Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge 37 :: Sketch

I really love the sketch for this Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge (original post here).  It's a very clean and simple design and I think it lends itself quite well to a Christmas card theme.  That's the way I've gone, anyway!

 

I started with a piece of red cardstock from my stash, and cut out the "Merry Christmas" from the "Simply Charmed" Cricut Cartridge (I hid the guides for the little faces in the "e" and "a").  I then matted that piece of red cardstock on some Vanilla Cardstock so that the vanilla came through the negative space left from the cut.

I then traced and cut out a portion of a circle from the edge of a piece "Be Merry - Cheer" patterned paper by Kaisercraft.  I made my bauble using my new AnnaBelle Stamps "Decorated Christmas" dies and stamps.

Now for the fun part - selecting an adorable Peachy Keen Face for my bauble!!  I just love the "Happy Lashes Assortment" faces and so I selected one for my bauble, one to fill in the "a" and the eyes only of another one to fill in the top of the "e".  They're so cute!

I popped my bauble up to give dimension and tied a bow with some metallic stranded DMC Cotton.  I added some faux stitching around the red cardstock, Cinnamon Stickles to the  brown dots of the patterned paper and put some bling above the bauble (in keeping with the sketch requirements).  I put my card together on some Kraft cardstock.  The entire card is 5.5 x 5.5.  I love it!

Cheers!

Deb. xo

AnnaBelle Stamps Challenge - ABSC054

Having just recently purchased my first products from AnnaBelle Stamps, I couldn't wait to get to stamping with them!  I have fiddled around with the Cuts By Design - Decorated Christmas dies and the new Decorated Christmas co-ordinating stamp set and have created some fun little baubles that I will use on upcoming projects.  However, for the purposes of this AnnaBelle Stamps challenge I have stamped directly onto cardstock, by-passing the dies for now.  Here is a copy of the sketch we're to follow:

I have used Kaszazz Vanilla Cardstock for my base and have added a red cardstock cover sheet (from my stash).  I used the "My Creative Time - Just Simply Live" polaroid die to cut out a window in the red cardstock.  I then stamped christmas baubles from the Decorated Christmas set directly onto the Vanilla card base through the window.  I cut out the little tag die from the Cuts By Design set and stamped the border and the "Merry Christmas" sentiment from the stamp set.

I then edged the red cardstock with some Memento Rich Cocoa ink and adhered the red cardstock to the card base.  I added faux stitching around the perimeter of the window feature and added some bling to the bottom.  And here is my finished card...

Clean and simple, just the way I like it!  

Cheers!

Deb. xo

Quilted Card - Thinking of You

Katie from "Crafting with Katie" had a post earlier today called Collecting Cards for Cancer Patients.  I think this is such a wonderful and worthwhile idea and so I wanted to practice some of my newly-acquired skills and techniques to a few cards that I could send to the Card Care Connection.  I thought a quilted card would be quite uplifting and quirky, and so I 'lifted' a new quilt pattern from here.

I wanted to use up some of the Creative Memories papers that I have in my stash, and so I pulled out the "Creative Memories - Primary (Tone on Tone)" papers to have a go.  I also used my Creative Memories Square Maker Punch (1") to cut all the individual squares that were needed (very fast doing it this way!).  I'm really pleased with how this came out...

I cut out the label from the "My Creative Time - Just Simply Live" stamp and die set, and stamped the sentiment 'Thinking of You" from the "My Creative Time - Card Sentiments" set. I added a bow made of red hemp twine and there is my first card for this worthwhile cause.

Here is my recipe:

- Yellow - 4 x 1" squares, diagonal

- Green - 4 x 1" squares, diagonal

- Purple - 4 x 1" squares, diagonal

- Purple - 4 x 1" squares

- Blue - mat, 4.25" x 4.25"

- Card base (Scrapbook Boutique - Vanilla) - 5.5" x 8.5"

- Blue for the label

This is just one colour scheme and layout for this particular quilting pattern.  There are so many more possibilities, and I might start to explore them too!

