You Are My Sunshine

A new challenge starts today at Crafty Boots Challenges, the theme of this challenge was chosen by my good friend and design team mate Lisette (aka Mrs Beez).

Lisette has called this challenge 'You Are My Sunshine' and we are hoping to see lots of projects using sunny colours.  To me this means lots of yellow, however, there are some objects which also say sunshine to me, like sunflowers.  The other day I spotted a garden full of big, beautiful sunflowers, it was an amazing sight.

I used one of my Sherbet Pip rubber stamps for this card, 'Apple Pip' is one of the Sugar Nellie range from Funky Kits.  I coloured the stamp with Promarkers and then mounted it on gold mirri card with some lemon coloured card.  The fabulous sunflower paper is from a K & Co paper stack designed by Tim Coffey.

The adorable chrysanthemums are from Wild Orchid Crafts, as are the leaves.  The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards and the rosette die is from Sizzix.

The rest of the Design Team have made some amazing cards, please pop over the the Crafty Boots Challenge blog and take a look.

Wherever you are have a wonderful day

Dionne

Cheeky Postcard

It is a Bank Holiday weekend here, so we are all set for a nice three day weekend.  We have friends staying with us and they love to spend at least one day at the beach when they come,  lets hope the weather wants to play along.

Last week I posted a rather picturesque image as a postcard, it was the very traditional sort of card you might pick up on your holidays.

However, in the UK there is a tradition of the saucy, comic postcard and I wanted to attempt one of these as well, although that is not so easy because there is not a ready market of saucy postcards to colour.  The best I could think of was Bugaboo stamps and some of their comic images featuring Stella and Gus.

I wanted a seaside theme and eventually chose 'Stella Jellyfish'.  It's not exactly a traditional saucy postcard, but it is possibly a more acceptable, PC, version.  I coloured the image with my polychromos pencils and mounted it on silver mirri card and 'pool party' blue Stampin' Up card.

Have a great weekend.


Dionne

Scenic ATCs

Emm, I was supposed to have published this post last Friday.  Opps, sorry!

Anyone who visits my blog regularly could not fail to notice that I have been very enamoured with Delicious Doodles artist, Teri Sherman's, scenic images.  Whilst making the postcard I posted last week, it occurred to me that it might be fun to shrink the images and turn them into ACTs.

It wasn't that easy to get the size right because all of the images as different sizes and then, of course, it is a bit hit and miss lining them up on the Sizzix Bigz die, but I eventually got there.

This image of Gordon Castle and it's garden is called 'Scottish Castle and Gardens'.  I coloured it with F&C pencils and added a little die cut butterfly in the corner.

The next Delicious Doodles image is of the Craigellachie's Telford Bridge called 'Craigellachie Bridge'.  Again I coloured it with my polychromos pencils and added a little die cut butterfly in the corner. 

Next up is an image of Eilean Donan, one of Scotlands many picturesque castles, this is called 'A Scottish Castle'.  I coloured it with F&C pencils and again added a little die cut butterfly in the corner. 

The next image is of The Gordon Arm'e Hotel in Fochabers, it is called 'Vintage/Victorian High Street'.  Once again I coloured it with my polychromos pencils and added a little die cut butterfly.

Finally, Fochabers Old Spey Bridge, this one is called 'Vintage Anglers/Fisherman'.  Coloured with F&C pencils and again I added a little die cut butterfly in the corner.  

This was a bit of a challenge but great fun.  There are a lot more of these images on the Delicious Doodles site, I think I wil do this again with some of the other images.

Dionne

Mini Photo Album

For those of you following my saga of the current heatwave I can report that the predicted thunder storms arrived last night, there was not a lot of thunder but when it went, it went on for ages each time and it was deafeningly loud.  We have had more storms this morning and the temperature has dropped.  It is now bright and sunny and very pleasant.

I recently saw a very attractive photograph album on YouTube, it reminded me of the little album I was given when I left my last job, my colleagues has used it as an autograph book and had filled it with messages of goodwill.

It gave me an idea to make an album for the snaps I took at the recent wedding of my niece.  I based my designed  on this mini album, which I made a couple of years ago ....

This mini album only had half a dozen pages so I needed to come up with a design with more pages, this made me think of the autograph book I was given when I left my old job.  That album had a hinged arrangement and, in theory at least, using this design I could add as many pages as I wanted.

I gave my album twenty A5 pages, I left small spaces between each page so I could comfortably add embellishments to decorate the pages.

