Tuesday Throwdown #240: All Clear

Happy Tuesday, friends! Hope you are ready for another week of crafting fun with the Tuesday Throwdown gang. Our challenge theme this week is "All Clear". All you have to do is incorporate some clear material on your project - such as acetate, vellum, anything see-though.   Our sponsor is Stamping Boutique but you can use any stamps from your stash as long as you follow the theme.

For our challenge, I made a shaker card using the Twirling Fairy digi. My clear element is a sheet of acetate used on the window. The paper is form an old My Mind's Eye 6x6 pad and the greeting is from Clearly Besotted's Mini Basic Banners, stamped with VersaFine Majestic Blue. I'm sorry about the angle of the photo. It's not easy getting a decent shot without seeing my ugly mug in the reflection! :)

I coloured the fairy with Graph'It markers and gave her a generous coat of Wink of Stella Clear Clear Brush Tip Glitter marker. Didn't forget the shakes - these are a mix of various sequins form Pretty Pink Posh and Doodlebug.

Challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday: In The Middle
Crafting From The Heart #55: AG
Craftin' Desert Diva: Shaker Cards
Crafty Cardmakers #136: Wings
Crafty Sentiments: AG
Scribble & Scrap #42: AG

Supplies:

Now it's your turn to create a project based on this week's theme: "All Clear". For ideas and inspiration, take a peek at what the rest of the DT members have made. Remember to link up your project at the Tuesday Throwdown Challenge Blog by 3pm Pacific / 11pm UK on Monday,  20th April 2015. And the most important requirement: Have Fun!

And speaking of fun... here's a shot of Mr Parker caught smooching the Twirling Fairly! Oh ... to be young and always in love! :)

Rosie is pretty much the same. Her appetite is very poor, which makes meal times especially challenging. She's not complaining... never has, never will. Peanut and Richard are treating Rosie with utmost respect by keeping their boisterous revelry toned down while she rests.

Thank you for all your kind words and thoughts on my last post.

Beijinhos!

Chocolate Baroque: Come Fly With Me

Hello friends! Before I talk about my card project, let me just apologise for the late post. This card should have been published a couple of days ago but I didn't get around to doing it.  There's a very good reason. More on that at the end of this post.

This card features the new individual cling stamp by Chocolate Baroque called Butterfly Dress. It is gorgeous, dreamy and so versatile.

I stamped the image onto a piece of bleed-proof paper using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured it with Graph 'It alcohol markers. The extra sunflowers are from the July Fairy DL stamp sheet, also stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black. Then I masked the images to get the flowers to overlap. The sentiment is from the Butterfly Dreams A4 sheet, stamped with VersaFine Deep Lagoon. I also, very lightly, inked the edges with Salty Ocean Distress Ink for a softer finish.

Here's a close up of the Butterfly Dress project. With a sharp craft knife I cut around the wings of the butterflies to expose the blue layering card stock below. The butterflies look like they are about to take flight...

For shimmer and shine, I used Stickles Stardust and Wink of Stella Clear brush tip pen on the butterflies and flowers respectively. And to finish, a few teeny weeny bling on the middle of the orange sunflowers.

Butterfly Dress is undeniably a gorgeous image, which can be worked in so many different ways. Cutting around the wings adds dimension without unnecessary bulk and the wings can be flattened down for mailing.

Challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Spring Flowers / April Showers
Amusing Challenge: Butterflies
Glitter & Sparkle #132: Add Butterflies
House of Cards April: Butterfly and / or Colours - butterfly
Craft Your Passion #257: AG
Simon Says Stamp Monday: In The Middle

Supplies:

Thank you so much for stopping by today and for all your lovely comments in my previous posts. I haven't done much visiting or commenting this weekend - so sorry about that. Regular readers know that Rosie, our furbabe, has cancer. She is such a valiant trooper and fought back courageously for the past two years. Last Friday, we were told by the vet that Rosie's latest X-Rays are not encouraging. It could be days or weeks... no one knows. For now she appears to be ok and coping well with her meds. I want to spend as much time as I can with Rosie. Whatever time she can spare, I'll take it. It was a sad weekend... and sadder days lay ahead.