Thanks for the inspiration Katie!

Cheers!

Deb. xo

Rye Pier - 12x12 Layout

I thought I might put together another layout today, and chose to use more photos from a day trip I took with my own two kidlets and two 'ring-ins' as well (the 'ring-ins' being Tayah and Emily).  We had fish & chips at the foreshore picnic area in Rye before taking a long walk out on the Pier.

It's just a very simple layout, clean and symmetrical just the way I like them.  The base is a neutral colour textured cardstock.  I used my Walnut Stain Distress Ink to ink the edges of the base cardstock.  I have used Double Mates cardstock in Perfect Plum to mat the photos and some black cardstock to double mat the main photo and add a feature strip down the left side under the photos.  The title is cut from black cardstock using my Expression and the "Hannah Montana - Daddy's Girl" font (except for the word 'on' which is done using Making Memories Rub-Ons).

The pelican and the word 'beach' are from the "Life is a Beach" cartridge and I cut it out twice - once on black with all the guides removed and then once on grey.  I have then used my white gel pen and yellow Zig Writer to add feature and detail to the pelican.  Once he was adhered to the page I went back and put some light chalking detail around the pelican to give a beach effect.

I have used the faux stitching line stamp from the "My Creative Time - Gift Card Sentiments" stamp set to make guides for my journalling.  My final touch was to add some faux stitching of my own on some of the photo mats in black, and to add some seagull silhouettes to the upper part of the page (the sky!).

Cheers!

Deb. xo

70th Birthday Card - Two New Techniques!

So who's getting a bit clever then, eh??  In making a card for my friend to give to her M-I-L tomorrow, I have put together a masterpiece combining two newly-learnt techniques. 

Technique 1 is the Triple Time Stamping technique shown by Leanne over at Created By Leanne (original post here).

Technique 2 is the Simple Two-Step Stamping technique shown by Gayatri for the AnnaBelle Stamps Blog (original post here).

I love the overall effect of the card!  I finished it off by using the "My Creative Time - Stitched Circle" die and the "My Creative Time - All Around Birthdays" stamp set.

Hope you like it!

Cheers!

Deb. xo

Quilted Card - "Happy Birthday"

I'm having fun with these quilted cards!!  I found a different design on the internet (here) and I have 'lifted' it to create my own design for a quilted card.  Here is the original design...

I've used  "Echo Park - Simply Eclectic" papers to complete this card.  Here is my recipe:

Card Base - 5" (white cardstock)

Mat - 4.75" (teal)

2 x 1.5" squares (teal) - cut on diagonal (represents pale pink in pattern)

2 x 1.5" squares (pink) - cut on diagonal (represents pale blue in pattern)

8 x 0.75" squares (pink) (represents pale blue in pattern)

1 x 1.5" square (hex pattern) (represents lilac in pattern)

8 x 0.75" squares (hex pattern) (represents lilac in pattern)

I also then cut a flower from a Cuttlebug Die in the pink and hex pattern papers, and the "My Creative Time - Stitched Oval" die in white cardstock.  I have edged the Stitched Oval cutout with Blue Lagoon VersaColour ink and have stamped the sentiment "Happy Birthday" from the "My Creative Time - Gift Card Sentiments" stamp set.

I have added some Stickles to the flower and to the green hexagon wherever it appears on the hex patterned paper just for a bit of something special.

I absolutely LOVE how this turned out!  My friend has just asked me to make a 70th Birthday card for her M-I-L.  I think I might apply another quilt pattern...

Cheerio!

Deb. xo

Quilted Card - "Happy Holly Days"

I saw a fabulous card over with Katie at Crafting with Katie (original post here) for a Quilted Card.  I knew I just had to try it!

