A Make it Crafty Christmas Special

Leading up to Christmas this year I seemed to have plenty of time to make up all my cards ready to go, then it felt like I blinked, Christmas was upon us and I had very few ready to go.  Thankfully there are some understanding people in my group of friends who aren't holding it against me.

So Christmas morning I was up early, not because I have children and there was presents to open from Santa, I had cards to finish!!  I had two to get ready for the day, Ma and I had already decided that we wouldn't stress ourselves, and would give each other our cards after Christmas.  I finally delivered it today!!

So for my two cards for Christmas day I coloured up Floppy from the Make it Crafty (MiC) Store.  I wanted to steer away from traditional colours and so we have two very pastel coloured cards.

First up for my Kris Kringle recipient

This next photo shows the gorgeous sparkle from the Diamond Stickles on those Snowflakes

Finally a close up of the adorable Floppy.  The fur trim on his hat and sleeves is done with Glossy Accents and white flock.

Copic colours - 
Blues - B0000, B000, B00 and B01
White - W0, W1, W2
Shoes and Hair - E40, E42, E43 and E44
Bell - E50, E51, E53

Next up was a card for my Sister and her family.  She has a family of boys, so not really the right colours for the boys in her life, but I know she appreciated it :)

The background paper I made myself with Kaszazz snowflake stamps, pewter embossing powder and Milled Lavender Distress Stain. All the elements have then been edged with Distress Stain Brushed Pewter, it has a gorgeous shine to it as you can see in the next photo.  Unfortunately my sentiment curled with the crackle medium, and definitely didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, but there was no time for me to be able to fix it.

Copic colours - 
Blues - BV000, BV00, BV02 and 0
White - W0, W1, W2
Shoes and Hair - E40, E42, E43 and E44
Bell - E50, E51, E53

So as I mentioned above, I delivered Ma's Card to her today. Using another MiC image - Fairy Bauble.  As you can probably tell I love the MiC images, just so much fun to colour, and they almost always provide me with a new challenge in learning to use Copics.

I tried to make it matching the december sketch challenge on the MiC Facebook group, but found out I had printed my image too big.  So still keeping the basic elements I moved the image left, the banner right and came up with the following

Papers are from Maja and Kaisercraft matted with Chocolate and White Shimmer card stocks respectively.  The sentiment is also Kaisercraft.

Copic Colours - 

Bauble - E40, E42, E43, E44, E47 and E49

Hair - E40, E42, E43, E44 and a touch of E47 inside the curls

Wings - E70, E71, E74 and E77

Wings - E70, E71, E74, E77 and E79

Holly - G20, G21, G94 and G99

Berries - R35, R37, R59, R89

Eyes - BG01, B01, B00, B000 and B0000

I would like to enter my final card, Fairy with Bauble into the MiC Facebook Design Team call for January to April 2014.  **fingers crossed**

Thanks for having a look today,  I hope you and you families had a lovely Christmas and I wish you a safe, happy and healthy New Year for 2014.

xx

Mother's Day 2013

Mother's day here in Australia is on the second Sunday in May.  This year I thought I was so prepared as I had ordered the gorgeous For Mum stamp from Lili of the Valley a few months before.  Then as it got closer to the day, it seemed to creep right up on me and I just seemed to run out of time. I spent the Saturday morning busy painting and making Ma's card and finishing off a card for my sister too.  Obviously she isn't my Mum, but she has 3 beautiful little men, and she is such a good Mum to them that I like to make a card for her also.  I always like to do something really different for them for Mother's day, last year they both received a card with the same new fold technique that I had come across, so this year I decided to mix it up a bit.

For my Sisters card I used the tutorial I found on From My Craft Room by Norma for a 3 Step Card.  A reasonably easy and effective card.  The stamp I used is from Whimsy called Wee Florist.

 I used Prima Paper from the Tea Thyme collection called Challis.

Now for the inside of the card, the 3 steps were perfect for the initials of my 3 nephews, James, William and Alexander.

For my Ma I had booked tickets to see the stage show Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on the Saturday night, she loved it.  It was just lovely to see her so happy and really enjoying the show even if CHitty did go bang a couple of times and stop the show while they fixed her ;)  For Ma's card I used a tutorial I found over at Lili of the Valley for a Triangle Joy Fold Card.  I also used another technique I saw on My Craft Room for using straight edge punches for bordering around my circle die cut.

You can also see the gorgeous Aged Teal Frantage I used, I love this stuff, such a groovy effect!!

I used Maja Paper from the Ska vi ta en fika collection called Kladdkaka - bs.  Such gorgeous paper!!  It worked beautifully with my colours.  I have used Peacock Feathers, Antique Linen and Walnut Distress Stains only, love these colours together (as you will see when I get a chance to post another card I made just recently)

The sentiment came as a freebie with my last order from Whimsy, such a lovely stamp and worked beautifully with my cocoa bean embossing powder, clear and crisp.  

Finally a couple more photos to finish up.  Note I had to move the centre folded piece higher up on my card than was shown in the tutorial, because my circle plaque on the front was so big and hung over the top edge when I stuck it lower on the card it wouldn't open up as the border got in the way.  I think I stuck it, moved it, stuck it, moved it about 3 times before I got it right :)  

Such a cute little teddy ;o)

Thanks for looking

xx

An interstate delivery

Hello again,

Two posts in one night, this is almost unheard of for me!!  Second tonight is another commissioned piece, this time for my friend Mandy who lives in Melbourne, so it's on its way to the post office tomorrow.  

This card is for Mandy's Mum who is having a special birthday.  

This was the second Tilda in Cotton Dress I painted in the last 24 hours.  The first one I had painted completely, and then at the last minute I thought I am going to give her black eyes, so using intense Black Soot ink I coloured in over the brown ones.... then I realised I had forgotten to paint her cheeks.  As I was blending in her cheeks my brush swiped over the edge of her eye and I streaked black ink over her face.  Oh boy was I annoyed... I was so angry with myself, frustrated!!!  I tried to fix it, I tried everything....  This little Tilda ended up in pieces in the bin and I had to start again... So incredibly NOT HAPPY!!!  and note...no black eyes in the pictures below ;o)

So I started on version two...

At the recent papercraft fair here in Adelaide I finally came across a store that stocks Maja Papers.  I have drooled over these gorgeous papers countless times on Camilla's blog but never found a shop in Adelaide that stocks them.  The stall I bought them from had them all lined up in two beautiful bookcases and I stood there looking in awe at all these gorgeous papers, not knowing what to buy.  I finally made some quick decisions and got out of there before I weakened and bought everything!!  So this is my first card with one of these gorgeous papers....I'm in love ;o)

The gorgeous purple strip in the picture above is the other side of paper, and I hid the join with that cute as pink flower ribbon.

I hope you like it Miss Mandy!!!

Thanks for looking

xx