Hug your pets. Hold them, cuddle them and snuggle up close. These moments are precious. Treasure them. Have a beautiful week, friends!

Beijinhos   

Polka Doodles #15: Pink & Pretty

Where has the week gone? Still, there's comfort in knowing that ahead of the weekend a brand new challenge is starting over at the Polka Doodles Challenge Blog. The theme: "Pink & Pretty". The design team is putting up quite a show. Don't forget to swing by the Polka Doodles blog to check them out.

My card project for the challenge features Miss Constance. I have to confess, pink is NOT my colour. But when tempered with some pale blue and violet... let's just say, Constance turned out to be a babe! The papers and image are from the Rose Bud CD. The flowers and bling are from my stash. The entire Rose Bud Collection is also available as a digital download. And you can get Miss Constance  as a clear stamp.

Here's a close-up of Miss Constance. She's coloured with Graph'It markers.

Challenges:
Sister Act Card Challenge #101: AG Cards Only
4 Crafty Chicks #241: Die Cuts
As You Like It: Favourite Alcohol Markers / Distress Inks-Graph'It - the colours are rich and vibrant
Scrap & Craft #6: Frame It
Little Red Wagon #284: Spring Is In The Air
Penny's Paper Crafty #222: Anything Goes

Supplies:

Rose Budd Collection

Now it's over to you, my friends. Create any project - card, tag, lay-out, box, bag, etc. You have until Noon (UK Time) on Friday, 24 April 2015, to link up your entries over at the Polka Doodles Challenge Blog. You don't have to use Polka Doodles products to enter, but if you have it, by all means, flaunt it! One randomly selected winner will receive a generous gift from the Polka Doodles store. Now that's a prize draw you don't want to miss.

Here's another thing you don't want to miss: the brand new Work & Play 10 Country Life by Polka Doodles. It is available as a CD or downloadable files.

Time for y'all to get creative. Thanks for stopping by and I can't wait to see your projects. Have a fabulously crafty weekend, friends!

Beijinhos

March Card Chain Challenge: HAPPY EASTER!!!

A Blessed Easter to all!

Hello, friends. Hope you are having a wonderful day with family and friends. This is a scheduled post as I won't be around much. We have a full day of church, family, friends, lunch ... you know, the usual festive chaos!

Here's a card I made for the March Card Chain Challenge. This card went to Gail in Norway. I've kept it relatively simple... dare I call it CAS?! It features a delicate image from Chocolate Baroque's Butterfly Easter DL stamp set, embellished with 3 sequins. That's all!

Here's a close-up of the image. I stamped it on Canson watercolour paper with VersaFine Onyx Black and  coloured it with Caran d'Ache SupraSoft water colour pencils. No fancy brush work either.

Challenges:
Fairy Tale Stampers #53: Things With Wings
Fashionable Stampers #95: Sew What
Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends #7: AG
One Stitch At A Time: AG With Easter or Passover
Avenue 613 Challenge #118: AG No Twist



Thank you for stopping by today. I'd I want to wish you a most Blessed Easter. Have a beautiful day, friends. I'll leave you with Friar Allessandro singing "Panis Angelicus".

Beijinhos!

CASE-ing Christmas #14: Rocky

It seems odd to be posting a Christmas card on Good Friday... two very opposite days! But it's time to welcome you to another lap of CASE-ing Christmas - a weekly challenge devoted to the holiday season all year 'round. Today we're starting Challenge #14.

Here's how you play along. Each week you'll be given you a card to CASE and ... you CASE it! It's as easy as that. If you've never CASEd a card before, here's how you do it:

• Look at the photo of the card to CASE; 
• Be inspired by some elements of the card - the colours, layout, image, embellishments, etc 
• Make a card based on that inspiration and link it up at CASE-ing Christmas Challenge Blog by Noon (Central) / 6pm (UK) on Thursday,  9th April 2015. 

And that's all there is to it. Our CASE card this week is this gorgeous creation by Rocky. Lots of ideas here and I can't wait to see how this project inspires you.

By know you know that when it comes to CASEing I am NOT the most creative nor am I imaginative in my interpretation of the CASE card. Feel free to accuse me of being too faithful to the original design.