I've used "Echo Park - Very Merry Christmas" papers to create my card.  The recipe is as follows:

- Card base - 4.25" square

- Mat (Striped) - 4" square

- 9 x squares at 1.25" (4 x green; 4 x red; 1 x bauble pattern).  Green and Red squares cut on the diagonal to form triangles.

- 1 x ornament (Striped) from "My Creative Time - Warm Holiday Fun" stamp and die kit

- 1 x tag base (same as card base colour) from "My Creative Time - Teeny Tag Die" stamp and die kit

- Sentiment "Happy Holly Days" from "My Creative Time - From Our Family to Yours" stamp kit

- Hemp Twine

After cutting the red and green squares on their diagonal, I then joined a red diagonal cut and a green diagonal cut together to create new squares.  I then pieced the squares together in the same formation as with Katie's card.

Next time I might use a different contrast or different pattern papers to create a different look. 

Thanks for the inspiration Katie!

Cheers!

Deb. xo

"Beary Special Blog Hop" this Friday - MCT

WOW - cannot wait!  Emma and the lovely DT over at My Creative Time are having a "Beary Special Blog Hop" with a brand new stamp set being released for this hop on Friday at 8:00am PST (which is about 1:00am Saturday Melbourne Time!)  I may have to catch up with it after 8:00am Saturday...

Check out the cute badge for this hop under my "Badges of Honour" on the right hand side...

Cheerio!

Deb. xo

MCT Technique Tuesday - "Enjoy the Ride" Triple Time Stamping

One last post for today (it's after 11:00pm here!).  But I just HAD to have a go at the Triple Time Stamping technique shown by Leanne at Created by Leanne for the My Creative Time "Show Me Your Technique" weekly mini-hop.  These techniques are so awesome, and it is really worthwhile hopping along with three to four of the fabulous Design Team members from MCT each Tuesday.  You never know what you might learn...

Anyway, so I have had a go tonight at the Triple Time Stamping, albeit a rushed go as it is a bit late!

I have again used the horse's head stamp and I have used a sentiment (Enjoy the Ride) from the "My Creative Time - Just Simply Live" stamp and die set.  I'm pretty happy with how it has turned out for my first go and I will definitely be exploring more combinations of colours and stamps in the daylight hours tomorrow!!

Thanks Leanne for showcasing such an awesome technique!

Have you noticed the improvement to the photography??  I might have a chat about that tomorrow...

Cheerio and goodnight blogisphere!

Deb. xo

Wedding Card - LOVE

I've got a busy couple of weeks coming up with two weddings, an engagement and a 40th Birthday - all within about six weeks...  YIKES!  The first wedding is this weekend and the bride loves all things BLUE!

So I thought I'd make a blue-themed card for the happy couple.  I started with some of my Shimmer Creative Memories Cardstock (I have quite a bit of it...) as the base.  I then cut out four scallops and circles, from the "My Creative Time - Scallop and Stitched Circle" die kit (scallop) and "My Creative Time - Build A Banner" stamp and die kit (small circle), also on Shimmer cardstock.

I then sprayed Blue Skies Glimmer Mist on the scallops to create a nice shade of blue.  I kept the circles at the original shade and stamped "L-O-V-E" on the four circles in Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink.  I then popped up the small circles on the scallops.

To bring the card together I matted a piece of navy blue metallic paper and I put a piece of organza ribbon across the length of the navy blue paper.  I then adhered the scallops to the navy blue paper and across the organza ribbon too.  I had made some tiny bows with fine white ribbon and put one on the top of each scallop with mini glue dots.  

To finish off the card I stamped the sentiment "Mr & Mrs" from the "My Creative Time - Teeny Tag Greetings" stamp and die set on the bottom right corner of the card.  

I'm thrilled with how this card came out.  I hope the bride and groom like it too!

Cheerio!

Deb. xo

"Dancing 2010" - Double 12x12 Layout

The scrapping bug has well and truly hit!  Of course I couldn't do a layout of my son's football photos without doing one for my daughter's dancing photos.  That just wouldn't be right!  So I grabbed out the photos from my daughter's first year at dancing and started planning.