I used extra thick card to make the cover, it was part of the packaging from my Stampin' Up Glimmer Paper which I had hung on to.  I covered it with papers from my current favourite paper stack - The Promise by First Edition. 

I decided to use different coloured card for my pages and whilst they are all an identical size, gluing them so they all lined up perfectly proved to be somewhat problematic.  I am sure practice would make perfect ..... eventually!

Here is a close up of the hinge.  (Which I based on hinge of the autograph album - its pages were all perfectly aligned!)

If you look very closely you will spot that this photograph is being held in place but some low tack tape.  The reason for this is because when I printed the photographs for this album my printer ran out of ink and I only managed to print 18 of the 40 photographs I intended to put into this album.  When the replacement ink arrives, I will print the rest of the snaps and move everything into their final positions.  I will then decorate the pages with butterflies, flowers, hearts etc.

Now, there was another reason I made this mini album this week, over at Crafty Boots Challenges the theme of the current challenge is 'Anything But a Card' and I thought that this project would qualify nicely.

There is still plenty of time for you to enter your project into this challenge

Good luck.


Dionne

Manga ATCs

They were right about the heat yesterday and the temperature did not seem to drop much overnight - there was little sleep to be had last night.  They are saying that it could be even hotter today but there are also predictions of thunderstorms this evening.

Enough of my weather forecast, the current Crafty Boots Challenge is 'Anything But a Card', so I took the opportunity to make a few ATC's.  I came to ATCs rather late in life but I love them now.  Sadly, because I came to it all so late no one else is swapping ATCs now!  On the up side, it means I get to keep all of these to myself.

In the past I have made my ATCs in sets of six, there has been no reason for this, just that it seemed a nice number.  However, I only have two cards in this set ... but I may add to this set at a later date.

These two little manga characters are from Funky Kits in the Sugar Nellies range.  (For ages I could not decide ir these are what they call Manga or Anime, but my understanding is that whilst the artwork looks the same, it is only called Anime when it is a cartoon, in books or comic strips it is Manga.)

The first stamp is called Dreamy, I coloured her with Promarkers and sat her on some washi tape.  The backing card is from Stampin' Up, I added some faux pearls and an ice cream cone from my little sweetie collection.

This second stamp is called Manga Girl II, I also coloured her with Promarkers and sat her on some washi tape.  The backing card is from Stampin' Up, I added some faux pearls and a strawberry ice cream slice from my little sweetie collection.

These were great fun to make and I shall be on the look out for opportunities to add to this collection.

Dionne

Poppy Bookmark

It is incredibly hot here today, we have been experiencing something of a mini heatwave here and they are predicting that the temperature will almost reach 100 degrees today.  I am afraid that I am one of those people who do not enjoy the hot and humid heat we get in this country.

Never mind, I have another bookmark to share with you today.  This one features the Memory Box Prim Poppy die.

I cut out the die twice, the first time in plain green card and the second in yellow and white polka dot paper.  I then removed the polka dot flower heads and pasted them over the green ones.  Well I say I pasted them over the green ones, that is not quite true, as you can see, one is missing.  I looked everywhere for it but could not find it.  So, instead of a polka dot head, this flower has a glittery head - I had to do something, I had already put the glue on!

I mounted the die on some red and some white card and added a few black pearls and ribbons (I am sorry you cannot see the ribbons better, they are very pretty, the top one is a dotty organza).

Dionne

Wedding Scrapbook Page

This past week has flown by and I am back today with the Mid Challenge Reminder for the current Crafty Boots Challenge.  This week we are looking for 'Anything But a Card'.

Now, I have been quiet about it up until now but I think you are about to hear a lot about the wedding we went to last weekend because it has taken up an awful lot of my time, from making the invitations and knitting cardigans for the bridesmaids to making my own outfit and now a scrapbook album ... and a few other things, which I am not going to mention right now.

Today I want to share with you a scrapbook page.  I very rarely share my scrapbook pages with you and you could be forgiven for thinking that I never make them.  I regularly make scrapbooks but I do not publish them because I am very aware that other people may not want their faces splashed all over the internet.  However, I thought that this photograph was perfect for sharing, I must thank the brides best friend Amy for allowing me to use her photograph here.

I wanted to keep the colours muted and in keeping with the black and white photograph.  These papers are a First Edition paper stack called 'The Promise', these are beautiful papers and perfect for weddings.  The artist, Katie Pertiet, is a very talented lady.  The green card is from Stampin' Up.  I made the sentiment on my computer.

