'E' is for Embellishments...

I love the idea at http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com/ where the challenges are planned to go through the alphabet using each letter in turn. At the moment the challenge is to use embellishments and as it's the school holidays there is a whole fortnight to complete the challenge.

I decided to use my new mask and corner stencil by Joy (hmm think that counts as a personal 'buy it and use it' challenge completed too). I was led to these stencils by another blogger, Heather at http://ricas-haven.blogspot.com/ who had made the most gorgeous card using one of the stencil designs.

My stencil is the flower design which I embossed on to silver mirror card using my Wizard machine. Keeping the stencil in place I pricked that section of the design and then cut the whole mask out. It was then attached to the card and embellished with jewels and a feather. I embellished the corner section in the same way and finished the card off using wide line silver peel offs to form a frame around the whole card.

The card is for my daughter who finishes Uni next week. It's not a graduation card as the results don't come through for ages yet but it is the last weekend she will spend in Liverpool with her friends and I think that calls for a celebration for them all. I know she will love the card as I'm enclosing some cash to celebrate with!!!

Ribbons and bows...

I seem to have bought quite a lot of ribbon recently so it was really good to be encouraged to put it to good use in the challenge at http://thisthursday.wordpress.com/. Their theme this week is use ribbon and bows in your project.

I usually make a bow and stick it on somewhere on my card but I've seen so many cards recently where the ribbon goes all the way around the card that I wanted to give that a try - I know it's not a new idea but it's something I haven't done much so it was newish to me!

Out came those gorgeous Penny Black stamps again and some cute snowball paper from the English Paper Company that I bought in a sale last year.

No Pink...

'Your cards can feature any colour, but NO PINK !! ' were the instructions for the challenge this week at http://pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/. I chose blue and used one of the stamps from the Penny Black Christmas Critters sheet of clear rubber stamps I bought a few weeks back. Each of the images in the collection is absolutely gorgeous - having said that Penny Black are up there in my very favourite stamps at the moment.

The layout is from a Splitcoast Stampers sketch (I think) with a few variations (mainly because mine didn't look right somehow - maybe I got the size of the squares wrong I don't know!

The snowflakes are decorated with clear gem stones which I can happily add to every card now I make now with no guilt feelings as apparently if you keep them too long they become useless. Thank you to a member of the Joanna Sheen forum for passing that warning on to us all.

Vintage...

This my card for the challenge at http://artygirlzchallengeblog.blogspot.com/. I love the image I used for this card - there are some wonderful vintage bathing beauty images around, but I particularly like this one. In my opinion it has a real charm to it. The image also has it's own very striking border and elaborate black corner pieces, which I have embellished with self adhesive gems. It broke my heart using so many on one card, especially as there are 3 under the tag too -didn't decide on tag till after they were attached. I do think it was worth it in the end as it gives (in my opinion) a touch of opulance!

To mirror the blue of the frame on the image I used a rippled dark blue paper wrap around the card - having this wrap also meant that I was able to use my border punch to create an ornate border down the side of the card.

Sketch for Tilda & Co Challenge

This card is for this week's challenge at http://magnoliachallengeblog.blogspot.com/. Great sketch to have a go at and fantastic blog candy on offer for one lucky person.

The punched circle framing Tilda was made using a Fiskar's circle punch - first time I've used it and I'm quite pleased with the effect. My daughter bought me quite a few of these in a sale a little while back and to be truthful I had forgotten I had them (too much stuff - who's spoilt? - me never!). I really must 'challenge' myself to use things I buy!

Red, Black and White...

This week the challenge at http://mytimetocraftchallenge.blogspot.com/ was to use red, black and white in a project. My own personal challenge at the moment is to try and use up some of the bits and bobs left over from cards I've made in the past. Sometimes I stamp extra images or create some decoupaged pieces and then store them carefully, but as my collection of small bits of paper and half completed items grows I really think I ought to get some of these things used.

On this card the numbers were some I stamped and decoupaged a while ago. The stamps I used are part of a set from Make your Mark in York. The backing paper is from DCWV and was also a small piece left from another project and the embossed numbers were made using the numbers cuttlebug folder.

90th Birthday - card 2

As the card maker in the family I also needed to make a card for Mum to give my Auntie today. I decided to use the last of the silhouette images I printed last week. This one is a lovely image of some children playing with a flower garland and like the other silhouette images I have been using it is from the CD 'Silhouette Magic' CD by Ooh-la-la-Creations.

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture - it is really hard to take photos of acetate cards. I think it's actually possible to see the reflection of the camera on this one!!

Our challenge at http://ooh-la-la-creationschallenges.blogspot.com/ this week is to create a card using acetate. Quite a few people have said they would like to try this so alongside our card examples there is a write up of how my card was made. So do pop along there and give a acetate a try out.