Card for Grandson's 18th

This was a tough one an 18th birthday card for a boy who is nuts about computers and gaming. He hopes to go to uni later this year to study computer programming. This is what I came up with:

It all started when I was looking on the Silhouette studio designs library. I should add that I only just had my silhouette as a crafty Christmas present from my husband, and as I was unwell after Christmas I really hadn't played with it at all ... as I said I found this design which looked like a circuit board but which spelled out the word CONGRATS, then I found the keyboard and mouse and finally the games controller. So through trial and error (I'm not very good at doing instructions) I finally had the bits I needed. I googled and printed covers of some of the games I knew he liked mounted them on green card stacked them up on this stepper card. I finished it off with a lovely sentiment inside which said everything I wanted to say including how proud we were of him .... I just hope he likes it .. because a lot of love went into making it ... I'll soon find out because it's already in the post for his birthday on Sunday 16th February. Happy 18th Birthday Sion my one and only grandson... oh how he suffered at the hands of the three granddaughters ... he was always being bossed about, but gave in gracefully most of the time !! I better find some time to find out how this lovely toy works :)
That's all for tonight xx Annie

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #107 ... Be My Valentine

Time for a new challenge over at Fussy and Fancy ... the theme is 'Be my Valentine'   and it's even more exciting because it is being sponsored by Marianne Designs, many of you will have some of their gorgeous dies, so why not get them out mix them up with some of your other crafty stash and give this challenge a go. 

I was wondering what to do for this challenge as at my age I do not receive or send Valentines cards as I have been married to my valentine for over 38yrs and we knew each other 4yrs befor that. Anyway that's enough reminiscing, as I was saying before so rudely interrupting myself, I was reading the Craft Stamper magazine and Elizabeth Dark had written an article about flocking her background, it looked so lush I decided I had to give it a go.

I painted my MDF heart with black gesso and let it dry thoroughly, then I stamped the freebie rose stamp with versamark (previous experiment on black card taught me not to do too many at a time) then I sprinkled with Stampendous Stamp & Bond, heated it gently with my heat gun till it became clear then sprinkled with Stampendous Fuzzy Fun Flock (chilli pepper red). The instructions said gently rub in with your fingers ... it was a very strange woolly feel but once the loose stuff was swept onto a spare piece of paper it revealed a lovely raised texture so covered the whole of the heart. I had bought some chunky small MDF LOVE letters so painted them with red acrylic paint and played about with the positioning.

I die cut another heart with the message 'Be Mine' mounted on mirri board then did my favourite thing .. made some red paper roses with black foil leaves added some heart topped pins and a lock and key, then threaded some red ribbon through the holes and I was done. 

Now who is going to receive my love token .... hubby would be scared out of his wits  :) as there is no other Beau I will have to hope one of the granddaughters will take it off my hands :) . Still I really enjoyed this frivolous project ... why don't you give it a go ... use any of your favourite techniques, stamping, decoupage, altered Art in your favourite style ... go to:  http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ you'll find details there and linking & uploading your project couldn't be simpler, well if I can do it anyone can. We really would love to see what you come up with  .. I find entering these challenges makes me try things I have never done before ... you might surprise yourself.

That's all for tonight Bye xxx Annie

Sweet Lilac Challenge ....'Love'

Here I am again, I was recently introduced to the lovely Sweet Lilac handmade flowers by Jo Rice, a crafter who has inspired me time and time again with her many and varied crafty makes. She told me that they had a monthly challenge over on their  blog :  http://sweetlilacflowers.blogspot.co.uk/  it's well worth a visit and from there you can find your way to their lovely crafty online shop.
I decided not to go for the Valentine card, my starting point was one of my favourite sentiments:

'To the world you may be just one person

but to one person you may just be the world'

to me this is a subtle declaration of love, not just romantic love ... but love for a relative or friend:

I used various dies and embossing folders from my crafty stash, but the finishing touch is the lovely Sweet Lilac flowers.

Well that's all from me today,

Bye Annie xxx

Clarity Challenge ... New Beginings

When I saw this Clarity Challenge I immediately thought of what to me is the best and most wonderful 'New Beginning' ... the birth of a Baby... but then I puzzled over which of my many Clarity stamps would fit the bill. I have to admit I have had to use some artistic licence here as I have used the  beautiful arty wired heart and  wired star.

