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Read All About It - Daisy May Involved in.............

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....Protest March!!!

Saving the earth is obviously something Dasiy May feels strongly about......or is it the chocolate that's the main issue I wonder??
Sorry, I'll be serious now, it's been a somewhat stressful afternoon and I decided to have Daisy May help me to wind down and she's come up trumps as usual. This card is for the Cute Daisy May Challenge #6 which is to use pink and brown and also the Sketch and Stash Challenge #7. My new stash is the Daisy May download and the pink bp which is one of my own. The brown paper is from dovecraft, all the mats were cut on the robo and the text stamps are rubbadubbadoo and a freebie from a magazine. Daisy has been coloured with twinkling H2Os and the gold mat was put through the cuttlebug.
I hope that Linnie will forgive me for letting her go on the march and will let me babysit again because I do enjoy Dasiy's company.
Thank you for your visit today and for putting up with my silliness!

What my hands mean to me

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The card I'm sharing with you today is for two challenges, Rainbow Lady's challenge which this week is "Hands" and the sketch for the brand new challenge, Dare you to Digi stamp which was launched on friday.
Like most people, I tend to take my hands for granted, but they are what allow me to bring my creativity into a physical presence and, as a Spiritual Healer, they are my channel for the Healing Energy. Healing doesn't just have value when a condition can be cured, it also has immense value in improving the quality of life for people who have chronic or terminal illnesses and there are few things, if any, to beat the satisfaction of helping someone so I decided to make a card to celebrate this particular way I use my hands.
The lighter blue bp is one of my own designs and the navy one has been in my stash for so long that I haven't a clue from whence it came. The heart, dove and sentiment are all rubber stamps but the hands are one of my own drawings (of my own hand!!) that I have turned into a digi stamp and coloured with coloursoft pencils and baby oil. The two mats behind the hands I designed and cut out using the robo.
Thank you for stimulating my creativity yet again Cynthia and thank you all for your visit today.

Golden Girl

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Yellow isn't a colour I work with a great deal, especially as the main colour but this card just seemed to drive itself - I found myself reaching for yellow to colour Daisy May when I had intended to use pale blue and that was it! I'm not complaining though because I do like the result. So, to what I've used. The sketch is this week's Cute Daisy May Challenge. The image is from Daisy May sheet 15 and has been coloured with a mixture of twinkling H2Os and sakura stardust pen, the bps are K & Co and Artylicous. The scalloped card behind Daisy May has been cut out with the robo and embossed twice with two different cuttlebug folders which is this week's challenge at the Cuttlebug Spot. I'm also entering this card into this week's Creative Card Crew Challenge which is texture.

These images are so seriously gorgeous and lovely to work with that I'm in danger of getting into cute!! lol!

Linnie is also looking for a new DT member for the Daisy May Challenge so if you would like to be considered, click on the link above to find out what you need to do.

Inspired by the Rainbow

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The challenge at Gothic Arches this week has been set by my lovely friend Cynthia - aka, Rainbow Lady. I love making arches and this theme was such a pleasure to do.

Take only two colours from the rainbow (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet - in case you forgot), two rubber stamps and a Word of Inspiration’ and create something wonderful in your arch. (well, with my name I had to pick something from the rainbow didn’t I???).

I've chosen violet and green as my colours. My two stamps are a umount corner flourish and the iris is one of my own drawings turned into a digi stamp - I hope the digression from rubber will still count. The background was created using eggplant alcohol ink, the iris image was coloured using coloursoft pencils blended with baby oil and the stamping was done using versafine imperial purple. The only embellishments are the organza ribbon and violet and green crystals. The inspirational wording is from a sparkle n sprinkle oriental set.

Thank you for a fabulous challenge Cynthia, and thank you all for your visit today.

A New Little Friend

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A new friend has come into my life - cute Daisy May. She is delightful and even has her own challenge. There are 15 sheets of digi stamps drawn by the very talented Linnie and sheet number 15 came my way as a gift. If you've visited my blog before, you'll know that I don't do 'cute' very often - so many of you do it a lot better - so I hope I've done her justice! She is a delight to work with though and I will be using her again and again.
This week's Cute Daisy May Challenge is called Secret Somethings, the idea being to hide something on your card. I hope this entry will be acceptable because it isn't a card but a criss cross wallet you will find the tutorial for this at www.craftyann.com. I first made one of these to hold a gift of money, but have made several since then to house ATCs - they will hold 6 so Daisy My is adorning both the wallet and it's first ATC. I used inktense pencils and twinkling H2Os to colour her and have embellished with tiny flowers, padded hearts, ribbon and flat backed pearls. The silver mirri card has been put through the cuttlebug argyle folder.
I apologise for the photos, but try as I might, I just couldn't get the light right.

