2011 in Review....

Happy 2012 to all.  Many of my blogger friends are showing off their favourite cards from 2011... I've decided to take one from each month to share>>

JANUARY 

Using Spellbinders Tag dies to make the frame around the circle 

 FEBRUARY

 I hand made my watercoloured paper adding various stamps around the piece. The girls are a digital image, printed and coloured with pencils

 MARCH

Using distress inks smooched onto an acrylic block for the background and double stamping in two colours to create shadow

APRIL

Hand rolled roses and hand made stick pin for this one.

MAY

Had a go at a shaped card.  Really pleased how this one turned out. 

JUNE

This one was inspired by Jacqueline.  Using some more hand made watercoloured paper, using Hero Arts Frame and Hydrangea stamps.

JULY

This one was for a CASE study challenge ( which made it to the Top 3).  One of my all time favourites for the year.

AUGUST

This elegant beauty is a digital image combined with PP, Embossing folder and a Hero Arts sentiment. 

SEPTEMBER

A fun Penny Black stamp set, some distress sponging and some pretty PP combined with a soft ribbon finished this one off. 

OCTOBER

Another digi image ( from Heather Ellis ~Pure Innocence~) lots of fun papers and some fun with a Tim Holtz rosette die. 

NOVEMBER

Loved the simplicity of this card as well as the brown and gold yellow colours

DECEMBER

And finally the card I made for my parent's 55th wedding anniversary.  A digi image from Mo's Digital Pencil.  Loved how my felt roses turned out.

This year I also had my cards showcased in Hero Arts Social Thursday, City Crafter's challenge Blog, CASE Study, and twice over at Wee Memories.

Thanks for bearing with me through the year of cards.... It's been fun and I have learnt heaps and been inspired by many... THANK YOU all.

Cheers

Dawn

On a Roll...........

I'm certainly making the most of my time off making cards... particularly Christmas cards.  This set of three cards all use Heather Ellis's Pure Innocence (#10)  I had such fun with this image.  (warning Long post...)

#1

I resized this one reasonable small and then printed onto white card and then some coloured PP to piece the hats and scarves.  Unfortunately the ink ran a little on her face.  But that's okay... The blue background was made with a new little Hero Arts cling I picked up the other day... it is only 2.5 x 2.5 inches, so stamped it a number of times onto the card in Versamark and white embossed it.  Then using the Soft Pool ink directly to the card, did a resist technique. I made the snow by running some scraps of white card through Swiss Dots CB folder and layering onto the oval.   Added some Kindyglitz glitter glue.  The base card was made with Spellbinders Oval Scallop dies.  Sentiment by Hero Arts.

#2

This one was made with 2Peas Stamptoberfest challenge (Pattern Paper) in mind.  You needed to use 3 PP.  I did 4 if you count the snowflakes on the blue background.  That background came about by pure accident.  I was playing round with the image in my Word Document and did some negative colour changes and lo and behold ~ it coloured the background of the image!  I never knew you could do that... so something new learnt for the day!.  I printed out the image with the coloured background and then again without.  I stamped the background with the HA snowflakes cling and white Colorbox ink.  The plain one, I coloured with Copics and added some Diamond Dazzle glitter and cut out.  I then took some PP's to make my card.  The red snowflakes from DCWV, the stripes I made with HA Stripe Pattern stamp, some clear embossing and distress inks and finally a strip of scrap paper for my mini rosette.   I like how it turned out... so colourful....

and bearing with me....
#3

For this one, I used Card Patterns #135.  I liked the look of this sketch and knew immediately what I wanted to do.  I had seen this tutorial on making washi tape ( via Vanessa's blog).  I made some snowflake tape with snowflakes from old Hero Arts set ( came out in 2007).  I stamped them with Soft Pool so they are very subtle on the tissue.  I added the tape to a strip of purple card I edged with a Fiskers punch.  I stamped my cream background with Magical Background in Scattered Straw distress ink.   I had the panel coloured and cut so only had to add with the sentiment.  Notice I added some Liquid Appliqué for the pompoms and the snow.  Finished with some punched snowflakes and gems.  This one has been entered into Lily Pads Cards  Bling Challenge 

Thanks for sticking through that lot.  I really enjoyed this image and got my money's worth out of it ( It's on sale here)

I'm off to have some lunch - nearly 1pm here now.  Then off to the library to pick up a book.... yes I do other things .... including reading ~ a Nora Roberts series on Weddings... some nice light hearted reading.

Take care
Cheers

Dawn

More Saturday stamping....

Tonight I want to share two more of the cards I made on Saturday.   I don't have a certain style, preferring just to make what feels good.  I have lots and lots of stamps.... I can help myself buying new ones.  At present I probably have about 5 stamps I haven't even inked up yet!!!!!  But one new set I got last week had an outing.

