Crafty Catz Challenge 80 - Congratulations

Hi Peeps!

Hope everyone is well!  Happy Friday!  That means it is time for a brand new challenge over at Crafty Catz!  This week, the lovely Trish is hosting and she has chosen a Congratulations theme.  So, we want to see your congratulations related projects - it could be for anything from a new job, birth, wedding, retirement, big birthday, etc.  Our fabulous sponsor this week is The Paper Shelter and a $15 gift certificate to their store is up for grabs for one lucky winner!   Hope you are able to join us!

For this week's challenge I have made a wedding card for William..... a longtime friend of my husband's :o).  Let's be serious, it is really for his lovely bride.  Here is my card:

It has been a while since I have inked up my beloved Magnolias - this one is Bride and Bridesmaid from the 2010 Wedding Collection.  I stamped them on 300 g watercolour paper using black Stazon and coloured them with a combination of watercolour pencils and Distress inks - I just couldn't make up my mind!  Colours used:  hair - walnut stain and antique linen; cheeks and flowers - tattered rose; leaves - forest moss, and the remainder was coloured with watercolour pencils.  I added Rock Candy Stickles to the veil to glam it up, a Liquid Pearls earring, and Star Dust Stickles around the edge for extra sparkle.  The image and mat were cut using my Sentimentals Cricut cartridge.  A closeup of the lovely bride and her maid:

The ribbon flowers were sewn by hand.  I was planning on including a tutorial to show how I made them, but unfortunately I ran out of time.  I love how they turned out, though, so I will definitely be making some again soon and will include a tutorial then, promise. The big shiny centre on the larger flower is a Timeless Bazzill button.

The silver ribbon and pearls are from a local scrapbook store and the paper is from the Black and White Butterfly stack by Me and My Big Ideas.  The sentiment was computer generated and the edges were inked with silver ink.  The artsy view:

I would also like to enter this card into the following fun challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers - a royal wedding and/or red, white and blue

Magnolia-licious - photo inspiration (I used Norma's inspiration card and went with two Tildas)

Magnolia Stamp Lovers - Flowers

Craft us Crazy - mother's day and/or flowers

A Spoonfull of Sugar - A right royal knees up

Thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to leave a comment!  Hope you enjoyed my card - I can't wait to see yours!

Hugs,

Dawn

Happy B-day

Hello Bloggers,

Hope everyone is well!  In the far north, spring has finally arrived - or so I thought.  Apparently, we are doomed for more snow tomorrow or the day after.  Who is in charge of this and why haven't they been fired?  Hopefully the forecast has it all wrong...

Today I have a birthday card to share:

For this card, I used the cute digi 'Birds make a cupcake' from Pink Cat Studios and coloured it using coloured pencils.  I would attempt to give the colours, but I used three different brands, and I'm confused just trying to think about it.  The papers are from Magnolia and cardstock is Bazzill.  The buttons and ribbon are from local scrapbook stores.  The cherries are paper pieced using a cherry from my Straight from the Nest Cricut Cartridge and leaves from a My Scrap Chick pattern.  Glossy accents was applied to the cherries, which makes them look much darker in the picture than they really are.  The sentiment is a stamp by Scrappy Cat.  The decorative edge was made with Fiskars edge scissors. 

While I am posting, I might as well enter some fun challenges:

Mojo Monday for the sketch, which I turned upside down
Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - Red, white and blue
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - anything goes (and they are having a blog hop!)

Thank you for visiting and for all the lovely comments.  Thank you to all my new 'followers' - I am very grateful for your support!

Hugs,

Dawn

Crafty Catz Challenge 79 - Children's Card

Hi Peeps!

I am super excited that I finally get to share my fabulous news with everyone today!  I was invited to join the talented ladies on the Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge Design Team!!!  I am thrilled to join the team and hope that you will join in on the fun with us each week!