Favourite Things

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The challenge at Charisma Cardz this week is:

My Favourite Things

So, for this challenge just make something using your favourite things. That could be a favourite technique, a style, papers, embellishments, images - whatever you like really. The thing we want you to do is Have Fun!

So I decided to take them at their word and have used favourite techniques (stamping and colouring) equipment (robo and cuttlebug) and card style. I did a gatefold card with recessed frame - you will find the tutorial for it on www.craftyann.com - but on this occasion I made it a 6" square rather than A5 which doesn't alter any of the other measurements in any way. The image on the inside is the baby forget-me-not fairy decoupage and the frame was made from blue mirri and simply embellished with a couple of pearls and blue crystals. The stamping on the front is the baby Messy Rabbit from Joanna sheen and has been coloured with coloursoft pencils blended using baby oil. I laid the colour down on the blanket fairly thickly then used the baby oil to blend which gave it a fabric look. The blue mirri mat was cut out with the robo and the corners are cuttlebug.
Thank you for your visit today.

Inchie Gems for Dragon!

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I've only ever made inchies once before and although I enjoyed doing them, I always seem to be needing to get something done for a purpose so tend to regard inchie challenges as a bit of a luxury that I'll 'get round to when I have time'. Not this week though, because this week the Inchy By Inch challenge has been set by guest designer, my lovely friend Frankie and I was determined to support her.
I'm very grateful to Frankie for this because I experimented and discovered lovely effects with embossing powders that I've had languishing in the cupboard for several years now. Frankie's challenge is to triple emboss our inchies. I managed to find 6 small stamps - 3 different flowers, a star, a heart and a chinese or japanese symbol (my apologies for not knowing which). I used black as a base colour on three of them and copper on two of them. With all of them I did three layers then sprinkled a small amount of a different ep onto the third (melted) layer, heating again before stamping and this is where it got interesting with the effects! Top middle and bottom left both had a lilac pearl added which is a very pale ep but just 'popped' on the black, top right and bottom middle both had a gold pearl on bronze - another very pale one normally. The same gold pearl was added to black for the bottom right and the top left has magic speckle (from Joanna Sheen) added. Magic speckle isn't like the eps we're used to, it's been developed to have a bumpy effect to create snow or to be sprinkled on top of double or triple embossing to give a tiny mosaic effect which is how I've used it here.
I've had great fun making these and will probably use them as charms on cards or maybe on ATCs - thank you Frankie!

Happy Brithday R L!

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I'm not getting much crafting time just now but couldn't miss Rainbow Lady's Challenge #52! The theme of the challenge this week is Birthday because it's the challenge's first birthday and has also been Cynthia's. The background was created using several of the gold shades of Twinkling H2Os and then stamped with versamark and embossed with gold ep. The rose script stamp is by Hero Arts and is one I've had for a few years now but don't use often enough. The Happy Birthday is from a See D's set. Simply matted onto gold mirri card.
Very simple really but thank you for your visit today.

A Special Friend's Birthday Card

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Just a quick post today. This card is for a lovely friend's birthday (it was a special birthday but I won't tell you which one) and now that I know she has it I can show it to you.

You've seen the picture before, I did it for Rainbow Lady's Challenge #48 but couldn't make the full card at the time because it was for the lady herself! It's a large card, about an inch or so away from an A4 and apart from the image itself, it uses a couple of labels that I created and cut out using the robo, some ribbon and some self adhesive pearls.

Thank you for dropping by today.

Fancy Another Pint?

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Today's card is the one I made for my husband's birthday. It's an 8" square made using two sheets of Stardream opal card. The stamps are from the create-a-scene pub set again. I stamped all the images onto another piece of stardream card and embossed with a detail ep I'll never be able to lay my hands on again! A few years ago, when detail eps first came onto the market, I ordered one each of gold, silver and black from an internet company. The silver and black were fine but the gold one wasn't - gold that is. It's a dark brown and I did consider sending it back but in the end decided to keep it and order another gold. Several years on, it has finally come into it's own with this - the colour is perfect! I've coloured the images using the Derwent inktense pencils this time and they look lovely on the stardream card. I designed the frame in the design master software and cut it out using the robo. The pub image was stamped onto a seperate piece of stardream and attached to the frame so that the whole could be raised on foam pads. The two half barrels have been attached with silicone glue so that I could shape them. The corners are cuttlebug and from the same card as the frame. I've used peel offs for the greeting because on this card, they will (carefully) peel off if he wants to use it as a picture.
I'm entering this card into what is sadly the last Arty Girlz Challenge for the forseeable future. I haven't been able to enter every week but Arty Girlz was one of the very first challenges I entered so defintitely didn't want to miss this one! The theme of the challenge is stamping.

A is for..........Fun and Friendship!!

Before I share today's card with you, I want to take the opportunity to thank you all for the comments you leave me. I've always been amazed and delighted by the lovely things you say, but just recently have been overwhelmed by what you have to say. I was wondering if I rabbited on too much in my descriptions but your comments on the last posting have reassured me on that point. Thank you all very much.

