Vintage/ Nostalgic at Ooh La La Creations

Well here we are again it's Monday and it's time for another challenge over at the Ooh La La Creations Challenge blog. Once again thank you to everyone who entered the last challenge there were some wonderful easel cards on show. The Top three are listed on the challenge blog. whilst your there take time to have a look at the vintage/nostalgic cards the design team have come up with they are wonderful.

I used the Yesterdays memories CD to create my card. I had been reading up on the history of greetings cards and discovered the work of Esther Howland (1828-1904) she created the most incredible valentines cards with paper lace and images so this card is inspired by her incredible work.

I started with the backing paper which is from the 'Floral Cross' folder on the CD and matted this onto a pale pink card. I added the silver peel off border and corners and then stuck the panel to the scalloped card blank.

I added the Anja Oval frame from Marianne, the backing is more of the pale pink card and the lace overlay is just cut from plain white paper. I printed off the traditional decoupage sheet for the cross and fussy cut the base image to stick on the centre of the oval. I curled the flowers using a ball tool into a soft embossing pad to add curvature and used silicone gel to build the image. The branches were die cut using the Marianne forest branch die and placed these to frame the oval.

The ribbon is vintage seam binding and it started out life white but with the addition of a tiny drop of worn lipstick distress ink and water I was able to crumple it into a tiny ball which I put to dry on top of a radiator it only took about 10 minutes and then I tied the double bow and added the pearl pins.

The flowers were some I had in my stash with the addition of the tiny rose buds from Wild Orchid. I did have some blue flowers I wanted to use but couldn't find them at the time (I found them yesterday in a box they had no business being in) so I improvised and fussy cut blue flowers from another floral cross which I printed on thin white card. I added the sentiment with the flat backed pearl, and the silver butterfly was one I had in my stash. The finishing touch was the flat backed pearls at the top of the oval.

I am entering this into the following challenges.

http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - anything goes 

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/ - anything goes linky party 

http://theprettylittleribbonshop.blogspot.co.uk/ - spring is in the air 

http://theshabbytearoom.blogspot.co.uk/ - beautiful spring (not sure if the paper lace will qualify for teh lace part of the brief)

Red and Green

Red and Green is the theme for Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas challenge this week and I have come up with the following using a recycled image and sentiment, recycled fruit net bag, some washi tape, a paper flower, a couple of die cut holly sprigs and a gem.

I am entering this into the following challenges, 

http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Red and Green 

http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything goes so long as it's Christmas

Giving Thanks at CD Sunday

The Cd Sunday challenge this week is Thank you cards. It seems doubly appropriate as I have just discovered I won the challenge there last week. So this one is for all the girls in the design team who picked me as the winner.

I used papers from the Debbie Moore Shabby Chic Compendium collection. I had actually printed these papers off for another project and not realised I had my printer set to two copies. So I decided to put the extra sheets to good use. 

I used kraft card as a base because it works so well with the shabby chic look. I fussy cut flowers from one of teh papers and layered them over the main background to add dimension and then added the centre section from a die cut trellis. I had used the corners on another project and added a die cut branch and two punched butterflies. I then added the die cut sentiment and glittered over the letters to add a bit of sparkle.

I used papers from the same CD for the inside of the card and die cut an oval from kraft card for the space for the message and added another die cut branch and a flower cut from the backing paper.

I am entering this into the following challenge.

http://cdsundaychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Thank you 

Easel Cards at Ooh La La

Welcome to another of my DT blog posts for Ooh La La. Thanks once again for all your entries in our colour challenge of  'Green and Orange' last time I had great fun looking at the entries and coming up with the top 3 was a real challenge. You can find out which projects I picked on the Ooh La La Creations Challenge Blog. Whilst you are there check out the DT inspiration cards for the latest challenge 'Easel Cards'

Here's my card

I used an Anja Oval frame die from Marianne as a template to draw the base card then carefully cut this out with scissors and folded the front over to form the easel. I then used the die itself to cut a panel of backing paper from the 'White Rose' folder on the Yesterdays Memories CD, which I used to line the inside of the card. I added two flourishes cut using the flourish die in the set and stuck them to the base card. The tag was from the tags and sentiments folder and I placed this at an angle and added the organza double bow and the pearls. So the tag would act as the stopper for the card.

I then the backing oval from plain white card and stuck this onto a very pale pink card and trimmed round the edge to leave a narrow border. The lacy frame I cut from gold card and then ran it through the sizzix again with an embossing mat to add the flourish details. The image is the white rose traditional decoupage and I cut the bas sheet using the small aperture die in the set and stuck it inside the frame and then layered the other elements of the decoupage on top. I sounded these using an embossing tool onto a soft mat to give some shape and used silicone gel underneath as this is easier to mould than sticky pads.

I added the pearls using a pearl paint pen and added some stickles clear iridescent glue over the image to give a little sparkle. The finishing touch was the little organza bow. Once everything was dry I stuck it to the easel frame I had already created.