I love simple layouts, relatively symmetrical, that can utilise the growing number of fun 'tools' I have in my scrap space.  I have also recently unearthed a rather large stash of Creative Memories papers and cardstock (purchased quite some time ago) that I have vowed to use up before buying more supplies.

I had already decided to use black textured cardstock as my backing pages for this double layout.  I then sourced some pink, red, blue and shimmer Creative Memories cardstock to mat the photos against and to cut out the lettering.

The lettering for "Jazz" and "Tap" was cut using the MS Word "Forte" font, and the "Dancing 2010" and "Studio One" was cut using the MS Word "Bauhaus 93" Font.  These were cut using SCAL.

I also used the leftover scraps from these cuts to cut out the label die from the "My Creative Time - Just Simply Live" stamp and die set, and used the alphabet stamps from that set to add detail.

The song for the Jazz number was "Three Wishes" and so I have used the alpha stamps to stamp that on the pink label.  The song for the Tap number was "Uptown Girl" and likewise I have stamped that on the red label.  On the first blue label under the "2010" I have stamped "First Year" and on the second blue label above the "Studio On" I have stamped "Kait & Emily".  My daughter has been doing these dancing classes with one of her close little friends for these past three years.

The most time consuming part of this layout was the faux stitching around each of the pages.  As it is on black, I first went around with my white gel pen, and then I used my red, pink and blue sparkly gel pens alternating so that they would stand out.  (I tried it first on a scrap bit of black without the white underneath - didn't have the same effect!).

I added some bling to the corners of the mats and finally used a "K" bling piece that I'd been hoarding since my daughter was born!

The final touch was some Stickles on the "Jazz", "Tap", "2010" and a line inside the "D" from "Dancing".

My daughter loves the layout and is now satisfied that she hasn't been left out (LOL, gotta love 7yo's!).  HOpe you like it too!

Cheerio!

Deb. xo

Congratulations on your blog Glora!

My congratulations goes out to the wonderful Glora, who is a Design Team member over at my favourite My Creative Time.  Glora has a blog post going right now in celebration of almost three years in the blogisphere.  She is at just over 900 public followers and would love to get to 1000 by her blog-a-versary (22 Oct - also my wedding anniversary - SPOOKY!).  Check out her blog and if you like it, follow her!

Cheerio!

Deb. xo

"Tackers White 2012" - Double page 12x12 Layout

My son recently had his presentation day for this junior footy team.  He plays in the Tackers White team at our local footy club with a bunch of his mates from school.  Earlier in the season the team photos were taken, and because I've been a bit slack with scrapbooking lately (try the past 2 years!), I thought I'd get these photos done straight away!  I'm rapt with how this double layout turned out!

I've just used white textured cardstock for both sheets.  I then cut a whole heap (34!) of the pointy banners from the "My Creative Time - Build a Banner" stamp and die kit using scraps of some navy blue Creative Memories cardstock.  I have then stuck these up one side of each page and across the top of both to create an enclosed banner feel.

I used my SCAL Software and a "Letterman" font to cut out the title.  I adhered the cut out letters to some plain white cardstock.  For the "Tackers White" strips I inked the edges with Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink and then daubed Faded Jeans Distress Ink on the face around the letters.  For the "2012" strip I only inked the edges with Chipped Sapphire.

I then matted the portrait shot of my son on some blue cardstock, and added white faux stitching around the edge of the mat.  I wanted to get a bit funky with how I put the photos and title pieces on the page and so I continued to use the Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink and the Ink Blending Tool directly onto the textured white cardstock to create a feature mat underneath.  I'm really pleased with how it came out, although once it was all stuck down I wish I had've done it under the "Tackers White" part of the title too.  Oh well, live and learn!