I added several butterflies, the first being a Memory Box one - Viviene.  I added some faux pearls to the thorax.

I kept back some of my confetti and, as it was cut in the shape of butterflies, thought it would work really well here.

My final butterfly die is Marianne Creatable Butterfly 3 die - a few more of those pearls.

We have had some amazing entries into this Craft Boots Challenge but there is still time for you to share your projects.

Good luck.

Dionne

A Simple Boomark

As many of you will know, the current Craft Boots Challenge is 'Anything But a Card'.  I made this boomark recently and, whilst I did not consider it to be good enough to use as a Crafty Boots Design Team piece, I still wanted to share it with you.

I used Stampendous Dreamweaver White Embossing Paste and my Stampendous Metal Dreamweaver 'Tall Poppy' Stencil to create this image.  It was the first time I had used this technique and was a little disappointed with how the embossing paste leaked slightly under the stencil and blurring some of the fine detail.  I tried several times but the result much the same each time.

To give the bookmark a little more dimension (and to hide some of the worse 'smudged' areas) I layered some of the sections (I am not sure that you can make it out from these photographs).  

To complete the bookmark I placed it on some white card and punched a hole for the ribbons.

I shall be back tomorrow with the Crafty Boots Mid Challenge Reminder.

Dionne

Scenic Postcard

It is seriously hot here today and I feel as if I have not slept for days.  Wherever you are I hope the weather is much more comfortable.

The current Crafty Boots challenge is 'Anything But a Card', by that I assumed birthday, anniversary etc cards and not ATCs or postcards and I have used one of my favourite Delicious Doodle images of Craigellachie Bridge to make a postcard.  I should love to visit this lovely spot on the River Spey in Moray in Scotland.

I coloured the image with my F&C pencils and mounted it on silver mirri and some white card to give it a more authentic look.

Teri Sherman's drawing is very true to life, as I discover when looking at images of the bridge.  This photograph was taken by a High School Teacher.

I hope you are having a great day.

Dionne 

Goth Girl Tag

A new challenge starts today at Crafty Boots Challenges, for the next two weeks the challenge is to make ' Anything but a Card'.

You can use any materials you like, to make anything you like, for example, a card, a box top, a gift bag, a scrapbook page, an ATC, or an inchie - just as long as it is not a card. For my Design Team piece I have chosen a tag.

The little image is from the Sugar Nellie range of rubber stamps, it i called 'Goth Girl'.  I cloured the with Promarkers and Wink of Stella.

I cut the tag using a Sizzix Bigz die and swished it with Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed and Shabby Shutters.  I then used Spellbinders Nestabilities Dies to cut out the image.  The bronze coloured metal cogs are from my stash.  I cut up some crochet lace for the tie and coloured it with the distress inks.

Th rest of the Crafty Boots Design Team have been very busy making samples, please take time out of your busy day to take a look and their wonderful work.

Have a great week.

Dionne

Dolly Pip

Happy Friday!

We have been looking forward to this weekend for some time as tomorrow one of my nieces is to be married, I hope that they have a long and very happy life together.  I do have cards and invitations to share with you, but not today.

Today I want to share this card featuring one of my favourite stamp ranges, The Sherbet Pips, which is part of the larger Sugar Nellies line from Funky Kits.  This one is called Dolly Pip.  I made this card as one of my DT pieces from the current Crafty Boots 'Use a Stamp' Challenge.

Once I had coloured the stamped image with Promarkers I mounted it onto some gold mirri card.  The papers are from a Timeless Textures paper stack and The Promise stack by First Edition.

I bought the 'sweets' some time ago as part of a candy pack from  ebay and the sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

There are still a couple of days for you to enter your projects into this Crafty Boots Challenge.

Good luck.

Dionne

Tiny Tiddler

Today I want to share a card with you featuring another of my rubber stamps.  I am really enjoying this Crafty Boots challenge because it has reminded me about the boxes and boxes of rubber stamps that I own.  I really should make the effort to use them more often and stop turning to my favourite digi stamp artists all of the time.

This stamp is not as old as the one I used for Monday's design.  It is from Funky Kits and is called Tiny Tiddler, it is one of their Sugar Nellie range.

I coloured the stamp with my trusty Promarkers and then die cut both it, and the slightly larger card from gold mirri, using Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 17 dies.

The swirling backing paper is from a Timeless Textures paper stack.  The gold strips were cut from gold mirri and I added the blue raffia, flat back gems and shells came from my stash.