My dad has a wonderful neighbour who is a wonderful cook and often pops round to see him with little gifts of cakes, pastries and soup. Her birthday is the day before my dad's so when we visited dad for his birthday I popped along to see her and gave her this card, which she loved.

I am entering this card into the following challenges 

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything goes 

WOW with a touch of colour

I treated myself to a vagabond cutting machine this week and decided last night to have a play, I ended up with lots of white die cuts so decided on using them for a white on white background to show off one of the gorgeous digital stamps from the Sugar Nellie range. This lovely little lady is called Victoria and she is from the Simply Adorable range.

The back ground to the card is a pretty glittered velum which I wrapped around a tin piece of card so I could fasten it on the back and nothing would show through. I then wrapped a pretty white satin trimmed organza ribbon round the edge before fastening the panel to the front of an 8x8 card blank. I then layered up some of the die cuts from the test run of the vagabond using an Anja oval frame from Marianne, two corners trimmed from a trellis, and two different branch dies from Marianne.

I coloured Victoria using chalks which were fixed using hairspray and the cut her out using a technique called out of the box I cut around her hat and then inserted a plain circle die behind this but over the rest of the image to cut her out.

Once she was in place I added some gauze and three roses that I had made from the medium flower on the Sizzix/Tim Holtz tattered flower die, which had just been cut from plain white paper. I added a smaller rose made from the small flower on the same die to the trellis in the top right corner and then added a ribbon bow, the word Love and some pearls and butterflies to finish.

http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes
http://diecuttindivas.blogspot.co.uk/ - Pastels
http://incywincydesigns.blogspot.co.uk/ - out of the box
http://lilredwagon.blogspot.co.  lovely lace - paper lace die cut on the design
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - White on White only image can be coloured
http://2sisterschallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - hats

Wonderful wings with the WOW factor.

I love working on WOW cards, because it is all about texture and dimension.

I used lots of embossing and die cutting on this card. The angel is actually one of those stickies you are supposed to put on your windows at Christmas, I mounted her onto acetate and then cut round her before sticking her onto a plain white oval die-cut. I then layered up the background which is made up of dots embossed onto plain white paper, snowflakes de-bossed onto pearly white paper, and a piece of white card embossed with Christmas words. The corners on the left hand of the card were highlighted with pieces snipped from a trellis die-cut.

I added a paper lace edge to the snowflake paper, cut using a Marianne anja edge die and highlighted this with pearl paint. tow layered wooden snowflakes painted with white acrylic paint decorate the top right corner. At the bottom right I added a piece of folded gauze, a pearl spray and 3 flowers layered up using petals cut from different materials. 

I am entering this card into the following challenges 

http://trimmiescraftchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Christmas in April
http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything goes
http://christmacardchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Something with wings
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - White on White

http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ -Wonderful Wings

http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything goes so long as it's Christmas

Happy Birthday Daugther

Whilst my last post was all about the gift box for my step daughter's birthday this one is about her card. She loves shades of purple, butterflies and pretty girlie cards so when I saw the bingo challenge over at papertake weekly challenges I decided to use their grid and try and get a full house.

I choose dry embossing as my free element and here is the card I have created 

The background of the card is embossed with 'Swiss dots' I have then layered on a strip of paper with delicate stripes in shaded of pale lilac. This has been wrapped with a strip of lace and a piece of organza polka dot ribbon, before being stuck to the 8x8 base card. The following layers have then been added, white paper with purple spots, purple paper with white spots, a panel of white mirror card that has been embossed using a sSzzix embossibilites flower trellis folder. 

I have then added the word daughter using letter cut using a Tim Holtz 'Alphabeticals' die. A layer of purple net which is actually from a bag that contained Clementines, a doily and die cut flourishes, and the happy birthday sentiment has then been added. 

The image is one I came across by accident whilst surfing the web and is Flora from the Simply adorable range from Sugar Nellie. I have coloured her using Kars pearlised chalks and then fixed the chalk using hairspray. 

I am a bit of a novice at colouring but these gorgeous digis make for really professional looking results because of the way they look like pencil sketches when first downloaded so it is really easy to add colour and shading in the right place. Once the image was fixed I then die cut it using a plain oval die.

The blooms I added were Woodware colour your own, which have been in my stash for a while,  and again I used the chalks and hairspray technique to get a really good match to the colours in the image. I added little cream buttons for the flower centres and then added some stickles iridescent glitter glue to the inner petals.

I punched the butterflies using an x-cut punch and then added ice stickles in lilac to their wings this makes them bend and makes them look more realistic when added to the card. I added gemstone bodies and then stuck them to the card by the central body leaving the wings free.

I finished off with gemstones on the Happy Birthday greeting and in the corners of the card before adding the  organza ribbon double bow to The bottom left of the image. 

I lined the inside of the card with striped paper and swiss dots card, ready for the verse to be added.

So there you have it a full house.

I am entering this card into the following challenges 

http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/ - Bingo (Full House)

http://clearitoutchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Spring colours and flowers 

http://cinspirations.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything goes

http://diecuttindivas.blogspot.co.uk/ - Pastels

http://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Spring colours