I had some little footy stickers in my stash and I've added these to the banners up the sides, and I've used silver Stickles to write "LOVE FOOTY!" across the top of the banners.  Finally I used a black pen to link up the banners as though on a string.

The photo is a bit blurry (must set something up for photographing my masterpieces!), but I'm still so thrilled to be actually 'scrapping' again!

Cheerio!

Deb.

xo

"Digging to China" - 12x12 Layout

I thought it would be fun to create a layout from some photos I took of my friend's daughters when we went to the beach one cold winter's day.  They were convinced they were digging to China!

I used Kraft cardstock as my base for the layout and have used some small stamps and several different green tones of VersaColour ink to create a spinifex grass effect on both sides and across the bottom of the page.

I have then used three different shades from the "Creative Memories - Shades of Olive" collection to mat my photos and create my title.  I have used the font from the Life is a Beach Cricut cartridge, and the bucket and spade from that cartridge too.  I wanted a splash of colour on the page and so I cut the bucket an spade in yellow cardstock, and I have highlighted the edges with a yellow Zig Writer, and added depth with my VersaMarker pen.

I put a strip of seam binding behind the four smaller photos down the left hand side to tie them in together.  Then some white faux stitching on the word "China" in the title, and it's finished off!  I'm so pleased with how this layout turned out!  Hope you like it!

Cheerio!

Deb.

xo

 

16th Birthday Card - Horses

I still have my 'craft' on at the moment, and with my niece's 16th Birthday tomorrow, I wanted to make her a special card.  My niece is very much into her horses, and whilst I was tidying up my scrap-space, I found an old, cheap-ish set of stamps I had bought ages ago that was about horses.  I really liked the look of the circular horse-head silhouette and knew it would fit perfectly inside the stitched circle from the "My Creative Time - Scallop and Stitched Circle" die set.  

I cut a piece of Kraft Cardstock to make a 4"x4" card.  I then ruled lines at the 2" mark to create four squares on the front.  With my white Sakura Jelly pen I added faux stitching around the outside.  I then cut four stitched circles on plain white cardstock.

I edged three of the circles with my Chipped Sapphire Distress ink and the fourth one I lightly daubed the surface with the same colour. Using Memento Tuxedo Black, London Fog and Rich Cocoa, I stamped the horse silhouette once for each colour on the three white circles.  On the fourth circle that had been daubed with Distress ink, I stamped '16' in VersaMark ink and heat embossed with black embossing powder.  I then cut a Scallop Circle from the MCT die set in black for the '16' circle to sit on.

After putting each of the circles in the four squares of the card, I then added some bling to the card, and some black stickles to the alternate scallop petals (didn't really come out too well in the photo).

I hope my niece likes her card tomorrow, and I hope you like it too!!

Cheerio!

Deb.

xo

Annabelle Stamps - Say it in...Shades of Pink Challenge

Feeling a bit crafty today, and thought I'd roam around some of my favourite blogs for some inspiration.  I happened across the Annabelle Stamps Blog: Say It In...Shades of Pink post and wanted to play along!

I cut a piece of pink cardstock at 4" x 8" for a 4" x 4" card.  I then added some White Gel Pen stitching around the front square of the card.  I cut the Frame Die from the "My Creative Time - Just Simply Live" set on white cardstock and used my Tattered Rose and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks to give it some feature.

I stamped a flower from the "My Creative Time - Bloom Where you are Planted" stamp set on white cardstock and coloured it in with my Copics.  I also shaded the background with Inkadinkado and Pebbles Chalks in pale pink.  This flower was then framed by the Frame Die and stuck to the front of my card.  I used the sentiment 'Friends are Flowers in the Garden of Life" from the "MCT - Bloom" stamp set as well, with Raspberry VersaColour Ink on the base of the Frame Die.

I threaded some DMC Rayon Stranded Floss through some buttons and stuck them down with glue dots to complete the card.  I hope you like it!

Cheerio!

Deb.

xo

Getting my 'COPIC' on...

