Tea Light Card

Good morning, peeps and a very chilly one it is too!
I've been wanting to make one of these cards for some time and I've also wanted to use this image for some time so it feels like two accomplishments in one! I think this is a lovely way to send a card combined with a little gift and it doesn't have to contain tea lights, a similar construction could hold sweets or any number of different small gifts. Hmmm....I'll work on that one - watch this space!
The photgraphs here don't seem to do it justice, which is very disappointing because it looks so much better IRL.
I got the instructions for this card from the StampARTic site and it's a really easy card to make. The trick is to use a Nestabilitie shape for the box window that will hold in all the candles and that allows you to extract them all easily. The ribbon bow stops them falling out - ideally, it would have been a wider ribbon but I simply didn't have anything suitable and if you could see the amount of ribbon I'm looking at here, that's hard to believe!
The Mo Manning image is called 'Prince Edward Island' and she's coloured with Copics and various coloured pencils blended with Sansodor. I'm sorry I haven't been giving you colour numbers lately but I get so absorbed with the colouring, just grabbing what I need that eventually my desk becomes covered with pens and pencils and I have to have a clear up to be able to carry on working - noting down colour numbers just gets lost in the general chaos! The image is framed with my Nestabilities Classic Frame and I stencilled through the die with Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue, which has also been used around all the edges. The pearls are from The Hobby House here and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts. I punched the leaves with my Leonie Em Maidenhair Fern punch. The papers are digital ones downloaded from Nitwits and I think I shall be using more of these. You can see some of the coordinating ones inside the card:

I think I may add a sentiment to the pocket that holds the tag (cut with a Sizzix die) but it's really a question of finding the right one.
I hope you like this one peeps and that you decide to have a go yourself - it really is an easy project - promise!
Keep warm!

She's all dressed up again!

Good morning, peeps and I hope you're not all frozen in this wintery weather! This little girl certainly ought to be judging by the way she's (not) dressed!
The challenge over at Digi Doodle Shop's Best this week is 'Red and Green.....any kind of project as long as it has these colours' - well I certainly took that literally, didn't I!?
As soon as I saw the title of this challenge my mind went to a card I made some time back (you can see it here) where I had used those colours on the image. Well, since then her twin sister has been drawn so I knew I had to use her for my card! You can buy her and her sister here.
She is coloured with my Copics and various coloured pencils blended with Sansodor and I put glossy accents on the shoes and bag. The DPs are from Papermania, Kars, Nitwit, Dream Street Papers and Kaiser - yes really, that many different brands! The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, of course and the leaves were punched with my McGill punch. This is how I've finished the inside:

The edge of the pocket and the tag are finished with my Fiskars 'Threading Water' punch.
The sentiment is from the Pink Petticoat Curly Girly Sentiments and they can be bought here. I must say that I'm finding this set so useful, there really is something for every occasion.
Well, I seem to have wittered on interminably about this - if you're still with me, thank you and thank you for looking today. I do hope you'll join us for this challenge. I'm also entering this card for:
The Crafty Pad Challenge 98 'Red and Green'
Friday Sketchers Sketch 129

My favourite things

On the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge Blog they're having a DT call and to enter for that you have to create a post that shows three of your favourite pieces of work. Like many people, I suppose my favourites are my more recent projects so, in most recent order, here are the three I've chosen:

I really enjoyed making this tissue box cover and I hope to make some more as presnts - but not necessarily for Christmas! Go here for more detail on this project.
Number two on the list would be this one and here's a picture:

.....and the last one is a lovely glimpse of Summer:

go here for more information on this card.
Well, peeps, wish me luck!

Cameo of a Geisha

Good morning, peeps and I hope today is a good one for you!
Firstly I must aplogise for the quality of the photo on this card but it was taken in the gloom of a November evening and this was the best light I could achieve. I was hoping for better light today but it's nearly as dark as night here now! Anyhoo, this is my card for Digi Doodle Shop's Best Challenge number 34, which is 'Anything Goes'. With such an open subject, I do hope you'll all join us for this one.
I've been admiring this geisha image for some time (she's available here in the shop) because I thought she would be the perfect image for me to try out paper piecing, which I've never done before. Well it didn't go too badly but the washi paper wasn't easy to shade over to show the folds in her kimono so next time I fancy a bit of paper piecing, I'll use standard DP!
The rest of her is coloured with Copics, the blue sky background and shadow is done with Primacolor pencils and Sansodor and the scalloped oval is distressed with Pumice Stone Distress Ink. Since I'd used the largest of my Mega Oval Scalloped Nestie dies to cut out the image, I used the die to mark points around the outside of the oval die and then cut the plain gold oval freehand.
I thought this was the perfect opportunity to break out the red poppies from Wild Orchid Crafts, which is where all the flowers came from, as did the wide organza ribbon. The leaves were punched with my Leonie Em Maidenhair Fern punch and the DP is from K & Co.
I do hope you like it and I'll hopefully see your card in the challenge!
Bye for now

Kenny K's Krafty Girlz DT Call

They're having a DT call over at Kenny K's so if you'd like to apply to join this talented team then please click on the title above to link to the post at Bearly Mine Krafts.
Kenny K produces the most amazing digi images that are totally unique so visit his shop here.
To apply for the DT you have to show what you believe to be at least two of your best cards, so here goes! I think that my best two projects are here and here and maybe I can be cheeky and add a third one here but I hope the coordinators take a general peek around the blog!
I wish all of you the best of luck if you decide to apply because I think Kenny's images would be fabulous to work with on your projects!
Good luck everyone and have a great day.

A tissue Box Cover

Bless you!!! (sorry - bit of a pun.....groan!)
Good afternoon, peeps and I hope your day is going well so far. You might want to get a cup of tea and settle down because this looks like being a long post with quite a few photographs!