This set is from Pure Innocence and is called " Being Cute is What I Do…"  I stamped it on water card stock and used Copics to colour her hair and face and then stamped the image again onto dotted PP and black paper and pieced the pieces.  The dotted paper was blue dots, but I used a Tombow marker to change the colour to tie in with the flower centre.  The PP I used were from My Grafico - a free set that I got awhile ago.  I printed out the four colours onto one A4 sheet and then trimmed them.  I saw a neat technique on Gina K's Stamp TV that showed how to make a faux corner fold.  I had to add a piece of PP down the front, as I wasn't concentrating while I was using my Scor-pal to fold it.... I finished it off with a sentiment by Hero Arts.

I have just realised that 6 out of the 7 cards I made on Saturday had at least one Hero Arts stamp on it.... They are great stamps and are my favourites.  I'd say around 80% of stamps are by Hero Arts .

My next share is definitely a Hero Arts card..... I purchased the Wish You Were Here set on Saturday as I have wanted a chair stamp for some time.  And it was the last set in store....

I used some of the left over PP from the earlier card and stamped the Envelope pattern over it and then the chair stamp.  I cut out the chair and layered it onto a circle I had with me, cut out of a paint chip. I then layered that onto an other piece of the PP.  Then I added to  the pink card and the white card base.  I used a Spellbinders tag to cut out the sentiment and the added some distress ink to soften the look.  I finished off by adding some pearls to the chair back.

I'm writing this on a very hot humid night.  The last few days have been very humid again.  At 10.00pm on Saturday night it was still 21degrees.   And it feels like that now... plus I'm sitting with the laptop sitting on my lap as I am watching CSI while typing this.  All the new seasons TV programmes have started and all the good stuff is on at the same time!!!!!!!!!

Have a great week.

Saturday stamping, Sunday strawberry picking....

 Yesterday I finally managed to catch up with some stamping buddies for a day of stamping.... I have missed a number of their get togethers because of a variety of reasons, but yesterday I was available and stamping was on at Lei's place. Here some of the lovely ladies are - Lei and Jackie, Helen and Glenda.... Sandie and Janet were there as well, but evaded the photos.... We had a fabulous day, lots of talking, eating and of course stamping.  All this despite the temperature soaring to the high 20's.  It was HOT....
I managed to get two cards and two book-marks done, and coloured in two "Ian" images I had.

 

I have been having fun with the Pure Innocence images that I got from Heather Ellis's site.  So cute and fun to colour.  I love the digi images as you can resize to what ever you want.  

Friday I bought two more Hero Art stamps... Silhouette Burst and Silhouette Spray.  They both tie with the Dandelion Frame.  I used part of the frame and the Silhouette Burst on the first book-mark.  Very pleased with the result so will be making a card with similar colours.  The second book-mark was made with Distress inks rubbed over the cardstock to make the lovely orange background.  I stamped the butterflies and sentiment with Versafine Sepia ink.   My Purple card is for Anne-Maree at work, she LOVES purple, wearing it just about everyday!!!!  I used the Hero Arts Friends Definition Cling to make the background paper which I tore and distressed in Dusty Concord.  I then stamped both the Burst and Spray onto it.  Finished them off with a gem ( coloured with Copic to get the right colour) and the Happy Birthday. 

Finally my Pure Innocence card was nice and quick to make.  In my stash I had the background Paper ( no idea where I got it or what make it is!!!) but it tied nicely into the colours I had used.  The sentiment is by Stampin'Up.  I borrowed it from Helen.

Our day finished around 4.00pm and it was still very HOT!! so when I got home, I quickly unpacked my stuff, put on the togs ( swim suit) and headed to the beach.  It is 5 minutes walk from home... and had a quick dip...the water was so warm.  This was my first swim this summer.... it's been too cool up till now.  Just magic...  Finished the night by going out to an Indian restaurant with some friends... Fabulous Day.

Today was not such a nice day,... still warm but overcast at times and raining at others.  However we had decided to go Strawberry picking.  One of the strawberry farms near us ( about 20 minutes drive away) has a yearly day when you can pick your own ($7 a kilo) and all the funds go to the North Shore Hospice.  Of course as soon as we started picking it starting to spit and then rained.... not too heavy but enough to get a wet tee-shirt.... Hubby and I picked just over 3 kgs.... so tomorrow am going to make jam.  We had some of the better ones for our dessert tonight... so tasty and fresh.

Thanks for stopping by.

Dreaming of France

Jacqueline from My Scrap Basket had a lovely post about a little village in France not far from where she lives and all the lovely buildings and Christmas decorations.  She also had a little giveaway going.  I commented on the lovely photos and how I hope to see a village like this when I go in August to Paris.. and I was luck enough to win a little something..... and this is what it was.... arrived today

 

Aren't they just wonderful.  I admire Jacqueline's work all the time- She makes the most amazing tags and I am proud to be able to look at these in real life.  Thank you heaps Jacqueline.