This week we are sponsored by Elephantastic and the challenge is to create a children's card.  Here is my creation, using Barney from Elephantastic:

Barney was coloured using pencil crayons and popped up using foam dots.  I decided that Barney would probably like a home and a bone to chew, so I paper peiced these using patterns from My Scrap Chick.  Carstock is Bazzill, papers are 3 bugs in a rug, and pinking edge was made with Fiscars scissors.  Other embellishments include red brads, hemp twine and a little paw button from my stash.  The sentiment was computer generated - I don't think I can resist a pun! 

Here is the artsy view showing the dimension:

If you have not already done so, pop on over to the Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge blog to check out the rest of the DT's fabulous cards.  I hope you can join in with us this week and can't wait to see what you come up with!

Other challenges this card fits:

Creative Inspirations - Pets/animals
Cupcake Craft Challenges - Lots of Layers
Delightful challenges - Paper peicing

Thanks for stopping by!  Hugs,

Dawn

Playing in Paradise Too

Hi Peeps,

Hope everyone is well!  I am super stoked to get the opportunity to be the Paradise Player (guest designer) for Scrapbooker's Paradise Playing in Paradise Challenge once again.  This week's challenge is to get creative with buttons.  I have these cute little flower buttons and I knew right away that I wanted to use them (which is good, because the only other ideas I had were ladybugs and Christmas trees and I wasn't really feeling those this week lol).  To make up for my lack of originality in the button department, I thought I would try something a little different with the folding, so I made a 'napkin fold' card.  The folding technique is described in a tutorial here.  Since I resized the card, it was a little tricky, but I am pleased with the result.

Untie the ribbon to open it up:

When fully opened, the inside has room to add a sentiment.

For this card I used the top half of the sweet Sarah Kay image 'Josephine Cuddling her pet cat Kiki' from Stampavie.  I stamped it on 300g hot pressed watercolour paper using timber brown Stazon ink.  The image is coloured with Distress inks (tumbled glass, spun sugar, black soot, walnut stain and antique linen) and watercolour pencil (skin tone).  I must say, the printed blouse was a little challenging to colour using Distress inks - would probably be much easier with Copics.  I used Stickles around the edge of the watercolour paper. 

I matted the image with a custom mat that I created using SCAL2.  If anyone would like the file, please e-mail me and I would be happy to send it to you!  The papers are from Little Yellow Bicycle and Stampin' Up, the buttons are from Stampin' Up and the ribbon is from a local scrapbook store.  Punch around the page is by Martha Stewart, the branch/leaves are from the Straight from the Nest Cricut cartridge and the paper flowers are from the Forever Young Cricut cartridge.  I cut them from white card stock and inked them with Distress spun sugar and tumbled glass.  The artsy view:

If you have not already done so, check out the DT's creations then hop on over to the Scrapbooker's Paradise blog to join in on this week's challenge!

Allison
Ally
Carla
Dana
Julie
Karan

I am also entering this card into the following challenges:

A Spoon Full of Sugar - All creatures great and small
Craft us Crazy - Thinking of you w/sentiment and/or animals
Papertake Weekly - Truly Dimensional

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you enjoyed my card.  Thank you for all the lovely comments - I love receiving your feedback.

Dawn

Not a Creature...

Hi Peeps!

Just a quick post today to share another Christmas card - four done to date!

For this card I used the adorable Cozy Christmas by Laurence from Stampavie.  The image is stamped with black Stazon on watercolour paper and colored with distress inks (black soot, fired brick, pumice stone, antique linen and forest moss).  Stickles were used on the hat, baubles and around the oval.  A close up:

The image was matted on an ornament that I created with SCAL2 using basic shapes which I then welded together prior to cutting electronically.  I would post the file for downloading, but I am not that technologically advanced, so I am not sure how that is done.  If anyone is interested, either e-mail me or leave a comment with your e-mail address and I can send you the file.  The mat was embellished with a large bow made of recycled ribbon from a Christmas present and some rhinestones.  I also stamped a border from Close to my Heart and embossed it with iridescent ice from Stampin' Up.  This same border is repeated above the scallops.  The baubles are from two different stamp sets - one is Stampin' Up and the other Close to my Heart.  They have been stamped on white card with Color Box pigment ink in Cranberry and again embossed with iridescent ice.

