365 Day 87, Papertake 16 & Flutterby Wednesday

I am very proud of this card because the wordart on it was MADE BY ME !!! I have done my own digital wordart and I am really chuffed with how it came out.

For a long while now I have been downloading freebie digital scrapbooking kits but other than printing out a few elements to make cards I haven't really done much with them. I used a free kit called Cinnamon Spice designed by Stacey Towers over at Stacey's Scraps. She is one of a group of very talented designers who regularly give away full kits as freebies and this is still available (link are to her blog and the kit)

The original bracket was square and I changed the shape to fit the quote. The colour was terracotta but I just played about with it in PaintShop Pro to try and alter the colour and it worked! I changed the colour of the swirl in the background too. The hardest part was getting the wordart to look right, it always looks effortless when you download them, it may be to them but it wasn't to me!

The challenge over at 365 Card for day 87 was to use the word 'eye' on your card. I didn't think I had anything in my stash so decided to look on the tinterweb and find a quote. I came across a fabulous site called Quotes Daddy. They have a huge database which is searchable by keyword, I typed in eye and went from there. The quote I used is from Audrey Hepburn and I thought it was beautiful.

" For beautiful eyes look for the good in others

For beautiful lips speak only words of kindness

And for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone"

I thought it would be a great quote for a RAK card to cheer someone up who is going through a rough patch. Who knew Audrey Hepburn was so wise ??

The layout of the card is sketch # 16 at Papertake Weekly. All the papers on this card are scraps, the butterflies are from a Forever Friends pad by Papermania. The floral is a Creative Tones pad also by Papermania. The ribbon is cut from the same sheet. Sakura glear glitter has been added to all the spots on the butterflies and I have used Stickles for the centres of all the flowers.

Last but not least I have added a glittered butterfly diecut from Let's Make Cards. The butterflies have allowed me to enter it into Danni's Flutterby Wednesday challenge # 60 for this week.

Sketch Saturday # 36

Another 1st for me !! Every time I see a sketch on the Sketch Saturday blog I think they are very creative and different and then never get chance to do one !

I have had a go at this weeks sketch # 36. I had a look at the shapes of the image and sentiment boxes and pulled some pre-printed items that I had in my images folder.

The Forever Friends image and the sentiment are digital freebie printables that I have picked up on my travels over the last couple of years. I have no idea who produced them I am afraid.

The ribbons are a selection of HOTP and Brenda Pinnick ones from QVC kits. The backing paper is from the Papermania Forever Friends love pad and I used my Martha Stewart punch for the vellum edging which I lightly inked.

This is the fist time I have used ribbon on this way and it is quite effective. One of my forum buddies showed me a card she had made last weekend and I thought I would have a go with this sketch.

Double Challenge Card

Now, I'm not usually too good at this sort of thing but I have made a card that satisfies 2 different challenges !

Over on Just Bex there is a Challenge Week and so far there have been loads of lovely challenges to get our mojo's stimulated. This is the card I have made for the Zest Appeal challenge which asked for a flower, ribbon, scallop and bling in zesty colours.

Another forum I visit has also got some challenges and this is in the Bright & Beautiful category.

The card is a Let's Make Cards one, paper is a freebie from a magazine, ribbon is Anita's, flower is HOTP, bling is freebies. Glitter butterflies and leaf sequin from stash. The tag is a printable scrapbook freebie, I have no idea who the author is as I printed it out last year and didn't use them !!

Love this brighter weather, it makes it so much easier to make brighter projects as your state of mind is sunnier in general.

Di Hickman April #4 Guest Designer Card

The latest sketch on Di Hickman's blog is well balanced and I wanted to make something colourful which would cheer someone up.

I have had this sentiment by R. Penn as a digital download for sometime and have not used it before but think it is great for a RAK card. I used a Sakura glitter pen to colour the flower and draw the wiggly line on the sentiment.

The paper is HOTP, the ribbons, rub ons and brad are Papermania and the flowers are Prima daisies (which I would like in every colour please !)

The design team cards are really bright this week for the most part so hopefully that is a sign of mojo's returning now the days are getting brighter :)

It will be my last week as a guest designer next week. I have really enjoyed my stint and hope I will get a chance to do something similar in the future.

Di Hickman April #3 Guest Designer Card

This is the card I made for Di Hickman's 3rd April sketch.

When I saw the sketch at first I wasn't sure what to do with it. I purchased some new papers (like as if I NEED any more - naughty Mandy) which were the Laura Ashley Contemporary collection from Dovecraft. The soft tones of the blues and greens I felt would go nicely together with some likkle birdies that I had downloaded from a very talented digital artist Imagine by Fran. Please take a look at her blog, she is soooo clever. Her blog is in both French and English so don't be frightened when you first take a look !

The layers of card were inked around the edges using a Brilliance Pearlescent inkpad and I used a clear Sakura glitter pen to go round the edge of the birdie and the wavy edge panel in the centre. The sentiment is a rub on that was a freebie with a magazine.

I sent this card to a forum buddy for a RAK which I hope she will like. It's quite different from my usual style, almost seems too grown up and subtle for one of mine !

This is one of the first cards I have made which is hybrid, combining downloads intended for digital scrapbooking and printing them to use for projects. I subscribe to DigiFree and that is a great source of freebies by some extremely talented people. All they ask is that you give them some love by leaving some comments about their work. Many of them are just so blooming clever it really amazes me that they would do it for free. Just goes to show how generous the crafting community can be.