Birthday Owl

I have been playing with Craft Artist Platinum for past few days - still a few glitches in the programme which keeps crashing!  Panic set in yesterday when I had been creating this image and the programme crashed again on going to print preview!   Was ready to send the disks back last night and went to bed really miffed as couldn't een re-open the programme!  However, this morning's attempt opened the programme and I managed to recover most of what I had done!

Well this is it - used a digi image of an owl and coloured it using the brushes!  Then added a few bits and bobs, some text on the bottle and a greeting.  Hope it will make my daughter chuckle!

Freesias, Owl and ....

Seems I am into sepia at the moment.  This card is for my daughter - she loves freesias and owls, and it is a standing joke in the family that she has so much school stuff and craft stuff in her house, she has nowhere to put anything!

Freesia stamp is from JS favourite flowers,  Owl is from JS Hoot stamps, and the words are from JS Country Life - You can't have everything stamps.  All stamped onto water colour card with memento and then using the water colouring from outline technique, and distressed with memento.

First Wine Buffs card

This cd made me chuckle so much at the launch that I just had to buy it.  Image, backing paper and bottle all from the cd.  Main image mounted on brown card stock, and the backing paper finished off with silver peel-off edging.  Card is a 5 & 7 pearlised card, from a bought pack.  I added the wording to the bottle in Publisher.

The second co-ordinating image from the CD was put on the insert., which I also created in Publisher.

Card for a horse lover

Think the title says it all.  Image from JS Times Gone by CD.  This image was actually from the shaped cards section, but I decided to just use the decoupage elements on the front of the card instead.

Trying something different

Inspired by Sheena Douglas and Joanna Sheen demos over the weekend, whilst watching the programmes I decided to do some experimenting with some water colour card I had bought.  So here are two variations on a water colour theme, which are slightly out of my comfort zone! 

The first card was stamped with Stazon and is my favourite JS stamp (Wild Roses from the Favourite Flowers - Wild Flower collection)  and then water coloured with aquamarkers, and cut out with a scalloped oval nestability and the back ground colour added with cut and dry foam using Big and Juicy Mountain Meadow.   I then played with a Creativity Magazine freebie mini embossing folder and a Martha Stewart punch, on another piece of water colour card, which had been coloured with Paper-Soft-Colour Rose and Lilac, and then slightly skimmed across the embossing with the Lilac.

When it came to putting my two idea together on a card, I used an odd piece of pinky-lilac ribbon, and punched some flowers from the water colour paper.  These where then balled with a large ball tool to give them some shape and a floral gem added in the centre.   A butterfly peel-off was also added to the same paper and cut out.

The second card has the same image, but this time stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa, and  using a damp paint brush, the colour was "dragged" from the outline and water-coloured.   Again image cut out with a nestability.  A touch of the same memento colour was used on the edges of the image, and gradually worked all over the image.

I kept this card quite simple.  A piece of brown ribbon wrapped around more plain water colour card, and mounted on gold mirri, and the image mounted on foam tape.  The bottom of the front of the card was edged with a Martha Stewart punch, and a piece of ivory card added behind it.  Must confess I rather like the finished effect of this card.

A Sympathy Card and some Birth Cards

Like most card makers I find Sympathy Cards are some of the most difficult to make.  This one was created in MCS using some backing paper from a JS Heavenly Cards cd and imported into MCS and then the images from MCS Paperwords cd added.  Mounted on purple mirri, and a flora doodle flower added. 

I also had the pleasure of making the following cards -  My eldest great niece gave birth yesterday to a little boy.

I imported the image into MCS and made the greeting the same colour as the edge of the blanket.  It was then copied into Publisher and the initials were added to the blanket (found it easier to do this way).  Decoupaged twice - once with the baby, pillow and blanket, and then just the blanket, and mounted completed image onto mirri.   Added some embellishments from Baby Love to finish it off

This one is for my nephew, the Baby's Grandfather created as you will probably gather using the Forever Friends cd - the background of the image is actually pale yellow although it doesn't show up that well.

and finally this one for my sister-in-law.  (Just wish my brother was still alive for this to have been his one too).  Again made with Forever Friends cd.

Thank You cards

I used Joanna Sheen's new Enchanted Dreams cd for the two designs for my Thank You cards.  Originally I didn't think this cd was for me and delayed buying it until after Christmas.  I was converted when everybody was raving about the artwork and the fact that it sold out on the initial launch!    I must admit the artwork of Josephine Wall is fabulous - oh to be able to paint like that.    Don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge them and marvel at the intricate details of her paintings.

I kept the cards very simple - imported the pictures into Publisher and add a faux matt as well as the sentiment, also with faux matt.



First Birthday Cards of 2011

Thomas Kincaide image mounted on silver mirri onto stardream card.   I also made a bookmark to go with this.

Not a brilliant piccie of the stamp - so see card below.  stamped with versamark and then embossed with silver.  then card coloured with paper-soft-color (pink and lilac( mounted on silver mirri.  more of the coloured paper mounted on mirri and ribbon attached.  Flowers punched out of the same paper I created with gems for centres. 

variation of above card, but image stamped and embossed with gold on lemon paper from docrafts january goodybag and mounted on gold mirri.   flowers punched from same Docrafts paper and mounted in one of the ribbons from the bag.

I will add here that my embossing powder is some from when I used to make cards when my daughter was demoing for Inca Stamps - some 18 years ago and it is still as good as new!