elements from Mujka Chic (MyGrafico), Hand Drawn Floral Stamps by Lil Ellaboudy (MyGrafico), Chic Jessica paper (spotted backgrounds) by Woofy World (MyGrafico), My Sentiments Exactly "Birthday Sentiments"
Ink - printer, Versacolor "Black"
Extra - Glossy Accents
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Helmar glue runner, scissors

Challenges: MyGrafico Challenge #67 - Paper Piecing / Caardvarks Clean & Simple Challenge / Wee Memories CAS challenge

Thanks for looking!

We'll Miss You and Good Luck!

I made these cards a few weeks ago for two of my lovely colleagues who left to go on to bigger and better things. Their last day was Friday (*sob*) and they received their cards so now I can post them.

I had to make these big so that everyone could write in them (they're 5" square), and I received quite a few compliments on how pretty the cards were, but I didn't tell many people I made them - I don't like to blow my own trumpet! Pretty silly I know.

So here they are:



Inside it says:



And here's a close up of the Black spica pen I used to accent the flowers:



Click on it to look at it a bit closer - it looks like gold dust! Pretty hey? :)

Size of card: 5" square

Supplies:
Card/paper - Quill white cardstock, Canson Mi-Teintes in Azure, Cream and Orchid
Stamp - Contemporary Design Elements from Mujka Chic (MyGrafico)
Ink - printer
Extra - "Black" Spica pen
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Helmar glue runner, scissors, Tombow mono multi liquid glue

And here is the second card - for a girl who loves green:



Inside it says:



The second card is completely digital, printed using matte photo card from Kodak. Everything prints so beautifully on it, but it isn't cheap so I save it for special projects :)

Size of card: 5" square

Supplies:
Card/paper - Quill white cardstock, Kodak matte photo card
Ink - printer
Stamps - Stylish Butterflies by Cheri Wenger (MyGrafico), Carolina paper (recoloured) by Lilly Bimble (MyGrafico)
Extra - Kaisercraft rhinestones - light green and silver
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Helmar glue runner

That's it from me for now - I hope everyone has a lovely crafty weekend! :)