I started by die cutting the ornaments with 4 of the nesting dies from Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments 2010 set in gold and red metallic card. Then I inlaid them in alternating colours. I had enough to make 2 cards - not one to resist an bargain!

The first card features red as the main colour, and ....

... I went for gold on the second card.

I used the small snowflakes stamps from Clearly Besotted's Ornamental Style to make the bg design, with Versafine Satin Red and Brilliance Galaxy Gold. The banner greeting is from Clearly Besotted's Christmas Cheer, stamped with VersaFine Satin Red and cut with the coordinating die. Then I adhered it to the card with some foam tape. To finish - some sheer ribbon, sequins and brads ... all done and ready for Christmas!


Challenges:
Creative Knockout #83: Diecut / Punch
Christmas Cards All Year 'Round April: Christmas Ornaments
Addicted To Stamps & More #138: Holidays
CHNC Extra April: AG Christmas
CHNC #222: Stick It Any Which Way
Christmas Card Challenge #17: AG
12 Months Of Christmas #4: AG Christmas (w/o optional colours)

Supplies

Now it's your turn to make a Christmas card by CASE-ing Rocky's creation. And if you played along last week, the Winners of Challenge #13 will be announced on Wednesday, 8th April 2015.

You'll find more ideas over at the DT's blogs: Mynn ... Donna ... Ellen ... Pat ... Steph.

Thanks for dropping by and Happy CASE-ing. I'm looking forward to seeing your take on Rocky's card. Have a most blessed Good Friday, friends. I'll leave you with this amazing rendition of Michael W Smith's song Agnus Dei by Jotta A, 10 year old Brazillian boy.

Beijinhos!

Polka Doodles #14: Use A Die

Hello friends! It's inspiration week over at the Polka Doodles Blog and we are continuing our fortnightly challenge theme of "Use a Die". There's still time for you to to play along.

I made a card for a friend who is expecting a baby girl. Here's a sweet and simple card made with papers from my all time favourite indispensable CD for patterned papers - Sugar Birdies.

The pre-coloured digi and sentiment are from the Fredericka Mini Collection. I'm using X-Cut heart dies in various sizes to cut and frame as well as a few sequins from the Doodlebug Cupcake collection and sheer ribbon for a soft and delicate finish.

Here's a close-up of the sentiment. And the image is soooo lovely. Check out the precious little baby-grow.

Challenges:
Sister Act Challenge: 100th Challenge (Card Only)
ABC Challenge: G is for Go Digital
Always Something Creative #96: Baby
Sisters of Craft April: AG
Simon Says Stamp Monday: Pastels
Aud Sentiments #128: AG + Sentiment
Southern Girls #107: Punches / Dies

Supplies:

Now it's over to you, my friends. Create any project - card, tag, lay-out, box, bag, etc. You have until Noon (UK Time) on Friday, 10 April 2015, to link up your entries over at the Polka Doodles Challenge Blog.

You don't have to use Polka Doodles products to enter, but if you have it, by all means, flaunt it!

One randomly selected winner will receive a copy of the utterly adorable Octavia Moonfly Collection which includes digital stamps, patterned papers, embellishments and so much more.  Now that's a prize draw you don't want to miss.

You know how Nikky just loves spoiling us with new stuff. Well guess what?! She's gone and done it again. Continuing the Work & Play Collection we now have Country Life. This one is jam packed with stunning digis and elements, including ten character digis depicting life in the country. There's nothing like it out there! You also get loads of papers, sentiments, SGV files and all sorts of embellishments. Work & Play 10 Country Life is more than just a little bit country!

Time for y'all to get creative, folks! Thanks for stopping by and I can't wait to see your projects. Have a peaceful and blessed Easter weekend.

Beijinhos!

Chocolate Baroque: Pretty Awesome Orchids!

Happy Wednesday, all. It's April Fools Day and if you're busy "punking" and "pranking" unsuspecting victims... good on ya! LOL.

No tricks from me, just 2 cards to show you, both featuring the Awesome Orchids clear stamps and the same vintage inspired colour combos, but with different results.

