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!

 



If friends were flowers I'd pick you

Happy Sunday everyone! It's time for another Sentimental Sundays challenge - and this week we are being sponsored by Deedee's Digis (check them out, you won't be disappointed!)

This week's theme is Celebrate Friendship

I used the image from the following set for my card:

Here's what I came up with:





I used my beloved Prismacolor pencils to colour the flowers and the red parts of the ladybugs. I had only just bought Enamel Accents the day before - they were perfect to make the ladybugs black parts shiny! I love the dimension that the black enamel gives as well.

Here's a close up to show the dimension:



I used a toothpick coated in the enamel to dot on the ladybug spots. To make the 'grass' I used Paint Shop Pro to make a green rectangle and added the text in white using a cute font (LD Cotton Candy to be exact) and printed it. I cut the 'grass' using scissors and wound some cotton around it.

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 a $10 gift certificate to use at Deedee's Digis as well as two (2) digital stamp sets from Raindrop Echo Designs!

Size of card: 4" square
Supplies:
Card/paper - Quill white cardstock, matte photo paper
Stamp - Ladybug Hugs from Deedee's Digis
Ink - printer
Extra - Prismacolor pencils (Grass green, Kelly Green, Blue Slate, Lt Cerulean Blue, Cream, Jasmine, Canary Yellow, Raw Umber, Crimson Red)
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Pixma printer, scissors, Helmar glue runner, Ranger Enamel Accents, Zest-it blending solvent, blending stump

Thanks for looking, have a wonderful day!

Welcome Baby

Welcome to another Sentimental Sundays challenge! I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. Usually our Christmasses here in Brisbane are sweltering hot, but this year it wasn't too bad, apparently due to wind direction or something. Thank goodness! I hate the heat :(

Now on with the challenge!

This week's theme is Baby + a sentiment.




I opened the Framed Circle Swirls shape from Raindrop Echo Designs in Paint Shop Pro and coloured it to match the ruffled (ruched?) lace. I created the sentiment using the same program, layered it onto the frame and printed the image onto white Canson textured card. I don't have a die matching this shape (I plan on rectifying this very soon) so I cut it by hand.

I used tacky glue for the lace it was so thick it kept popping off. Nothing's going to shift it now though! I stuck the frame on top of it using foam tape above and below the lace.

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: C6 (A5 folded)

Supplies:
Card/paper - Canson textured cardstock (white)
Stamp - Framed Circle Swirls from Whimsy Stamps
Ink - printer
Extra - ruffled lace
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Pixma printer, scissors, tacky glue, Helmar glue runner, foam tape

A short break, and Merry Christmas!

There won't be a Sentimental Sundays post from me this week I'm afraid... the past week or so has been far too hectic and I just want to relax :)

This is what my husband and I have been up to:





I made the tags, he wrapped the gifts. It works for us as I'm the sloppiest present-wrapper in existence!

I used Colorbox Queue chalk inks (Christmas) on the tags that we used for our nieces' and nephew's gifts (as above) to make them bright and cheerful. The stamp set I used was "Winter Butterfly" by Hero Arts.

And here's what else we've been doing:



Baking! We make these every year - they're Pebber Nodder biscuits, which are Danish apparently, and they are just delightful. Here's a recipe if you want to try them yourself!

Once again, I made the tags, and my husband baked the biscuits. I was in charge of the presentation of these though as I'm the resident 'expert' raffia-bow-tyer! I used Versacolor 'Gold' on these little ones and stamped the top part of a Christmas tree from "Merriest Wishes" by Hero Arts. I find that the Versacolor metallic inks do not dry on most surfaces so I always seal with a matte fixative to stop it from rubbing off all over the place.

My husband took both of the photos above - in case you were wondering why the photos on my blog suddenly looked SO much better and more professional than usual ;)

I'll be back on Boxing Day though, to share next week's Sentimental Sundays challenge with you, I promise! In the meantime, check out the Sentimental Sundays blog to see the beautiful creations the DT has come up with for this week's theme - Inspired by Song - and play along yourself to have a chance to win beautiful Raindrop Echo Design digital stamps!

Merry Christmas everyone - hope Santa brings you everything you asked for ;)

May Joy Fill Your Home

It's time for another Sentimental Sundays challenge!

This time the challenge is Let it Snow + a sentiment.

Here is my card:






The background is a piece of fabric my MIL gave me the other day that is super sparkly on one side (too sparkly for my needs I'm afraid) but only slightly sparkly on the other. I used the slightly sparkled side, and stamped over it with a Hero Arts snowflake in Cement Versacolor ink.

Here's a bit of a closeup to show some of the sparkle:





I drew over the snowflake in the sentiment with my clear spica pen. I also sponged around the sentiment layer with the Cement Versacolor just to make it stand out a bit.

I am entering this into the Wee Memories CASE Your Favourite challenge for this week - my muse is the ever/uber/amazingly talented Joy Taylor (who for some reason subscribes to this little blog of mine so I hope she reads this and is flattered, not aghast! ;))

I also would like to enter it into the Moxie Fab Glitter is Glam challenge!

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: C6 (A5 folded)

Supplies:
Card/paper - Canson textured cardstock (white)
Stamp - Season's Greetings Sentiments set from Whimsy Stamps, Hero Arts "Winter's Butterfly" set
Ink - printer, Cement versacolor
Extra - American crafts ribbon, Clear Spica Atyou pen, glitter fabric
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Pixma printer, scissors, Helmar glue runner, JAC adhesive sheet, foam dots

Challenge: Moxie Fab World - Glitter is Glam

Thanks for looking, I hope you have a lovely day!

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!

Home Sweet Home

This was a slightly belated housewarming card for a former colleague who recently bought a house.




Here's a slightly different angle:



The sentiment was released this weekend at Squigglefly [click here to get it!]

I think I unconsciously used Clean and Simple's sketch 108 (sort of) for this card, but I only realised it because I happened to glance at the handy PDF of sketches 96-108 I have pinned up on my bulletin board today. Weird! Great sketch though ;)

I used versamark to stamp the houses (one stamp, repeated). I've found that if you want a darker impression just press the stamp down for longer. I'm not sure whether I've shared this tip before, so if I have my apologies. :)

Size of card: approx 4" round(ish)

Supplies:
Card/paper - Quill white cardstock, Matte photo paper, Utopia collection by Kaisercraft, Cre8tive textured cardstock
Stamps - "Home Sweet Home" from Squigglefly (by me!), Inque Boutique "Memoirs"
Ink - Versamark
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Pixma printer, Bigshot, Big Scallop nestabilities, Circle nestabilities

And I just thought I'd share another picture of my girl Abby - this time showing where she likes to sleep while I craft.




I swear she has that 'oh you've just gotten up so you're going to feed me' look on her face that she wears so often ;)

Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a lovely day!