Coming out of the darkness...

It's been a while since my last post, and it's been almost that long since I've created anything.  I've been coming to terms with my diagnosis of moderate depression, as well as the physiological changes that come with the associated medication.

I just needed to stop!  Strangely I was feeling pressure from the one thing I truly love, and that was the pressure to have pieces ready for the assorted blog post competitions I was entering.  I was getting myself all confused about which blog competition had what cut-off time and day, and the enjoyment went away completely.

Combine that with a severe desire to hide my head under my doona all day, and the creativity has certainly taken a backseat of late.  So I think moving forward that I might not enter so many (or any) competitions for the next little while (although I will certainly take inspiration from my favourite sites!).

The mojo to create is slowly returning, and I hope to be able to start creating some beautiful cards and scrapbook pages again, but I just may not blog about them for a while either.  Feeling the need to detail every little aspect of a piece was also weighing me down, I think.

I do love the creative communities associated with my favourite sites, and I'm still going to try and pop in and check up on the lovely people I have come into contact with, but only as my state of mind will allow...

CAS(E) this Sketch! - Challenge #1

I sat and thought about the first CAS(E) this Sketch! Challenge all week before deciding what I wanted to produce.  For those who don't know, CAS(E) this Sketch! is a new blog that started two weeks ago, with a very talented line-up of ladies set to challenge us with wonderful CAS sketches.  

Definition of CAS and CASE

The acronym CAS stands for Clean and Simple.

1. Usually only one layer but can include a simple layer or two.

2. A lot of open space sometimes called "white space" can include color, texture or pattern.

3. Usually no embellishments but can include something minimal.

4. Minimal color palette.

5. Quick and easy to create.

The acronym CASE stands for Copy and Share Everything.

Their first challenge is this wonderful sketch:

I wanted to produce another Christmas card, and so I got out my "My Creative Time - Warm Holiday Fun Stamp Set" to cut out the delightful little bells with the die.  I thread my five silver bells onto some silver DMC metallic thread and matted them on a simple strip of dark green cardstock.  This was then adhered to my basic white card, and the sentiment "Silver Bells" from the same stamp set was added.  Voila!

Hope you like it!

Cheers!

Deb. xo

WHOOPS!  I forgot the most important part of my creation!  In my rush to get it blogged before the deadline (ok, and before I went to the gym!), I forgot to add my stickles sparkle to one of my bells...  here is the updated photo!

 

Deb. xo

PKS Challenge 38 :: Anything Goes

Time for another Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge, and this week it's "Anything Goes" (original post here).  The rules are very simple: you can make anything, but it must include a Peachy Keen Stamp.

I love the two little Angels in the "Our 2 Angels in Heaven" stamp set, so I stamped, Copic-coloured and close-cut them out.  Next, with my current passion for easel cards, I made a cardbase in white Kaszazz cardstock and used Wild Honey and Faded Jeans Distress Ink and the Inking Tool to create an ethereal background for my two gorgeous Angels.  I popped my Angels up on the background to give them more dimension.

I then cut out the "My Creative Time - Curly Label Die" with some vellum and stamped the sentiment "Believe!" from the O2AiH set in VersaMark, and heat-embossed it with Glossy Black embossing powder. This curly label was then adhered above the Angels' heads.  I doodled around the edge of the curly label with some silver gel pen.

I also cut out a piece of vellum and stamped the sentiment "Never fear... When angels are near!" and  heat-embossed that with Glossy Black embossing powder too.  This piece of vellum also had the silver gel pen doodling around the edge, and I corner-rounded two corners for a different look.

I'm really pleased with how the whole card came together!

Cheers!

Deb. xo

Say It With... Thanks (AnnaBelle Stamps Challenge AC088)

Time for another weekly challenge over at AnnaBelle Stamps (original blog post here).  This week, the theme is Say It With... Thanks.

This week the challenge is to create a Thank You card that incorporates a Backgrounds By Design stamp into our design.  Unfortunately, I haven't got any of these wonderful background stamps yet, so I have resorted to using the wonderful Borders 1 die to create my background.  

