Thinking of You!

It's the fourth Tuesday of the month, which means it's my turn to share a card with you here at Craft-Dee BowZ where the challenge this month is ANYTHING GOES AND INCLUDE A HANDMADE BOW.  I used an adorable image by Bildmalarna and a bench by Hanglar. The pretty die cut up in the corner is by Cheery Lynn. One of the greatest joys about being on this small Design Team at Craft-Dee BowZ is that we get our own Tuesday each month to display a card to inspire you to join our challenge so we do the best we can to give you ideas on how to use ribbon on your creations!

I colored my image with Copics and fussy cut around her to sit her on the bench that is also fussy cut. You know how they say it's the little things that count? I'm detail oriented (big surprise!) and after I fussy cut this little image and was placing her on the bench, I didn't like seeing the white of the paper on her hands that are supposed to be leaning on the bench so I took a black Sharpie and made sure you can't see the white on her palms so her hands look like they are touching the bench. I've noticed that so many card makers are even more detail oriented than me and it makes me feel better that I sit and pick apart my cards before calling them 'finished'. I think all of us are our own worst critics.

 The sentiment is one of many in my collection and I have no idea who made it since it came on wood and years ago I unmounted my stamps, neglected to write the name of them on the bare rubber, and now claim ignorance to the manufacturers. Oh, the tiny butterfly is one of a set of 4 on one die by Memory Box and I hand drew the antennae.

And here's my double loop bow. It came out so pretty and I didn't adorn the center, like I usually do since I was going for the CLEAN look on this card. My little Craft-Dee BowZ tool hangs on a hook on the side of my Copic cubby within reach. I received it in December and have used it for every bow I've made since then, even cards not for CDB!  It's the one tool that I use on a regular basis!

Thank you to Donna at Craft-Dee BowZ for the ribbon I use on all of my DT cards with them. I receive gorgeous ribbon each month to play with and this cream ribbon is my favorite so far this year. The shear area has such a beautiful shine to it and the satin edges are so soft! Can you tell by looking at the picture above how pretty the ribbon actually is? 

The Design Team has had a fun month creating and displaying to you cards that are on the topic of "Thinking of You" with our monthly colors of aqua, cream and moss (not particularly all on the same card).  I hope you've enjoyed seeing them enough to leave even a short comment on the Designers' blogs and that you've joined in this month's challenge at Craft-Dee BowZ of ANYTHING GOES AND INCLUDE A HANDMADE BOW. If you haven't added your card yet, you need to do so right away since the challenge closes in just a couple of days!

                                                                                  Hugs,
                                                    Gail

Hello Little Butterfly!

Being that today is the 4th Tuesday in the month, it's my day to post. This month we each made a fancy fold card. I used this adorable image by Di's Digi named Hello Butterfly. For those of you surrounded by snow, I hope my card makes your toes feel warmer.

I don't make many fancy fold cards so this was my attempt. The paper is by Doodlebug, the fence die is by Magnolia; the cloud die is by Die-Namics, and the sentiment die is by Cheery Lynn. The flowers (and I added tiny rhinestones in the middle of each one) and leaves (I painted over each with my Wink of Stella green pen) are miscellaneous punches and the grass die is by Memory Box and was cut 4 times in 4 different green papers. Below is a sideview so you can see my fold and how I 'layered' my fence, grass/flowers and image.

And here's a close up of this adorable Di's Digi image. I colored my image with Copics, but this time I used a different paper and am disappointed with it. My usual paper, Neenah Super Smooth, didn't bleed like this paper did. I really did color within the lines, honest! So, I'm off to purchase more of my Neenah.

And I HAVE to show off my bow. I used my Craft-Dee Bowz tool and couldn't have made a such a pretty bow without it. I added this cute orange enameled metal butterfly with a piece of embroidery thread. I love embroidery thread since it comes in so many different colors and is easy to tie a bow, unlike some of the wax coated threads. I thread embroidery thread in all my buttons, too (on other cards).

Since this is the 4th and last Tuesday of the month and our challenge is monthly, guess what...you need to get your cards posted on the Craft-Dee BowZ challenge blog where the topic is ANYTHING GOES AND INCLUDE A HANDMADE BOW this week by February 28. I hope you'll join in since the prize is a reel of ribbon and who doesn't want a reel a ribbon!

                                                                                    Hugs,
                                                                             Gail