Fastest fingers first...

Hey everyone,

Sorry again for the delays in postings. Well, the bride-to-be has picked out the design she likes best, for the wedding invitations, and so - with the help of my very kind and patient friend Ana - we've made a good dent in the cards! And the bride-to-be came over the other day and was taught how to emboss; she loved it! And in this case, many hands really DO make light work!

So we're getting there - I'll post a picture once the invites go out.

Well... today my friend Alessia came over to make some cards and she made - wait for it - eleven cards in 2.5hours.
Yes. ELEVEN.

So I thought, if she can do it, so can I!!!

It took me 10 minutes to make this; here's what I came up with:

Really clean and simple with just a few elements - it takes just a few minutes and still looks rather nice :)

The thing that took the longest was tying that piece of string! I tried (in vain) to tie a bow, but the string just WOULD NOT listen (which is annoying, because I'd just made the same card with a bow for Alessia!). So I tied a knot instead.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Linen (The Papermill); Patterned (K&Co's Mega-stack)

Greeting: From a Hero Arts sayings collection (lost the packaging!), Aged Mahogony distress ink

Tools: String; Martha Stewart Royal Butterfly punch; Fiskar's scallopped edge punch

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

1. Caardvarks: Monochromatic
2. CardPatterns: Sketch 94

Welcome Home!

Hi everyone,

I know I'm pretty much a once-a-week blogger but I saw this gorgeous digi-stamp from 'DigiSparkle.com' and just HAD to make something with it!
And this stamp is FREE for the month of December!

Let me just tell you little bit about DigiSparkle before I continue - they are a lovely digi-stamp company that sell SETS of digi-stamps for just £0.99 (around $1.49).
There are some really cute stamps, and they have a wonderful points-reward scheme, where you can redeem the points you earn on your purchases, on even more stamps!
And the stamps are great value - as I said, you receive a whole set for £0.99.
Each month there are new releases, and there is also a free stamp every month. And I received a voucher a couple of months ago as a 'thank you' for being a valued customer, which I spent on some more pretty stamps!!! ;-D

One last thing - you get a lovely personalised service, and Heather, who owns the site and whose illustrations make up the stamps, is very nice too!

So go check out the site (check out their blinkie on the right-hand-side of my page).

Okay, so... back to my card. Here it is:

And may I just say how LOOOOOOOOOONG it took me to make this card! Looks clean and simple, right? Well a LOT of thought and effort goes into that look!!!
I was sat there staring at the image and a blank white card-blank for about half an hour.
Yup. Half and hour.

Oh well, got there in the end! And I just LOVE the lace stamp from Hero Arts.

After colouring the image in my Crayolas (and blending some of the colours using a white watercolour pencil, which has a softer lead - that front door is supposed to be a muted grey-colour, you know, like from the Georgian period?), I stamped the sentiment and distressed the bottom part with Antique Linen distress ink.
I tried a spritzing-technique on the bottom of the image, but it didn't quite work as the cardstock I'm using is a linen-texture, and it absorbed the water rather than resisting it. But it looks okay, anyway.

Stamped the Lace stamp in Antique Linen again, and then distressed the outer edges in the same colour - I love the way it reinforces the colour of the stamped image.

I thought this card would be especially great for someone coming out of hospital, but it'd also work as a moving-card.

Well, enjoy!


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

1. DigiSparkle - DigiSparkle projects
2. ACLP - Anything Goes
3. Mark's Finest Papers - Bows
4. EBTKS - Textures