On the first card, I'm using the orchids to create a background that really stands out. With the partial retiform technique in mind, I masked off segment on a piece of alcohol marker friendly paper with post-its and inked the edges of each segment separately with TH Tea Dye Distress Ink. Then I stamped the orchids in each segment, but making sure there are no overlapping into the neighbouring segments. You will need more post-its to mask the areas. Then I coloured the images with Graph'It alcohol markers.

The greeting is from Birthday Words, stamped with VersaFine Imperial Purple and I finished the card with a couple of Pretty Pink Posh Lemon Merengue sequins.

Here's a closer look at the inked segments. They look like bits of patterned paper, cut into random pieces and put together - but it's all done on one piece of card stock.

Here's another look at the flowers. They are gorgeous. By masking off the segments before stamping, the images don't overlap. The result is a clean and crisp segmented look.

For my second card, I started by dry embossing plain white card stock with WRMK Whimsy embossing folder and inking the background with TH Tea Dye Distress Ink. Then I stamped, coloured and fussy cut several of the flower heads and leaves from the Awesome Orchids set.

I wanted to fill the card base with random clusters of the orchids and that meant some snipping, pruning and training to get the orchids to grow as shown below! :)

The greeting from Loving Sentiments, heat embossed with WOW Ebony embossing powder on vellum, is a great way to obscure the "modifications" while still allowing the artwork of the stamps to come through.

Here's a closer look at the card. Those orchids are so delicate against the trellis background.

There you have it - 2 cards that started off with plain white card stock! Feels good to fill it with colour. I am so NOT a CAS girl! :)


Challenges:
Word Art Wednesday #177: AG
Catchy Challenges #13: AG
Crafting by Design April: AG
Retarte #41: Elegant, Sophisticated and Delicious
Crafty Creations: AG
Inspiration Destination #27: AG
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Happy Birthday
Wonderful Wednesday: AG

Supplies:

Thank you so much for stopping by today. We're so close to Easter... and I so want to be excited. But with Rosie being so ill, I'm just not in the mood, you know... and for not lack of trying. It's hard ... harder these days. Anyway, we soldier on, regardless. Have a beautiful Wednesday, friends!

Beijinhos!

Eclectic Ellapu April: Outside Your Comfort Zone

Hello, friends! Hello April!  We are starting the month with a brand new month-long challenge over at  Eclectic Ellapu.  Thank you so much for playing along with us last month. We were overwhelmed by so many gorgeous entries. I hope you'll join us again this month.

As always the 2 teams - Pinks and Purples - are playing together, but they have own themes. The Pinkies are venturing "Outside Your Confort Zone" and the Purplies are playing in the rain with "April Showers / Spring".

For my DT project this, I am venturing into a card style that causes me much discomfort. Suffice to say, it scares the heck out of me. The only way to confront and, hopefully someday, conquer it is to keep making it.

So, here's my card. A simple affair featuring a flower stamp and sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Forever Friends set. Just one stalk, coloured with Graph'It Markers. I inked the edges with TH Weathered Wood Distress Ink and finished the card with 3 Pretty Pink Posh Lemon Merengue sequins.

I also applied several coats of  Wink of Stella Clear for some subtle shimmer. It's barely visible in the photos. The most difficult part about this card was walking away with it looking so bare, so naked. SO much white space begging to be filled.  I have to go lie down... in a dark room.

Challenges:
CAS-ology #140: Spring
Less Is More 217: Combine 3 Past Challenges - Wk11 Sewing + Wk103 Friends + Wk161 Yellow & Green
Just Us Girls #286: Photo Inspiration
AAA Cards #36: Easter Colours

JUG #286

Supplies

Now it's your turn to create and link up your labour of love over at the Eclectic Ellapu Challenge Blog. Remember, we have 2 concurrent challenges: "Outside Your Comfort Zone" for the Pink Team and "April Showers / Spring" for the Purple Team. You can enter one or both challenges as many times as you wish, but make sure you link up your projects by 11:59pm UK on 30th April 2015.

Thank you for stopping by today. And good luck if you're planning on pulling a few April Fool's pranks on your friends.  We could all do with a laugh.  Here's to a fun-filled month, friends!

Beijinhos!