I've had a pretty tricky past 36hrs for assorted reasons, and so it's been WONDERFUL to be able to clear my mind with my crafting.  After putting together yet another Christmas card (MCT stamps and dies are so much fun to play with!), I thought I'd get back into some colouring.  I had come across a LaLa Land Stamps blog page and thought I'd get out one of my stamps and my Copics and have a relaxing evening watching the footy and colouring.

I chose Digger Luka for my stamp and set about colouring him in.  Once he was finished, I close-cut him out and re-inked his edges to give definition.  I had previously prepared a backing piece with my (new) Distress Inks (Bundled Sage and Wild Honey), and those colours seemed almost too perfect for my little Aussie Digger.  I popped Luka up off the card, and added the "True Blue Aussie" sentiment from the Digger Marci stamp.  Feeling somewhat patriotic this evening...  I hope you like him!

Deb.

 

Some fun with my new MCT stuff!

Late last night I got to having some fun with my new Distress Inks.  I got to blending some Wild Honey, Bundled Sage and Worn Lipstick in different colour combinations.  The Bundled Sage and Worn Lipstick obviously gave a bit of a Christmassy feel and so this morning I went with that!  I stamped the line of holly from the My Creative Time - Warm Holiday Fun set and used Stickles to highlight.  I also used my VersaMark ink pad to stamp and heat emboss the sentiment "May your holiday sparkle and shine!".  I used Fantasy Gold embossing powder for a bit of extra sparkle.  I then used a black glitter pen to put some stitching around the edge.

Next up was drawing on the inspiration of the My Creative Time "Show Me Your Technique" mini blog-hops that run every Tuesday (here).  This week, Kim from "Scrapin Mom of One Inspiring Little Boy" was demonstrating her technique of using dies in ways different than the obvious (original post here).  So, using the My Creative Time - Warm Holiday Fun stamp and die set, I used the long christmas decoration as petals (and leaves) for a poinsettia flower.  I also used the MCT - Stitched Circle and the small circle from the MCT - Build A Banner kit to help build my poinsettia.

Pretty cute, right?  Then, further inspiration struck when I remembered the previous week's MCT SMYT post, where the lovely Glora from "Glora's Crafts" demonstrated using the VersaMarker watermark pen to add dimension to your work (original post here).  I just happen to have one of those VersaMarkers and it has added wonderful depth to my flower creation.  I have then finally put my card together using one of the Wild Honey distressed pieces of cardstock from last night and some stickles to the centre of the poinsettia.  I am really happy with the overall result.  Thank you to MCT for providing constant inspiration!

Deb.

WOW - I won a PKS Gift Certificate!!

OMG!!  I hopped along for Angelica's farewell the other evening, admiring all of the amazing and talented works of each current/past DT member.  And lo and behold, I've just checked the PKS blog (here) to find out that I've won a $20 Gift Certificate with PKS!  My comment on Ruthie's post was drawn as the winner!  WOW!  Thanks Ruthie at September Ninth and thanks to Peachy Keen Stamps too!  Good luck Angelica!

Deb.

xo

Scrapbook Boutique Challenge - Buttons!

It's that time of the month again, with a new Scrapbook Boutique challenge (original post here).  The challenge this month is to create a project using this photo (below) as your inspiration & having 'Buttons, buttons & more buttons - include buttons.

The project can be a card, a scrapbook layout or off the page project......it's totally up to you!

 It seems strange, but again I knew straight away what I wanted to make.  I have had a layout in mind for a while, since our family portrait session last November.  It now seems perfect with this theme of buttons.  I hope you like it!

I absolutely adore the photo of my husband holding my daughter when she was about 2 weeks old.  It was such a tender moment and it warms my heart every time I look at it.  At our family portrait session last November, we thought it would be fun to re-create that photo (mainly with a view to me scrapping a page with them!).

My daughter's nickname as a baby was always "Button Nose" - partly because of how cute she was, but also because in my family, we each have a button-ish looking nose and it's quite a strong trait right throughout my father's family.

