Sunday 29 January 2012

A little Polkadoodles Quickie

Hey everyone.  Polkadoodles introduced a 1 day twitter challenge for fellow tweeters to submit a card using a free digi-image.  I thought I would give it a try and see what I could come up with.

Here it is:


The purple backing paper if from Polkadoodles Sundae of Seasons CD.  The green backing paper is textured and is from a pack that I honestly can't remember buying (or therefore where I bought it)  The image was a freebie from Polkadoodles specifically for this challenge (THANKS).

I colored the image and the background with promarkers.  The butteryfly and the large flower were traced onto parchment and outline embossed. Using gold sparkle glue to attach the butterfly ended up giving it a nice effect under the parchment.  The flower was attached using a yellow polka dot brad.

The sentiment was from a fabric card kit that I got AGES ago from C&C.  Then I thought, hmmmm, it needs a little something more.  I decided on the sequins in blue at the top and in green at the bottom. 

Anyway, this was an unexpected quickie that I thought I would share with you all.  If you want to follow Nikki on twitter she is @Polka_doodles .  She is a real laugh and one of the nicest tweeters there are!

Have a great night and take care.

xx Denise

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Liebster Blog!

Hey everyone.  Faye from Faye's Crafty Corner was kind enough to consider my blog for the Liebster Blog!  As I am relatively new to both blogging and cardmaking, this is a real honor for me.  Thank you so much for thinking of me Faye.  You have really made my day!



The idea of the Liebster Blog Award is to spread the love from one small blog (under 200 followers) to other small blogs. This helps to spread knowledge and readership.


To accept the award, you must:

1) Link back to the person who gave it and thank them for thinking of you.
2) Post the award to your blog.
3) Give the award to 5 bloggers (with less than 200 followers) that you appreciate and value.
4) Leave a comment on the blogs of the five people you have chosen to let them know.


"Liebster" in German means "dearest", so to carry on the Liebster tradition, I am going to pass the award on to 5 people who's blogs have been an inspiration to me and my crafting.  To be honest, passing this on will be difficult as there are so many wonderful small blogs that have inspired me.  It will be a challenge to chose only 5.


However, as needs must, here are 5 wonderful and inspiring blogs/ bloggers that I would love to pass the Liebster Blog award on to (in no particular order).

Louise at Lou's Card Creations her cards and her style are gorgeous and right up my street!

Becky at Shabby Treasures who is also a relatively new card maker, but is mega-talented.

Elizabeth at Warm Harted.  She tends to use such adorable and whimsical images which always make me smile.

Sharon at Ewe 2 Can Craft who's blog is full of such lovely and sweet card creations.

Pritesh at Quilling Me Softly.  Her work is gorgeous and her blog has tutorials for quilling.  I have not yet been brave enough to try it, but I do keep looking and am getting closer and closer to giving it a try.  The results are amazing.


Thanks again to Faye for thinking of me and my blog.  I really do appreciate it and am again happy to pass on the Liebster Blog award to these fantastically talented crafters.

Monday 23 January 2012

What's New Pussycat

At first I was having difficulty deciding which song to call on for inspiration for my latest design team card for Crafty Boots Challenges.  Then I received my new Strawberry Kisses cd and stamp set from Crafter's Companion and it went the other way, the stamp inspired the song.

Looking at this little kitty popping out of the flower pot just made me just imagine her saying 'What's New' - so you guessed it the song is 'What's New Pussycat' by Tom Jones.



The image is colored with promarkers.  I then cut it out with my Grand Nestie scalloped oval die.  I distressed the paper with Mustard Seed and Broken China Distress Ink.  The swirled backing paper is from Hunkydory , the pastel yellow backing is sikl art card and the polka dot layer is from K&C.  I added the sentiment, a bit of vintage ribbon and green felted brads to finish it off.

Anyway, I hope you like the card.  I have really enjoyed becoming a member of the Crafty Boots Design Team because it has really encouraged me to develop my cardmaking.  It has also been wonderful because I look at all the entries in each challenge and get to see so many inspiring projects.

I would also like to enter this card in the following challenges:
Cropstop Challenge-54 - Distressed, Vintage or Shabby Chic
Delighful Sketches Vintage/Distressed
Crafty Purple Frog Challenges - Anything Goes
Sentimental Sundays -challenge-86-die-cuts with sentiment
stamptacularsundaychallenge - challenge-148 seeing spots
The Squirrel and Fox - Challenge 9- Critters
Let's Ink it Up - Challenge 19 - (Rubber Stamp) - Anything Goes
Craft Your Days Away - Challenge-37-distressing
Crafty Anns Challenge Blog - What's New Pussycat


Please feel free to leave a comment.  I love reading them all and as I am still relatively new to cardmaking any tips or suggestions are most welcome!

Thank you for looking and come back again soon ;)


xx Denise

Saturday 14 January 2012

Welcome to Lucas

Hi everyone,

I am so excited to be able to announce the birth of Lucas, the son of my dear friends Nina and Mike.  Actually, the dragonMommy and baby card I used for my latest Crafty Boots DT project (for the New Beginnings Challenge) was made for Nina and Mike, but I didn't want to mention it until Lucas arrived safe and sound.

Finally, after 40 hours of labour and a C-section, little Lucas (well not so little at 9lbs and change) came into the world.  We are off to the hospital to see them in a bit, but I wanted to share the card I made for Lucas. 


I used an adorable free digi image from http://www.wendymade.blogspot.com/ and colored it with promarkers.  I did a lot of die cutting with my Cuttlebug for the letters and numbers and squares.  The doily layer is made using my X-cut punch.

Although I was very pleased with how the card turned out, due to it's size (8x9" approx), the envelope was another matter and certainly not my best work (which is why there is no pic of it ..lol).

Okee dokee, I have to get going now to go meet this little guy and congratulate his parents.

Take care and as always, all comments are very much appreciated.

Monday 9 January 2012

New Beginnings

Hey everyone!

I am happy to start my blog off in 2012 with my latest design team project for the Crafty Boots Challenge Blog.  I thought a 'new baby' card would be a very nice project for the "New Beginnings" theme.




I was anxious to try a technique the lovely Barbara Gray demonstrated using her Rose stamp.  I was pleasantly surprised with the way it turned out using this cute little Mommy and Baby dragon stamp from Wild Rose Studio and 'baby boy' color scheme.  The crumpled tissue layer was made using Distress inks and the dragons are colored (on the tissue) using pro markers.  A couple of Grand Nesties layers, a bit of adhesive ribbon at the top and bottom, a little sentiment, and Bob's your uncle!

Right..... time to start thinking about my next DT project and some personal projects that I should do soon!  Hmmm, maybe a nap first and then some thinking :)

Take care and I hope 2012 is being good to you and yours.

xx Denise

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