The papers are Stampin' Up and the thin red ribbon is from my stash.  The sentiment was computer generated.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge - Going round in circles
Crafty Catz - Embossing and a DT call
Sparkles Forum Christmas Challenge - Ribbon and gems
Sweet Stamping Challenge - Sketch
Winter Wonderland - a photo inspiration

Thanks for visiting and I hope you have enjoyed my card!

Hugs,

Dawn

Relax with an Origami Tutorial

Hello Bloggers,

Hope everyone is well.  Today I have a corner bookmark to share.  I love making these - they are quick and fun. 

For this project I used the Sarah Kay image 'Isabelle with Puppy Coco' from Stampavie.  Sadly, Isabelle did not make it out to play this time.  I taped around the puppy so just the areas I needed would get inked and stamped it onto a file folder (yes, you read correctly) with timber brown Stazon.  Next to watercolour paper, file folder paper is the best paper I have found for water based colouring.  The image was coloured with Distress inks (tumbled glass, walnut stain, antique linen, fired brick, forest moss).  Coco's closeup:

The paper is from my stash, and I do not know who it is by - sorry.  The sentiment was computer generated and printed on a file folder.  The cardstock is Bazzill and the base is made from - yes, you guessed it - a file folder.  The edge punch is by Martha Stewart and the flourish is from the Straight from the Nest Cricut Cartridge.  I used mini pinking scissors by Fiskars to make the trim at the top of the triangles (I am aware these triangles have a special name, but it has momentarily escaped me).  The flowers are handmade origami flowers.  I saw a photo of a fabric flower like these on a blogging pal's blog and thought it was really beautiful.  She didn't know how to make them and was hoping a visitor might know.  Last time I checked her blog, no one knew so I was determined to figure it out.  I tinkered until I did.  A tutorial follows to save you from the same agony I went through in case you would like to make some.  I coloured them red with a marker and it kind of made them look more like poinsettias - I think they would be perfect for Christmas cards.

I am entering this project in the following challenges:

Playing in Paradise - Banner inspiration

Papertake Weekly - anything goes with optional something new

A Spoon Full of Sugar - Tons of Texture (hope the string on the banner and the flat back pearls on the flowers count!)

Simon Says Stamp and Show - anything but a card

Now for the tutorial:

Start with a perfectly shaped pentagon - all sides must be the same length.  (You can use Office Word and insert shape to make a pentagon.)  Find and mark the center.  I folded it in half in a couple different directions and just pinched it near the center - put a dot where the lines intercept.  Next find the midway point of each side and mark it with a little dot.

For some reason, some of my photos like to turn themselves sideways and, though I now know how to fix it, it is time consuming and late (or early, depending on your perspective) so I am going to leave them this time.

For each of the sides, match your little dot along the edge to the center mark and put a crease in the center of the fold only.  Once you have done this, you should have a creased pentagon that is half the size of your original as shown:

Fold two adjacent sides over and work the crease into a fine point without making a crease from apex to apex, as shown.

Ensuring that your center mark lines up with both edge centers and the tip of the corner, press the corner down down flat creasing the paper.  You should have created a diamond like shape.  Unfold and repeat for each side.  It should now look like this:

Tilt your head to the right :) and working with one side of the diamond shape, lift up the flap and fold the edge closest to the center under so that the edge lines up with/touches the fold on the under side as shown below:

Repeat for the other side and for each of the diamonds.  It should now look like the flower below.  Embellish as desired.

If you are still with me at this point, thanks for visiting.  I hope you have enjoyed my bookmark and tutorial.  I hope you have time to leave a comment - I do love reading them.  Also, if you use my tutorial for a project, I would love to see it - drop me a comment so I can pop over to your blog!

Hugs,

Dawn