With all this in mind, how could I not jump right into Scrapbook Boutique's Button Challenge this month?!!

The funky purple border was created using the Accent Essentials Cricut Cartridge on my Gypsy.  I selected the border on the last row, second button from right and welded it in a row of 3 (at 1.25").  I then copied and rotated it to make a border, welding it all together.  Once it was cut out, I stuck it down (very carefully!) to my paper (just from my 'stash') and highlighted the solid circles with button-holes, and put white stitching around the border piece.

I matted the photos on co-ordinating cardstock.  I then cut a Fancy Frame Die (from My Creative Time), and also used the Fancy Frame Stamp on it, for my sentiment "Tender moment re-created".  I cut out the label die from the My Creative Time - Just Simply Live set, and used the alphabet stamps from that set and some purple VersaColour ink to stamp "BUTTON NOSE".

Using some old rub-ons I recently 'unearthed' from my stash, I used Making Memories - Heidi and Making Memories - Beach (both in black) to put my question "Your nickname as a baby?".

I finished off the project with a bunch of co-ordinating buttons and "Ta-da" - my first scrapbooking page in ages!  Thanks SBB for the mojo to actually complete a page!

Deb.

MCT Designer Challenge - 3 "R"s with hostess Veronica

I love the idea of Veronica's challenge - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - over on the My Creative Time blog (original post here).  Every other Thursday, a wonderful Design Team Member of MCT will be 'hosting' a challenge of their choice.  This fortnight, Veronica from VK Create has challenged us to create a fabulous project using at least one recycled item.  I knew straight away what I wanted to do because I have been tossing this idea through my head for quite a while.

I do all of my photo printing at home myself on my wonderful Epson Stylus printer.  The quality just can't be beaten!  Anyway, so I go through many packets of 4"x6" Epson photo paper, and in each packet is a piece of 4"x6" chipboard card. 

I have been saving these pieces of chipboard "just in case" for ages.  When this challenge came up, I decided to make a little booklet showcasing some of my favourite photos from a family portrait session from last November, and using these chipboard pieces.

 

Our family 'colour scheme' for the photo shoot day was green and black, but I also liked the photos in black and white.  So I selected this striped paper with the lime green together with a pale purple-ish tinge to it to set off the black and white photos beautifully.  I adhered the paper to the chipboard pieces and filed the edges down to make them smooth.  I used offcuts of black cardstock to mat the photos as well.

Once upon a time in my crafting life I had a real 'thing' for rub-ons.  I went crazy for them and bought up a whole lot of them.  Then my 'fad' passed and I was left with a whole lot of them (such is the life of us crafters, I reckon!)  Anyway, I wanted to jazz up the photos a bit and so I used some rub-ons to add sentiments to these photos.  I also selected some lime green and purple buttons, and used DMC floss threaded through the buttons for a bit of extra something.

I then bound the whole thing (all five pages) together with green organza ribbon I picked up on sale, and made extra bows with offcuts of white organza ribbon as well.

And there is my contribution to the MCT Designer Challenge for this fortnight.  Hope you like it!

Deb.

A special card for special people...

Having received the Peachy Keen PK413 Gingerbread House stamp just recently, I knew exactly the card I wanted to make with it.  Some special friends of mine had a bit of bad luck last Christmas.  A freak storm hit Melbourne and its surrounds on Christmas Day, with lots of localised hail and flood damage.  Their brand new home that they had moved into only two weeks before Christmas was flooded.  Now some eight-and-a-half months later, they are finally back in their new home and I thought this card would be the perfect gift for them.  Hope you like it!  

I coloured the house with my Copics and added some Stickles to jazz it up a bit.  I then shaded in the background with chalks (pity you can't really see it in the photos).  I created my own sentiment on the computer.  I also used the alphabet stamps from My Creative Time's "Just Simply Live" stamp and die set.