I've seen a few pictures lately in blogland (if only I could remember where!) for tissue box covers and I thought it might be interesting to have a go at making one for myself, so I got the method from Split Coast Stampers - what an amazing resource for us it is! Then I had the challenge of re-doing all the measurements because I think our Kleenex boxes must be a different size from the ones in the U.S. Well, we got through that one and these two piccies above show the overall result.
Then I thought I'd be adventurous and make some of the lovely flowers that the lovely Sassy has a tutorial for on Stampartic here and she's given instructions in English as well. They were pretty fiddly to make but worth it, I thought. I created the centres using a Viva Pearl Pen but that technique needs a little practise methinks!
The outer surface of the box is white card embossed with a Cuttlebug Floral Screen folder but you could use any one that has a multi directional design. I then distressed the edges and sponged over the embossing with Spun Sugar Distress Ink.

This is the first portrait of Tilda I chose to use and she's called 'Tilda with Bow Knot'. I had to choose images that were not too tall because of the limited space below the lid that you can't really see because it's disguised by the pink gingham ribbon (from my stash) and the paper lace punched with my MS Doily Lace punch and distressed with the Spun Sugar Ink again.

This one is called 'Jam Tilda' obviously for reasons best known to Magnolia! I'm sorry if she looks a little blurry but I had three separate attempts to photograph this one and it still doesn't look quite right to me!

This is a nice Summery portrait which I think is called 'Tilda with bunch of lilacs'...

....and this one is called 'Dinner Tilda' - she looks quite sophisticated don't you think?
The leaves in the corners were punched with my McGill Pine Punch and my Leonie Em Maidenhair punch but I cut these latter ones down a bit because the punch produces quite a large leaf.
All of the colouring was done with my Copics with the addition of Prismacolor pencils and Derwent Inktense pencils. I'd tell you which Copics I used but I seemed to have most of the ones I own spread over my desk by the time I'd finished so, think of a number and I probably used it!
Phew! I think that's it. I hope you like this project and I think I might try and make a few more of these for gifts - if I get time!
Thank you for staying with me until the end of this post and I'd love to read your comments!
Bye for now!

Join in the fun with a great blog hop

There's an amazing blog hop in progress to celebrate the release of some wonderful stamps and dies at Whimsy Stamps. There are wonderful prozes to be won too at various stops along the way and you'll get to see some fabulous work so start here and follow it through to the end - you won't be disappointed!
Diane x

Digi Doodle Shop Challenge #33

Good morning, peeps and I hope it's not as wet where you are as it is here - I just got soaked doing a little food shopping - yuk!
Anyhoo, it's that time of the week again when we have another challenge down at Digi Doodle Shop's Best and this week it's 'Don't forget our men' - a manly project. I thought I'd bring in a touch of nostalgia with this delightful image of two boys playing 'marlies' as we used to call them. Yes, I confess I could play a mean game of 'marlies' myself and it didn't seem tomboy-ish! You can buy this image here and it was great fun to colour with my Copics and one or two Prismacolor pencils in which I've recently invested. However, the Sansodor to blend the Prismas hadn't arrived when I made this card so, hopefully, the technique will improve.
I used the Whimsy Stamps ticket sentiment because the look of concentration on the older boy's face made me feel he would certainly be making a wish as he rolled the marble! You can get the whole set of these from Bunny Zoe's Crafts. They're on pre-order at the moment but they will be back in stock week commencing 29th November.

If you've read any of my other recent posts, you'll know that I'm into carrying elements of the design on the front of the card into the inside at the moment and this picture shows what I did with this one.....

....and it carries over to the back! Nikki at Bunny Zoe's does a good range of these personalised stamps but mine came direct from Whimsy Stamps in the US and I'm delighted with it.
I'm entering this for the Sweet Stop Challenge SSS81 this week.
Here are the Copic numbers:
Skin: E000, E00, E21, R11, R20
Hair: E53, E57, E25, E47
E35, YR23, E51, Y21
Floor: W3, W1, 0
Marble ring: E40, E42, E44
Trousers and shoes: C7, C5, C3, C1
Sky: B000
Yellow shirt: YR31, Y21, Y28
Green shirt: YG03, YG11 YG25
The distressing around the edge of the image and on the tag inside is done with Weathered Wood Distress Ink. The DPs and buttons are from my stash and the Natural Raffia Lace is from Bunny Zoe's as well.
I do hope you'll join us for the challenge this week. I do find it quite challenging to make cards for the boys but I'm reasonably happy with this one and I hope you like it too.
Bye for now
Diane x

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness...

...so speaks Keats Ode to Autumn and that is what this card represents.

The challenge at Digi Doodle Shop's Best this week is 'Fall for Me' and we'd like you to show us your Autumn/Fall projects, so I do hope you'll come and join us for the challenge.
I chose this wonderful image 'Autumn Scene', which is available here, because it says it all and it gave me the opportunity to use all the Autumn colours in the wonderful leafy border. In fact all the colours I can see now from my craft room window!

I thought I'd make a tent card for a change and I can't believe I've never made one before! The scene itself takes up most of the front of the card but I used the Cuttlebug 'Victoria' folder to emboss the brown card and the DP is from the Basic Grey 'Indian Summer' collection - I just love all the colours in this paper! The maple leaves are from my stash and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts (link in my sidebar). The only problem with a tent card is that the greeting panel has to go on the back, which you can see in the piccie below. I think it looks a bit stark so I may be brave and try and add some distressing now that it's actually glued to the card - or I may not be that brave.....!

I'm sorry that I haven't got a note of all the Copic colours I used but I hope you like it, peeps and that you'll join us at Digi Doodle Shop's Best. Now I really must tidy my craft room....yuk!!
Bye for now
Diane x