At this moment hubby and I are planning what we want to do on our trip to England and Europe.  Plans at this stage are to spend a week doing a canal boat trip - down the Huddesfield Canal in England, spend a few days in London with his sister and then take the train to Paris.  Of course as I have never been there....so much I want to see... Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, a river boat cruise on the Seine... maybe a day trip to Versailles.... lot to do in 5 days, then off by train to Venice...again about 5 days and then down to Rome for around 5 days before flying home....  It just seems so long away...but no doubt August will come round quickly.

I managed to get a quick card done this week... Donna made these two lovely cards here using Pure Innocence images by Heather Ellis.... I just had to go and get two more myself.... Donna was thinking of entering one of her cards in TESC97.  I liked the sketch Taylor had done so gave it a go myself... I was inspired by Donna to use my Dahlia nestie to frame the image.  I made the pale pink paper by brayering distress ink ( Tattered Rose) onto thin card and then overstamping with HA Antique Brocade in Worn Lipstick. and then stamping the sentiment.  I resized the PI image and coloured it with pencils, blended with a Tombow colourless blender. I used the Dahlia nestie to cut it out and sponged some of the Tattered Rose onto it.  The background card is stamped with HA Raindrop background stamped in the Tattered Rose ink.  All in all was pleased with the result.

Well that's all for now... It's Friday evening ( 6.00pm) so the first week back from holiday finished ( and it was a crappy week) so am looking forward to a relaxing weekend.... maybe a bit of crafting, reading or sunbathing!!!  Take care and thanks for visiting

Edited... I'm sorry Jacqueline... I called her blog My Scrap Bucket instead of Basket!!!  A bit of a blond moment!!!!!

Sweet Valentines

We do not "do" Valentines in New Zealand to the same degree as some other areas... we do not make little cards or gifts for teachers, friends etc.... but I have made a couple of cards over the last two nights.... to enter into the Hero Arts Friendship/Valentines challenge and one for Lucy's challenge.
I started by downloading the Papertrey Inks Try before you buy Simple Valentine sampler.  It has lovely sized samples on this one - perfect for cutting up and using as... you guessed it....a quilt card.

After I had cut out the Labels 8, I embossed the quilt with a Sizzix die.  I then drew around the outside of the die and hand cut it to get the red border.  I added the ribbon... and then thought about what do do next!!!  So when I decided on the label I had to untie the ribbon add the tag and retie... what a pain!!!  I had to improvise a bit with the tag as the set I used only has an opening in one end.  So once I had cut it out, I turned it around and recut so both ends had an opening.  I then matted the quilt onto the swiss dotted white card - edged with Distress ink (Worn Lipstick) and then onto a red card base.  This is the one for Lucy's challenge.

This next one might be for Deborah's January card chain challenge.... not quite sure yet ... it doesn't quite fit her sketch,.... but does fit the theme of Valentine's.  Again I used the Papertry Inks sampler to form a patterned background.  Love the colours on this set.  The image is a digi image from Heather Ellis's Pure Innocence range.  See them here;  They are just adorable and being digi can be resized as you want.  I coloured her in with a watercolour pen, distress inks and Tombow markers.  Used nesties to cut out the circle and scallop.  The sentiment was done in individual letters with a Hero Arts Clear Sparkle set and Worn Lipstick distress ink. 

Well as usual a longish post.... hope it's not too boring.  Life is getting back to normal in our house again now I'm back at work.   Our son is off to Thailand this week for a 3 week holiday with his girlfriend.... a bit scary as Thailand is such a long way off.... but I suppose at 21 he is a big boy now and can take care of himself.

Thanks again for stopping by and a big thanks to all of you who make such encouraging comments.

take care

Inky fingers and more book-marks

This week the weather has been so nice I had to take my crafting outside..... with my parents here I didn't want to shut myself away in the craft room....so the mountain came to Mohammed....I picked up my inks, scissors, papers and stamps and headed out into the sunshine.... what a fun afternoon.  I showed my parents how I make background cardstock - used alcohol inks, Kaliedacolor inks, distress inks.... and then turned some of them into book-marks for Mum to take back for my SIL and nieces.  Still a whole pile of backgrounds to use up!!!

I also printed out some images I purchased from Heather Ellis  (Thanks to the inspiring Donna who showed them on her blog).  I did some really tiny ones - like on the book-mark and some bigger ones.  This one is for my Mum's birthday on Monday 4th ( don't look Mum!!!)  As Donna says - fun to resize the images with digi stamps.

I used one of the alcohol ink backgrounds I made and one of the Pure Innocence images I coloured in.  Just wish I had used white Stazon to stamp the sentiment or some EP in white to make it stand out a bit...

It was just wonderful sitting outside colouring in.  Managed to make the card when Mum went for a snooze in the afternoon. 

Well I'm off for a few days to Papamoa - where hubby's sister lives.  We'll spend New Years Eve there and maybe the next day.  Just playing things by ear.... so Happy New Year to all.