 I have tried to make them as balloon like as I could. They have been heat embossed with silver and coloured with promarkers, then I have used my Letterset stamps and masks, then used Clarity cloud mask to create the background. I then matted and layered onto complimentary cardstock and I was done.
I have enjoyed an afternoon's play but now I better get over to the Clarity Challenge website and upload it because it is getting near to the deadline.
Bye xxx Annie

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #105

Well here it is the first challenge of 2014 ... hope you all had a really lovely Christmas... and that 2014 will be kind to us.

Well this challenge#105 is Monochromatic...which isn't always about black & white it can also mean tone on tone .. my card uses tone on tone of Purple, my granddaughter Lorna's favourite colour, she also loves shoes and shabby chic with a bit of bling so this card was made for her 20th birthday (where have all those years gone.. it seems just like yesterday she was born)

Here is the card:

The background was stamped randomly with various script, honeycomb and butterfly stamps using dusty concord and milled lavender distress inks. The card was then put in an embossing folder  and run through my grand calibur ... I then brushed Dusty Concord and Milled lavender  lightly  over the card to highlight the raised areas and inked the edges before mounting it onto some silver and then some  lavender card

The topper was made by stamping one of Creative Expressions pretty Floral footsteps stamps with Stazon Royal purple  then sprinkling with clear embossing powder and heating to glaze it. This was then diecut with a spellbinders die and the sentiments were added.

Lorna loves shabby chic frames so I created some shabby chic flowers using pages from a very dilapidated dictionary which was going to be thrown away. Having diecut the various layers I again gently inked them with my distress inks and assembled finishing off with some blingy brads and silver leaves.

Lorna had her birthday back in October and she loved her card, I was so pleased because I did enjoy making it, it is not as difficult as you might think working tone on tone ... so why don't you give this challenge a go just pop over to the Fussy & Fancy Challenge blog:   

http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/     all the details are there and uploading your photo is so easy, that's where I am heading right now

Bye for now and a very Happy New Year & good luck if you do decide to join in this challenge xxx Annie

Another Up , Up & Away card

I had already made Kate's up, up and away card (previous post) but when I saw this new Clarity hot air balloon stamp on tv last weekend I had to have it, it's so beautiful and part of Barbara Gray's lovely Filigraphy series of stamps

. I love hot air balloons and I also love zentangle .. a form of doodle art so this is right up my street!!

I love making this type of card as it uses just a blank white card, some stamps, masks and inkpads, seeing the scene develop in front of your eyes gives me a real buzz. All the stamps used here are Clarity stamps and it was watching Barbara Gray's tutorials that first got me hooked on this form of scene building. For this card I have stamped the image of the balloon 3 times ; first onto the base card embossed in silver, then twice onto vellum with versamark ink and embossed with white embossing powder, I coloured these images on the back with oil pastels and used a tissue dabbed with white spirit to spread the colour. I cut the whole balloon section out of one image and then just the upper part of the balloon from the second to give a 3d effect, here is a closeup:

Before building up the balloon I created my background scene using masks to create the clouds and hills. As I was cutting out the balloon sections I could see that there were other possibilities using this lovely stamp, can't wait to give them a go.

That's all for tonight, I have been a good little blogger this week, two posted so far and another scheduled for tomorrow. Bye for now xxx Annie

Kate's 16th Birthday Card 2014

Twelfth Night (January 6th) has always been a special day in my calendar ever since the arrival of my youngest granddaughter Kate Erin ... this year 2014 her 16th birthday marks the beginning of what I hope will be a wonderful year for her. Yes she has all the mundane things like GCSEs to contend with, but her incentive is that in the Summer of 2014 she is going to visit a school friend over in Canada. She and her friends have been planning 'this journey' for months now, so when it came to choosing a card to make for her it had to be travel related, so here it is:

My inspiration came from these wonderful Sam Poole stamps, I also saw the 3d image of the balloon on her blog and from there the idea developed when I found docrafts All Aboard papers and embellishments, this is where the wonderful old map papers came from. Here is a closeup  of the 3d balloon:

 I also used the map paper as the left hand flyleaf of the insert, I used a piece of baker's twine between 2 brads to trace the journey between Britain and Canada 

I really enjoyed this project but more importantly Kate was pleased with it. That's all for now xxx bye Annie