About Me

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Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
I have been crafting since May 2008, when in desperation to find an unusual birthday card for my Mum, I gave up looking in the shops and decided to have a go at making my own. I soon realised that crafting is addictive and I haven't brought a card since. In 2011 I completed my certificate in papercrafting as a result of the work I did as part of the course I started entering challenges on line and in magazines. I applied for design teams and also started making samples for Ooh La La Creations for their shows on Create and Craft. I have now completed my Diploma in professional crafting and most recently been runner up in the Papercrafter of the Year 2013 a competition run by Papercraft essentials magazine, I don't have a particular style I like to use elements from lots of styles and techniques, although I do love all things vintage. In 2014 I started to move more towards scrapbooking to take care of the huge family archive of photographs that were stored in my attic. I have continued cardmaking and Scrapbooking through 2015 and 2016 but have also become interested in off the page projects. I hope to be able focus on these in the future.

Sunday 22 January 2012

Oriental flavour

I've been a bit quiet of late mainly because my internet connection decided to impersonate a yo-yo and has been bouncing up and down for a few days, but touching wood, and fingers crossed it appears to be stable again. I have been busy catching up and when I saw this picture at http://foryourinspirationchallenges.blogspot.com I knew exactly what to do.


The image just screamed Japanese garden to me. The wonderful rich oranges and yellows of the Acer trees immediately made me think of some toppers I have had in my stash for at least a year, they are by Kaban and I went searching and found them there were three so the most difficult choice was which to use.


I used a black base card and in the absence of suitably coloured backing paper I used white card with a Chinese characters on it and gave it a colour wash of 'Wild Honey' distress ink to get the right colour.

 I also coloured some plain white paper using the 'wild honey' ink and promarkers in bright orange, and spice before cutting out circles and ripping them into rough spirals to form the three roses, The leaves were again cut from white paper which this time had been coloured using 'Peeled Paint' distress ink.


The large leaves which form the backing for the embellishment started life as plain brown skeleton leaves which I dabbed with dew drop brilliance 'copper' ink and then coated with Papermania enchanted gold embossing powder and heated them to melt the powder, to give the metallic sheen. The pins I made myself from old beads collected from Charity shop Jewellery buys, and I finished the card by adding the sentiment which is from the Tim Holtz adage labels range, and the bows and buttons from my stash.

I am entering this card in the following challenges.

http://foryourinspirationchallenges.blogspot.com inspiration photograph
http://paperplaychallenges.blogspot.com - ribbons every which way
http://lilredwagon.blogspot.com - 2 different ribbons
http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com - buttons and bows

11 comments:

  1. LOVE those the glimmer you added to the skeleton leaves! Such a pretty flower embellishment!
    Thanks for playing with us LRW!

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  2. Wow Allison, what a fantastic card. Hugs x

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  3. Lovely card. The leaves are quite lovely. Thanks for playing along with us at Paper Play.

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  4. Lovely card, love the photo inspiration. Thanks so much for playing along with us at Paperplay this week.

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  5. Wow, quite a bit of work went into this lovely card. Great handmade roses. I agree, the photo had quite and Asian feel. Thanks for joining us at FYI.

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  6. lovely card, thanks for joining our challenge at CRAFTY CATZ, good luck, x carol

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  7. Beautiful - thanks so much for playing along with us at Paperplay this week.

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  8. Beautiful card and wonderful take on the inspirational photo! Thanks for playing at FYI!

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  9. Wow, Alli! You put so much work into this beautiful card! I love those roses. :-) Thanks so much for joining us at FYI!

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  10. Your rolled flowers look fabulous!! Thanks for joining in at FYI!

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  11. Great use of the supplies you had to hand - a lesson to be learnt! Thanks for joining us at FYI.

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