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Don't worry, I haven't decided to re-write the phonetic alphabet but fun and friendship are exactly what this card represents to me.
The inspiration for this card came from this month's Craft Stamper magazine and was part of an article on different ways to use the cuttlebug, written by the editor Katy. I've done things slightly differently but that's what it's all about isn't it?
The backing paper is my own created using red pepper alcohol ink. I put the top three quarters through the argyle folder and created a stamp from the same folder using cut n dry foam. This is one of the parts I changed from what Katy did because Katy used fun foam to create her stamp. I did the stamping with brilliance graphite black and like the distressed look it gives my bp. The A and white scalloped mat were cut out using the robo and put through the swiss dots folder and the apple image is one of my own drawings. I've turned this into a download again, printed it onto linen effect card and coloured it using inktense pencils. The embellishments are narrow black satin ribbon, a button and black flat back pearls. That's the fun part - the friendship part is because this is a 'just because' card destined for a friend with this initial.

I'm entering this card into these challenges:
Rainbow Lady's Challenge #51 - the letter A
Cute Daisy May Challenge - Button it!
The Pink Elephant - Buttons
Ooh-la-la Creations - Buttons and Brads and we can use either/or
Papertake Weekly - Feelin' Fruity

Thanks for dropping by today.

Something For A Guy

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This is my first card using the Sheena Douglass Pub Set from the Create a Scene range of stamps and is for my nephew's 21st birthday early next week. There are actually 21 stamps on this sheet and I've used four of them to create this card. The main image was stamped using distress walnut stain and coloured with coloursoft pencils which were blended with baby oil. As were the barrels and the bottle and pint sitting on the largest barrel. I used a sakura clear glaze pen on the glass and the bottle. The coloursoft and baby oil didn't disturb the distress ink at all incidentally - I just made sure that it was fully dry before I started. The cheers and Happy Birthday were both stamped with versamark and embossed with detail gold ep. After sponging around the main image with old paper, tea dye and aged mahogany distress inks I used a gold pentouch on the very edges and mounted them onto a scalloped mat which used one of my own bp's and gold mirror card. The label for the happy birthday I designed and cut using the robo and edged with gold pentouch.
I can see that this set will be wonderful for those difficult male cards and is ideal for this week's challenge at Charisma Cardz which is called "Something for the guys!" hence the title of my post.
Thank you for your visit today.

30 Years!

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I've had to wait to show you this card because it's for my swap partner on the Creating Rainbows Forum and I needed her to have it first so as not to spoil it for her. The theme for the swap was turquoise, pink and yellow. I decided the yellow part should be a flower and none of the rubber stamps I have seemed right for what I had in mind - so I decided to do something that I haven't done for 30 years and draw my own!! My art teacher at school had a very low opinion of my abilities and I've never had any training anywhere else but did have a phase during my late teens and early twenties when I messed about and did quite a bit. This is the first time I've done any since then and wasn't at all sure if I still could but figured that unless I tried I'd never know and the result is the image you see above. Having drawn it I took it into the computer and messed about in photoshop so that I could save just the outlines to have it for future use too so the image you see above is effectively a download I suppose. Having printed it off I coloured it using Derwent coloursoft pencils and also used their blender pencil to blend the colours together. the photo doesn't show it but these pencils have a lovely sheen to them.
I made both backing papers myself to get the colours I wanted. Both have been done using alcohol inks and the turquoise one was used just as it was. I scanned the pink one into the computer and played around in photoshop again to change it a bit. Having printed it off, I stamped on three of the squares using a Umount stamp for the swirls and a free magazine stamp for the sentiment. The small flower is an elusive images one stamped on to a piece of the same paper using brilliance pearlescent orchid and embossed with clear ep. A turquoise holographic mat and two self adhesive pearls finish it off. I wasn't sure that I'd be in time to enter it into the Truly Scrumptious challenge but it was their sketch I used and luckily I've just made it!
Thank you for your visit today.

Tasty Recipe

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I know that the clue is in the name, i.e. - challenge.......but Cynthia really did challenge me with this one! On Rainbow Lady's Challenge blog this week, Cynthia has given us a recipe to follow:

• Take one white card.

• One rubber stamp.

• A hand made flower or two.

• Some ribbon.

• A couple of corner peel offs or peel off strips.

• oh, I nearly forgot - and the colour scheme of RED, BLUE AND SILVER

I looked at this and immediately went blank - but eventually came up with what you see above. I hope it'll be okay because I have used two stamps instead of one, my hand made flowers have been stamped, embossed and cut out in two different sizes then layered up and I've used a mixure of two straight lines and one corner in the peel off department. The white card is the base card. The stamps are from Elusive Images and Umount.
Thank you my friend, once again you have really stretched me with this one! :-)