Commissioned Valentine Card

A colleague commissioned a Valentine card for his partner and he asked for it to incorporate a butterfly on the front which opened up to reveal a heart inside which in turn lifted up to reveal the verse. After consultation we decided how the end result should look and the colour pallet.

I have made numerous cards in the past for my colleague and those for his partner always have to incorporate a butterfly as she has a  soft spot for them.

I made two 8" black card squares and stuck one to the other and created a gate fold card,  then half a butterfly was cut out from each of the fold back panels. A smaller set of wings were cut from red card which were stamped and gold embossed with swirly stamps,  another set were cut from gold holographic card and a final set from black card also stamped and gold embossed with the swirls.

 Two pieces of the backing paper - a freebie from A Passion for Papercrafting, were backed with red card and gold holographic and affixed to the two front panels. Some gold ribbon, gold crystals on the butterfly body and corners and antenna made from beading wire and beads finished the front of the card.

 The inside

The heart was made using a Creative Expressions mandala heart stamp, I really like this stamp it is layers of frills and there is so much that can be done with it. I stamped it 3 times on red card but the first was a folded piece of card. The 3 layers were glittered with Pee wee glitters in gold, red and white and a tassel was added to the bottom of the heart.

Gold holographic card was mounted onto red card and adhered to the inside of the card. A row of cushioned heart ribbon, the die cut word 'Love', red oval crystals and the heart were added. The verse that had been chosen was printed out and cut to size to fit in the folded heart.

Opened heart

I must admit that I was a little apprehensive  when I gave this to my colleague because at the end of the day this was my interpretation of his ideas . He was delighted with it - big sigh of relief!!!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

craftybloggersnetwork.blogspot.com/ Love is in the Air

craftybootschallenges.blogspot.com/ Valentine

diekreativenstempelfreunde.blogspot.com/ Valentine

hookedoncraftchallenges.blogspot.com/ Hearts

lexiscreations.blogspot.com/ Love

ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ Always anything goes

ooh-la-la-creationschallenges.blogspot.com/ Be my Valentine

scrappersdelightspapercrafts.blogspot.com/ Love

http://simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/ Anything Goes

stampandcreateblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Challenge Valentines

addicted-to-stamps-challenge.blogspot.com/ Valentine/Love

dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.com/ Valentine

Whoopsi Daisy Sketch Challenge

Time for another challenge over at Whoopsi Daisy and this week we have a great sketch from Sande one of our Daisy Divas.

Please remember that to be in with a chance of winning you must use a WD image and there is a freebie here for you to use.

This week I have used this fab image from sheet 339, she just cried out to be steampunk-ed (is there such a word - well there is now!)

The teal card was stamped with versamark using a Paperartsy stamp from the clocks stamp plate and embossed with clear embossing powder, the cream backing papers are from Funky Hands Steamfunk set, all were distressed with a craft knife.

A piece of teal card was dry embossed with a cogs embossing folder which had been inked with versamark and  heat embossed with clear embossing powder, teal ribbon was tied around the card and finished with a knot. The image was coloured with promarkers, die cut 'out of the box' and matted onto teal card and mounted onto the embossed card. 

Die cut cogs were painted with teal paint onto which were attached brass cogs and topped with pearls were placed down the side of the image. A safety pin with a key was pinned to the ribbon knot. The metal corners and butterfly were coloured with espresso alcohol ink to distress them, the butterfly was adhered to the play ticket in a TH pin.

I really enjoyed putting this together as it was challenging to use a WD image and do something a little bit different with it.

I am entering this in the following challenges:

getfunkyandcraft.blogspot.com/ Use blue

onestitchatatimechallenge.blogspot.com/ Anything Goes

papersundaes.blogspot.com/ Sundae Bar - cream, blue, distressing and pearls.

thecraftypad.blogspot.com/ The letter "B" - blue, butterfly, brown

allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/ Free and Easy

paperprettiesblog.blogspot.com/ Add texture

incywincydesigns.blogspot.com/ Recipe 3 embellishments, 2 papers and 1 image

ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ Anything Goes

papercreationsink.com/ 3 embellishments, 2 papers and 1 image

simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/ Anything Goes

Bugaboo Featured Guest

Bugaboo Stamps are sponsoring Crafting for all Seasons for their latest challenge "Love is in the Air" and two of the design team were asked to create projects based on this theme for the Bugaboo blog., this was my teamie Carly and myself.

This is the card I made using the Bugaboo image Love Blocks - Two Hearts

This is a lovely image with lottle to colour , in fact it could be quite effective left as a black and white image which I may do another time however I decided to give it some colour. The obvious choice - to me anyway, was to colour the birds blue and pink, the background was coloured with antique whire flexmarker and the border lilac. The swirls were traced with quickie glue and dusted with gold and silver mica. The word 'Love' in the heart balloon was treated in the same way.

The bird and heart were made from Fimo. I have had this stuff in my stash for so long............... but now its out I can't understand why I haven't used it before now! The papers are from Papermania, the swirly pearls from creative expressions and the other embellishments are from my stash.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/ Anything Goes

cheerfulstamppad.blogspot.com/ Romance is in the Air

hookedoncraftchallenges.blogspot.com/ Hearts

lexiscreations.blogspot.com/ Love

ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ Always Anything Goes

stampandcreateblog.blogspot.com/ Valentine's/Love

stampwithfun.blogspot.com/ Love

stampsfun-creativity.blogspot.com Hearts

stampsruschallenges.blogspot.com/ Valentine/Love

Crafting for all Seasons #20 Love is in the Air

Time for another challenge at Crafting for all Seasons and as Valentine's Day is fast approaching we would like to see your "Love is in the Air" themed projects.