Don't forget to add your project to this Crafty Boots Challenge.

Good luck.

Dionne 

The Toy Box

Back again with the Crafty Boots Mid Challenge Reminder, the current challenge is to 'use a stamp'.  This can be either an actual stamp or an electronic, digital, stamp.

For my card today I have dug out one of my 'vintage', wood mounted, rubber stamps by Stampendous.

I coloured the image with Promarkers and mounted it on silver mirri and Real Red card.  I also made a rosette from the Real Red card using a Tim Holtze die.

The backing paper is from a paper stack called Timeless Textures.  The silver strips are washi tape from the Forever Friends range.

The rest of the Crafty Boots Design Team have made some lovely samples and we are lucky enough to have not one but three very talented Guest Designers this week - Andree (Aloha Cards), Lisa (Handmade by Lisa) and Carol (Crafty Stamper).  Seriously, make sure you take a peek at their work.

Dionne

Happy Hopper

Earlier this week I mentioned that we are expecting two babies over the next few weeks.  I have been busy with my knitting needles in anticipation of them both but, despite knowing in advance the sex of both babies, I had not had the time to make any cards.

The inevitable happened, the opportunity to see the first of the babies to arrive and no card.  I needed to whip up a card in the fastest time, so I resorted to raiding my old CD collection.  I decided on an image from the House Mouse clan - one of the Happy Hoppers.

With no colouring and the sentiment and papers coming as part of the design suggestions, it took no time to put together this card.

Here are the little cardigans I made for the new baby.  Judging by the size of him, they should fit him in the winter - I hope they keep him nice and warm.

Dionne

Ziggy Love

It is Friday already and the weekend is almost upon us.

I am back today with a quick reminder about the current Crafty Boots 'Use a Stamp' Challenge and to keep a bit of a promise.  I recently mentioned to a friend that I had purchased a zebra digi stamp some time ago and had never used it.  After a bit of encouragement from my friend I said that I would dig it out and use it.

This lovely zebra image is called 'Ziggy Love' from TeddyBo & Co and the pen of the talented  Gale Cook. 

I coloured the image with Promarkers and then mounted it on silver mirri card and some red polka dot papers.  The fetching zebra skin patterned paper and the zebra paper are both from an old Joanna Sheen/Jayne Netley Mayhew Collection CD.

Have a great weekend.

Dionne

Wedding Day

I have been looking forward to August for a long time.  During this month, and a week or two either side, we have a time for great celebration, with two weddings and two births.

Last weekend we were lucky enough to be invited to the wedding of one of the daughter's of some of our oldest friends.  It only seems like a few years ago that we were celebrating her birth and here she is a grown woman, with a hugely fulfilling career, walking down the aisle.  She looked stunning in her beautiful fishtail dress and her father was so proud.  Not to detract as all from the bride, but her sister and Maid of Honour, also looked amazing.

I find wedding cards very difficult to make, I do not know why but I have never found an image that I am completely happy with.  However this stamp from Indigo Blu is a big favourite of mine, it is very versatile and I love its intricate design.

The stamp is called Love Is and I stamped in with a purple Archival ink.  Once the ink was dry I mounted it on some holographic silver mirri card and some purple pearlised card.  The textured backing paper is from a gorgeous 12x12 stack called The Promise by First Edition.  The sentiment stamp is by Stampin' Up.

This card would, of course, be perfect for the current Crafty Boots 'Use a Stamp' Challenge.

Dionne

Jelly Pip

Can you believe it, it is the first of the month again, which means a quick 'pinch and a punch' for my dear friend Mrs Beez and a wholehearted welcome to a new Crafty Boots Challenge for everyone else.

For the next two weeks Crafty Boots would like us all to dust of our stamps and start using them.  You can either use an actual stamp or you can use digi stamps if you prefer.  Call me old fashioned but the mention of a stamp challenge sends me heading for my very extension stash of rubber and polymer stamps.  I know I hardly ever use them these days but this challenge really is the perfect excuse for a personal trip down memory lane.

This little lady has been with me for some time now, she is from the Sugar Nellie Home Grown collection and is called Jelly Pip from the Sherbet Pip range.

I coloured her with my F&C pencils before mounting her on gold mirri and some bright orange card.  All of the papers are from Stampin' Up and the card candy is from Craftwork Cards.  The butterfly die is also from Stampin' Up.  Finally, I printed the sentiment on my computer.

The other ladies in the Crafty Boots Design Team have been hard at work making some lovely cards, please pop over and take a look.

Dione