I Just Want To Dance!

I’m back with another challenge for Sentimental Sundays!  This week, we are sponsored by Calypso’s Crafty Things – and there’s a fabulous prize for the lucky winner!  The theme for this challenge is “Inside and Out”, another first for me!  I always pay a lot of attention to the front of my cards, but I can’t remember ever continuing the theme inside!

I based my card around sketch 60 at From The Heart Sketches.  I love to flick through the old sketches when I’m struggling to pin down a design, it’s just packed full with inspiration! So, the details for my card….  The image I have used is a MilkCoffee freebie from a while back – not sure how I have overlooked her for so long!!  I coloured her using Pro-Markers as usual.  I’ve tried a new hair combo – Ivory, Satin and Tan – and I’m really pleased with the way it’s turned out.  The image on the inside of the card is by Patties Creations.  I’ve coloured the ballet slipper with ProMarkers, then mounted on a lilac mat before popping it inside the card.

To create the frame on the front of the card, I designed a “ring doughnut” shape in the Silhouette software by laying a smaller circle over the larger circle and the subtracting the top shape.  I then welded the letters of my daughter’s name to the outside edge of the doughnut.  The banner pieces were also cut from glitter card on the Silhouette, before being hand stitched to the corrugated card with some matching ribbon.

The papers on the front of the card are from the Papermania Spots and Stripes collection; all the other papers are from my stash.

Make sure you pop over to Sentimental Sundays to see what the rest of the DT have been up to this week!

40th Birthday Shaker Card

I have a confession….I was getting sequin withdrawal!  I needed some sparkle and twinkle to brighter up the grey days we’re having in Essex at the moment!  So a request for a pretty 40th birthday card seemed like the perfect excuse to bring out the sequins 🙂

The papers are all from the Sweet Spring Patterns digital paper collection by Harper Finch.  The vintage label shape is from the Silhouette store (such a versatile label shape, it’s indispensable!).  The banner was created in the Silhouette software, with faux stitching added before cutting, and it is held in place by two little brads.  Lastly, the sequins!  They were from my stash – pretty little flowers, with a generous handful of cup sequins 🙂

GDT At Paper Crafting Magic

I do love having the chance of being a Guest Designer with a team – it’s always lovely to meet other crafters and see how things work on different teams!  I was very lucky recently to be asked to guest over at Paper Crafting Magic – where the theme for this challenge is “My Favourites”.  To be honest, my list of favourites is ever-growing and I wasn’t sure that I could narrow it down to a point where it didn’t look like I had thrown my craft room at the card!  On the other hand, it makes it a really simple challenge to play along with!

Around the same time, I was asked to make a card for a friend who has a family Communion this month; no theme or extra details were given.  And so, my project for my GDT began!  I narrowed down some of My Favourites (I’ve included styles, techniques and tools too); the list included: dry embossing, banners, CAS, Silhouette, glitter and sparkle, and altering templates to create something new!

I have made a few box cards recently – I love the “wow!” factor and they really are simple to make!  I have a template from the Silhouette Online store, but this card doesn’t really bear much resemblance to Lori Whitlock’s original design anymore!  To begin with, I increased the size of the final card, as the original was too small for me.  I then altered the inside panels to add a cross and a banner for the sentiment.  The decorative side panels were cut from a Papermania glitter vellum (the photos struggle to show the sparkle, I’m afraid!) – in order to make the panel stick without the glue showing through, I simply added little dots of Mod Podge to the back of the glitter flowers, rather than sticking the whole panel.  I also personalised the card, to make it a little more than just a card, maybe a keepsake.  Overall, I think I managed to include quite a few of My Favourites 🙂

I’d like to thank Justin and the team at Paper Crafting Magic for inviting me to join them as GDT for this challenge – make sure you pop by with your favourites!

Show Us Something New At Kitty Bee

Today I am pleased to share my first DT card for Kitty Bee Designs, which features Little Miss Sassy!  The theme for this challenge is “Something New” and we were really lucky to be sponsored by A Random Fan.

I tried out a couple of new techniques on this card.  I am still struggling to colour hair and give it some texture.  So, while I was having a hunt around looking for a tutorial to give me some tips, I came across this card by Kevin McCrafty – I loved the colour Kevin used to colour Little Miss Sassy’s hair, not to mention the lovely texture he’s managed to portray!  So I figured that I would see if I could get anywhere close to emulating Kevin’s technique….and I don’t think I did too bad a job!!

Despite having just finshed a truckload of Christmas cards, I am still hooked on the red and white colour combo – I think it looks so crisp and fresh.  So, I coloured Little Miss Sassy’s outfit in red (using Pro-Markers), plced her on a red background and then added some banners beneath the image….which is where my second new thing comes in!

I love washi tape….but up til now I haven’t figured out how or what to do with it on cards.  However, I appear to have got carried away in the craft store sales, as I now a have lovely, (not so) little collection of tapes in my stash!!  So I figured that I should try adding them to the card as another something new!  The middle banner was cut from white cardstock and then two strips of washi tape added to cover it entirely – can’t believe I haven’t done something this simple before!!  The other two banners were cut on the Silhouette, using a design by Loni Stevens.  The little red spots in the bottom corner are just coated with Glossy Accents to give them a lovely shine.

So, what will your something new be?  I bet there’s something you’ve wanted to try for a while but keep putting off?  Have a go today, and make sure you enter the challenge at Kitty Bee to show us what you’ve been up to!

I’d like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Sister Act – Challenge 40

Brown Sugar – Challenge 77: Anything Goes

Jellypark – Buttons Or Bows

MilkCoffee – Monochromatic

Whoopsi Daisy Challenge – Favourite Colours (red and white)

Thanks for reading x