We have three generous sponsors for this challenge:

Bugaboo Stamps who have a prize of 7 digi stamps, 

Lily of the Valley who have donated a £10 gift voucher and 

Digi Doodle who have a £10 gift card

I have used this lovely wedding image from Lily of the Valley which came just at the right time as I have a commission for a wedding card!

The image was coloured with promarkers and I used the antique white flexmarker for the dress and veil which is quite subtle but just gave enough colour to distinguish them from the white background.  This was cut with a spellbinders die and I also cut a frame of silver mirri and used foam pads to mount over the image, strands of pearls were added to the frame. The two hearts were made by twisted beading wire adding a couple of pearls and rolling up the ends to secure the pearls.

Tha card is centura pearl with a silver mirri mat and a mat of the centura pearl which has been dry embossed in an embossing folder although it doesn't show up very well in the photo. A white flower with pearls, white leaves and an organza ribbon bow in the one corner and a sentiment were added to complete.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

everybody-art-challenge.blogspot.com/ love

cardcrafterscircle.blogspot.com/ White on white

papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/ Anything Goes

cheerfulstamppad.blogspot.com/ Romance is in the Air

hookedoncraftchallenges.blogspot.com/ Hearts

lexiscreations.blogspot.com/ Love

ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ Always Anything Goes

stampandcreateblog.blogspot.com/ Valentine's/Love

stampwithfun.blogspot.com/ Love

stampsfun-creativity.blogspot.com Hearts

stampsruschallenges.blogspot.com/ Valentine/Love

Anything Goes Challenge #60, Eyes Down - Bingo Board

We have a new challenge at Anything Goes  and its a Bingo Board challenge, choose any line horizontal, vertical or diagonal. There are lots of elements to choose from so let's see your creations.

My teamies have produced some fantastic projects so please do pop over and take a look at their blogs.

I have made a birthday card for a friend of mine whose birthday is later this month and as she is a secretary I decided to use my new vintage typewriter stamp set from Creative Expressions available from the Craft Den

My friend's favourite colour is purple and as I had recently downloaded a dp pack called purple fall by Jo Jackson which are shabby and vintage style it seemed apt to use these  lovely designs. They have been stamped on, torn, distressed and clipped together with a bull dog clip and paper clips and adhered to backing paper which was stamped with a Creative Expressions script stamp then clear embossed.  The typewriter, date stamps and ink bottles were cut out and mounted with foam pads for dimension. Some lace and twine topped with a flower were added to complete the card.

My Bingo line was Distress, my choice- stamps, embossing, and lace and ribbon (ok I used twine but call it artistic license lol)

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

craftycardmakers.blogspot.com/ Monochromatic

ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ Always Anything Goes

scrappersdelightspapercrafts.blogspot.com Anything Goes

smudgyantics.blogspot.com/ Anything Goes

letsinkitup.blogspot.com/ Use lace and/or ribbon

panpasteluk.blogspot.com/ Happy Birthday

challengeupyourlife.blogspot.com/ Tone on Tone Monotone

drunkenstampers.wordpress.com/ Something new in your stash

Whoopsie Daisy Cute and Cuddly challenge

Time for another Whoopsie Daisy Challenge and we would like to see your Cute and Cuddly entries. 

Please remember to use a Whoopsi Daisy image, you can get a freebie to use here.

The image I have used is Rosie from the new CD of Linnie's images Daisy and Friends from Joanna Sheen. 

This image of Rosie is so sweet and cuddly with those chubby cheeks and legs! I printed the black and white version of her, coloured her skin, hair and the frills on her dress with flexmarkers and promarkers and paper pieced her dress with the pink gingham paper from the cd. The backing papers, also from the cd, gave me the idea to create a garden scene because it already had the grass, the stool and the well on it.

Rosie needed to be sitting on something and the perfect answer was the wall from the Pretty Tuff cd from Polkadoodles which has been coloured with flexmarkers and promarkers. 

The trellis at the side is a favourite technique of mine, good old plasterboard tape which has been embossed with brown embossing powder. The flowers climbing the trellis is ribbon from my local haberdashers and the concertina butterflies were made using gingham backing paper from the Daisy and Friends cd.  I finished the scene off with paper roses and leaves tumbling down either side of the wall.

If you would like the template for the butterflies please visit the lovely Shirl's blog here.

This card has been entered into the following challenges:

thepoodlesparlour.blogspot.com/ Anything Goes

allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/ Free and Easy

crazy4challenges.blogspot.com/ Create a scene

catchthebugblog.blogspot.com/search/label/challenge Anything goes

quirkycrafts.blogspot.com/ Make a scene

sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.com/  In the Garden

Creative Expressions January Challenge winner

I heard yesterday that my Heart Strings card was chosen as the winner of the Creative Expressions January card of the month. The challenge was to use a Creative Expressions stamp and to include a sentiment and as Valentine's Day is looming decided to make a card for my hubby.  I used the rose frame from the Your Special Day plate and the sentiment is from their Love is in the Air stamp plate.

Here is my card that won.

Heart Strings

Soooo excited as the prize was my choice of 3 stamp sets so I have chosen some vintage plates which have been on my wish list for ages, can't wait for them to arrive as I have several projects in mind for them!