I have then stamped and Copic coloured some daisies and leaves from the Daisy Delight stamp set.  I cut a tag die from MFT Dies, and used a sentiment from the "My Creative Time - So Grateful For You" stamp set.  I edged the double-matted daisies and the MFT Sentiment tag with Walnut Stain Distress Ink (hard to see in this photo - sorry!)

Happy World Card Making Day to everyone!

Cheers!

Deb. xo

1st Birthday Card!

My good friend has the most delightful little girl, and this little girl turns one today!  She is such a gorgeous bubba, and is quite possibly the most-loved child in our community - everyone wants to hold her and she goes to everyone!

So I wanted to make her a special birthday card today, using my new-found technique of easel cards.  There's nothing too technical about this one - I just stamped a cute little teddy bear and coloured her in pink with my Copics, cut her out and popped her up on the cardface.  I stamped a mini birthday cupcake over the cardface background and used the "My Creative Time - Stitched Circle" die and "My Creative Time - All Around Birthdays" stamp set.

I used a sentiment from the "Peachy Keen Stamps - Our 2 Angels in Heaven" stamp set and put a pretty pink button with silver DMC metallic thread through it.  Very simple card, but heartfelt...

Happy Birthday Princess Amelijah! [Hugs to you] sweet girl!

Deb. xo

Annabelle Stamps Challenge ABSC054 - Take 2!

I received more delicious AnnaBelle Stamps products in my happy mail yesterday, and couldn't wait to put together another entry for their weekly challenge - a sketch (challenge post here).  

 

I referred to some fun little baubles I had made previously with the Cuts By Design - Decorated Christmas dies and the new Decorated Christmas co-ordinating stamp set, and this new entry makes use of those!  I had played around with the dies and the decorated bauble stamps when I first got them last week, and I did some silver heat embossing on them - they came up a treat!  

Then, in my happy mail yesterday came along the fabulous Cuts By Design - Borders 1 die - perfect timing!

I have made my first easel card for this challenge entry, which in itself was a lot of fun.  The card face of the easel card is what I have decorated for this challenge, using a 4x4 piece of white cardstock.  I have made a red frame using the "My Creative Time - Just Simply Live" polaroid die, although I have removed the fancy edge for this piece.  I used a section of the Border die in dark green for the background of the frame, and then set my silver embossed baubles on silver DMC metallic floss inside the window.

I then double-matted some white cardstock on red, to put as the stopper of the easel card, and included the sentiment "Celebrate the Magic of Christmas" from the Jewelled Tree stamp set I also received yesterday.

A few bits of bling on the bottom of the polaroid die and some silver faux stitching around the sentiment, and my card is done!  I love it!

Thanks for visiting!

Deb. xo

[[Dang, I just missed the deadline for linking up - oh well, had heaps of fun anyway!]]

Fisherman Luka Birthday Card - Copic Colouring

Another week, another birthday/wedding/engagement/celebration of some sort!  It is my nephew's 21st Birthday today (wow!) and he loves fishing, so I thought I'd make him a birthday card with Fisherman Luka on it.  I'm really happy with the way Luka came out, colouring with my Copics - he's just so cute!  I also added some glossy accents to his eyes just to try it - I quite like it!

For the background of the card I've used my Distress Inks (Faded Jeans and Bundled Sage) to lightly daub directly onto the cardface.

I had cut out three fish from the Every Day Paper Dolls Cricut cartridge and I originally used each one as a mask on the background and went over it with Tattered Rose.  I then further highlighted each of the fish with some Crushed Olive, Wild Honey and Faded Jeans, and then highlighted the features with a Copic Multiliner.  The fish were then adhered to the card face.

I used the "Happy Birthday" sentiment from the "My Creative Time - Card Sentiments" stamp and die kit, and the "21" from the "My Creative Time - All Around Birthdays" stamp kit.

Finally, I cut Luka out, leaving a bit of white edge around him and popped him up on the front of the card for dimension.  I really like this card!

Thanks for visiting!

Cheers!

Deb. xo