Special RAK Event

Lisa is a design team member for several of my favourite digital stamp designers and she recently posted the following:

I am having a special event for my sister Jayme. She is in her early 50's and has terminal lung cancer. To make it worse, her sweet dachshund Molly passed away a couple weeks ago. Today we learned her cancer has spread to several other areas and her time is running out. I am asking for all my card making friends to send her a fun card...not really get well cards obviously, but something pretty or funny that will make her smile. She is a frog collector so frog cards would be awesome!

I think its wonderful that all of us crafters are being given a chance to (hopefully) brighten someone's day by doing what we love. I made the following card for Jayme - I hope it makes her smile a little bit. If you want to make a card for Jayme too, check out Lisa's blog - she is also offering some great candy for everyone that participates.

About the card:
I went a little crazy mixing & matching designers for this card. The princess is from Mo's Digital Pencil, the sentiment ("I better get a new palace out of this") and frog are recent freebies from Tiddly Inks (PCP group only) and the mushroom is from Stretch 'n Bubbles. All are coloured with Copic markers, then liberally bling'd up with Stickles. I fussy-cut the frog and then attached him with pop-dots to the mushroom - it looks really 3-D in real life. I'm proud of myself for pulling out some unused stash, too - I used chalk pastels that I haven't touched in 6 mths around the edges of each shape. Finally, I couldn't decide which ribbon to use so I ended up using both. I think the double bow enclosure gives the card an interesting finish.

Recipe:

• Mo's Digital Pencil, "Kissy" digital stamp
• Stretch 'n Bubbles, "Mushroom" digital stamp
• Tiddly Inks, sentiment & "Prince Charming" digital stamps
• Cornish Heritage Farms, "the Kim Hughes collection - MochaChica" papers
• Ribbon, stash
• Copic markers
• Stickles glitter glue

Challenges:

• Mo's Digital Challenge - love
• Stamp Something - use two of something (2 main images; two-fold card; two ribbons)
• Totally Gorjuss - bling it up
• Paper Sundaes - favourite book, poem or fairy tale (princess & the frog)
• The Crazy Challenge - girly
• Digital Tuesday Challenge - cute people (how cute is this little girl?)
• Everybody Art Challenge - fairy tale (princess & the frog)
• Crafty Creations - use your favourite stamp (easy to see why I love Mo's little princess)
• Creative Card Crew - pink & green
• Crafty Ho's Challenge - photo inspiration (if anyone would wear this hat, it would be this girl)

Mother's Day flowers

Second post today but this card is so different from the one I posted earlier (the sick pig card) that I wanted to have it separately. I made this one for my mom (who hopefully hasn't started reading my blog) for Mother's Day this weekend. Mom is always impressed by cards that open a bit differently so I decided to convert the Crazy 4 Challenges card sketch into a gatefold. The papers are from Basic Grey (my absolute favourite company for papers) and the image is a freebie from Tiddly Inks - PCP group. If you haven't joined the Tiddly Inks group on Paper Craft Planet then hurry over and sign up as Christy rewards followers with a freebie every week.

I added some glossy accents and Stickles glitter glue to the flowers & vases to give the card a bit more "zip" and then finished it off with some crystal flowers I had floating around my desk.

Recipe:

• Basic Grey, patterned paper
• Tiddly Inks, digital stamp
• Glossy accents
• Stickles
• Spellbinders
• Crystal flowers (stash)

Challenges:

• Crazy 4 Challenges, sketch
• The Pink Elephant, mommy I love you
• CCEE Stampers - Mother's Day card
• Simon Says Stamp (PCP group) - bling, bling, bling
• Crazy Challenge - bling
• Copics Colour Challenge - BG02, BG11, R20
• Creative Card Crew - April showers bring flowers
• Paper Play Challenges - stamp/digi and bling

Take time to smell the flowers

This little pony from Wink*Wink*Ink is one of my favourite images - she is so sweet and yet the emphasis on her backside just adds a touch of sassiness that I quite enjoy. I decided to use her, along with a couple of brand-new border punches, for a "just because" card.

The patterned paper is from Basic Grey ("euphoria" collection). The inside border uses Martha Stewart's "Pansy" punch. I made the picket fence strips using another Martha punch with Core-dinations "Whitewash" paper. I have to admit that I could easily get obsessed with collecting all of the Martha punches so if you have any gathering dust, just send them over to me! LOL.

Recipe:

• Basic Grey, patterned paper
• Core-dinations whitewash paper
• Flowers & gems (stash)
• Image - Wink*wink*ink
• Copic markers

Challenges:

• Wink*Wink*Ink - use border punch
• Crazy4Challenges - sketch
• Polka Doodle - animal magic
• Paper Sundaes - no people
• Cooking it up with Katie - use purple and use something 3 times (there are 3 flowers and 3 gems)
• 365 Cards - joyfold card

Winter birthday card

Just finished this card for the Pollycraft Monday Challenge. The theme was "winter birthdays" which worked out perfectly for me as I had to make a card for my dear friend Kathleen's birthday in a couple of weeks. I chose this cute little bear "Bronson Star Gazing" from Tales of Pollycraft. I coloured Bronson with my Copic markers, using pinks and other feminine shades to make Bronson more girly. The background paper is from Basic Grey's "Euphoria" line. You can't tell in the picture but there is white flowersoft added to the hat, boots and mittens. I added an outline sticker star and finally, a sprinkling of Stickles for snow (you can't have a finished project without glitter!) and the card is done.

The card has a tri-fold - when closed you see the simple front with the sentiment "wishing upon a star" and then once the right flap is opened you see the sentiment continue along with a detailed border.