Girlie 21st

It's the 21st birthday of one of my Goddaughters tomorrow.  She's gorgeous & very girlie so her card just had to be unashamedly girlie too.

I started with Pink Petticoat papers, created the text in Craft Artist 2 Professional then picked out the capitals & numbers with a glue pen & Glamour Dust as I felt that the card really needed a little sparkle. The bow took longer to create than the whole of the rest of the card!  My first attempt was ruined by too much Glossy Accents, my second was with different ribbon which frayed really badly until I put a little DST behind the free edges & cut through that.  Then I added the charm (with difficulty) & decided that enough was enough, before I threw it out of the window in frustration!

Cardstock: Southfield Stationers

Backing paper: Pink Petticoat (no longer available)

Ribbon buckle: Meiflower

Charm: Unknown

New Year's Resolutions

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, mostly because I never stick to them.  This year will be different.  I have made only one resolution - to spend less time thinking about making cards (and browsing the web for inspiration) and more time actually making them!  This will, I hope, force me to experiment a bit more, to use more of my stash & to be prepared to take the risk that something might not work.  I'm also hoping it will mean that I will be less last-minute with my card making, but maybe I'm expecting too much!

So here are this week's experiments, and I decided to use the new Sizzix stamps my husband bought me for Christmas.  The first two cards were inspired by Ali Reeve when I saw her demoing on Create & Craft a few days ago.  To make the inky backgrounds I made masks from copy paper & inked through them.  The butterflies were stamped & masked then coloured with a Lilac Promarker and the finished image was mounted onto dark purple cardstock.

Another inking & masking experiment.  The butterfly was "watercoloured" with a Sakura Silver Stardust pen.

Cardstock: Xerox Colotech Plus, Coredinations

Stamps: Sizzix, Imagination Crafts

Ink: Adirondack Cool Peri, Memento Tuxedo Black

I can't remember where the inspiration for the third card came from.  The ink sponging didn't turn out quite the way I planned but I decided that it wasn't a completely unsuccessful experiment & it would do just fine.  The image & greeting are on a strip of card which was embossed across the top & bottom, but unfortunately the photo doesn't show the embossing detail.   I used a strip of card left over from another card & it cunningly hides an earlier failed experiment to sponge directly onto the card!

Cardstock: Xerox Colotech Plus, Coredinations

Stamps: Sizzix, Papermania Lucy Cromwell range

Ink: Adirondack Cool Peri & Eggplant, Distress Spun Sugar, Memento Tuxedo Black

It's Elementary . . . .

. . . that I'd make my husband's 50th birthday card with a Sherlock Holmes theme; to say he is an avid fan would be a huge understatement.  I downloaded a copyright-free Sherlock image from the web then used Craft Artist 2 Professional to create the "smoke", making the number 50s smaller as they went further from the image and applying a fading transparency effect to make the smoke effect fainter.  The backing paper was also created in Craft Artist 2 Professional using the stamp mode.

Although creating the "smoke" was quite time-consuming, I was pleased with the finished effect and it turned out exactly how I wanted it to.  And the best part is, my husband loved it!

Image free from internet, "smoke" and backing paper created in Craft Artist 2 Professional.

Font Piranesi It BT.

Putting on the Glitz!

My nephew's girlfriend turns 21 tomorrow; she's a very pretty, girlie girl who - like most of her generation - loves shoes.  She also loves Cath Kidston so, although this isn't a Cath Kidston paper, I thought it was a similar style.  As I've had a couple of weeks off work over Christmas I had the luxury of time to play with my Craft Robo, so I downloaded a shoe font from the internet, tidied up the graphic in the Silhouette Studio software & cut the shoe out.  The greeting was produced in Craft Artist 2 Professional.

Although the shoe turned out exactly how I wanted it to, the completed card wasn't quite how I imagined it for a few reasons: one, I couldn't find matching cardstock for matting & layering so I had to improvise by using white linen card coloured with Promarkers & the ink seemed to dry patchy for once; two, the layout wasn't what I had intended as my first attempt didn't work out; three, I felt the greeting needed a bit more oomph but (as usual!) ran out of time.

Still, I'm not unhappy with the finished result & I hope Kasanita likes it, too.

Paper: My Mind's Eye Pretty Please

Stick on gems: Hobby House

Gemstone key: from Crafts4&2Do, St Helens