Dutch Dare Challenge #12 - Card for a girl

For this week, the lovely ladies at Dutch Dare - Card Challenges asked us to make a card for a girl.
You should go and have a look at the DT creations, they are all awesome!

For my card I used a Magnolia stamp print [Thank you again and again Karin!] and a layout from Becky Fleck - the generous lady who keeps the Page Maps site. [I didn't respect the layout 100%]


Backing papers are from Joanna Sheen and Dovecraft (the Fantasy designer paper pack). I've punched the flowers from Mulberry paper and I think they look pretty nice when you don't have other products at hand. :)
The sentiment is another stamp from my extraordinary friend in Jersey who also sent me an ovals cutting template (used for the sentiment too) - Thank you so much Sue!

Thanks everybody for looking!

Two faces of Charlotte

I've been "AWOL" from this blog for two weeks lying in bed with a very bad back - a strained/contracted muscle didn't allow me to move naturally. Better said, it didn't allow me to move at all :D. In the last two days I've been feeling normal again and I thought it's about time I tried my Whiff of Joy stamps.

• For the Carol singing Charlotte I used Katharina's sketch #26, the one that was used last week for Papertake Weekly Challenge (it would have been nice to get my card done in due time).

I've messed things up with the layout somewhere along the way (with proportions and stuff) and the card doesn't look too great.
But I still love it :)

I've used Dovecraft Christmas designer paper [Tis The Season] and a Dovecraft Crystal Effects 3D Sticker for the greeting.

• The next Charlotte is the Angel one - it's so adorable I had to colour it in girly hues :)

Plus, the card will go to my best friend and she's crazy about pinks and mauves and angels. I put a bit of glitter on the wings and on the dress too (not sure it shows in the photo).


The lovely background paper is from Tracey (Fred She Said) - Fred's Flowersv3 - Pink Blossoms Kit.
The nice little stamps used for the sentiment are a gift from my great friend Sue (they arrived 4 days ago and made me very happy).
Now everybody will surely notice - LOL - that I've got myself some nice scalloped punches which I will be using a lot from now on.

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

I've been RAK-ed ... Twice! :)

I cannot find the words to explain how happy I am to have received two wonderful gifts from two extraordinary ladies I've met in "Cyberland" :D. They don't know it but I am going through some very difficult times right now so their generosity meant so much much more than they probably imagined.

Just to explain my 'whereabouts' - my Mum is having a very advanced skin cancer in her right eye (orbital tumour) and she's scheduled for surgery on September 1st. The surgery is a difficult one (having her orbit/orbital bones taken out and then reconstructed) and my Mum is very weak and we don't know if she'll get through it OK. Even the anesthesia might be too much for the state she's in [have you ever seen those photos from the concentration camps? :( ].

So I am worried sick just looking at her in pain and seing how feeble she is. I can't stop thinking that there are 50-50 chances I might not see her again alive after September 1st. And so on...

But to return to happier subjects :)

• Last Friday I received the first gift. It came from Karin - Thank you so very very much!

A lovely card holding numerous stampprints (there's a whole lot more hidden under the visible ones in the photo) and also some Prima (I guess) flowers which I forgot to photograph :(
It was very thoughtful of Karin to send the prints. She heard me saying that I don't have any "people" stamps/prints and she immediately send me a whole bunch of them.

Over the weekend I used one of the prints and Karin's new sketch to produce this:


It's a very FREE interpretation of Karin's original idea/sketch but I hope she will forgive me :)

• The other great gift (RAK) I've got yesterday morning (Monday) was from Melissa.
  

[We found ourselves "partners" in an August Fun RAK organized by Jen :)]

Melissa got me speechless with the awesome stuff she sent:


First there is an adorable "girlfriend" card with Bella prints and scalloped ovals - Great stuff for me, right what I needed!

Then there is a set of cards which I cannot even begin to describe. They are fantastic and I keep taking them out and admiring them and touching them :D. The stamping and colouring is beautiful and the embossing on each card matches perfectly the stamped image. A real treasure and inspiration for a beginner like me.
But they certainly are a treasure for anyone.

My photos are not very good and if you want to see Melissa's great cards in 'original' :), have a look at her blog.

I didn't have the time to try the Bella prints but they are first thing on my list - love that gal! :-D
Thank you Melissa from the bottom of my heart!

Now that you've all seen what a lucky ducky I was, I will say "Good bye" and wish you all a perfect Tuesday and week ahead.

Must see...Katharina's 100 000 hits Blog Candy

Here's a fabulous blog candy offered by Katharina and Whiff of Joy Stamps:

• The lucky winner will get a complete Whiff of Joy Guardian Angel Collection by Elisabeth Bell (4 stamps) for free.

PLUS...

• Katharina and Whiff of Joy Stamps will host a blog candy give away on the winners blog. You can choose the terms and she will sponsor your blog candy with another complete set of the Guardian Angels

What do you have to do to qualify for this great blog candy?

~~ Subscribe to Katharina's newsletter or RSS feed.

~~ Post a link to her 100 000 hits blog candy on your blog.

~~ Go back to her blog and post a comment for the candy letting her know that you want to enter the draw.

Easy peasy, yes? :)

The winner will be drawn on August 16th, 8pm central European time (with random.org)

Good luck everybody!

Claudia's blog candy - Magnolia stamps

Claudia has been trying for a week or so to get rid of the awesome blog candy she offered!
There is still a chance to be the lucky winner if you leave a comment on her post Here. She will draw 5 winners and will make for each person a nice card making kit.

Hurry up, I don't know for how long the generous offer stays open.

Being a kid on Sunday afternoon :)

I felt like playing and being silly, just to get out (a bit) from heavy thoughts and family problems.

I was lucky to have inspiration at hand - Thank You, Karin! :)

Karin has designed her first sketch two days ago and the moment I saw it I knew I would use it soon. Some time ago, Karin had a blog candy and after drawing out the winner she generously offered to all those who didn't win some very cute downloads.
For my card today I used Miss Hippo - absolutely love her! [maybe because she resembles me so much :-D]

So here's my card made with Karin's sketch and gift...

Wow! It felt great being a child for half an hour :)

Thanks for looking!

Dutch Dare -- Challenge #9

The lovely girls over at Dutch Dare - Card Challenges wanted us to make a Black & White card, using one additional color.
You should really go and have a look at the DT cards in there - beautiful each and every one of them.

I guess I was inspired by the sidebar on their site :) and so decided to put some orange on my card.

I used a cool [in my opinion :D] technique I've read about in a "Creativity!" magazine (from Do Crafts). It's very simple but I think most effective - stick a peel off on a piece of cardstock and then ink over it. When you're done inking to your pleasure remove the peel off(s) and there you are! A nice decorative white contour, or whatever colour your cardstock is :).

I used this easy technique for making my flowers and the "vase". It's a good method for coming up with patterned backgrounds too and I'll try that one for sure.

So I matted my flowers on orange cardstock and cut them out with a border. Cut out the other pattern (and the small base) for making the vase. I stamped a few twigs (TAC stamps) and adorned them with orange and black rhinestones [the orange ones are brighter in real life, cross my heart :)], then I sticked the vase on top. Added the flowers with 3D foam minidots.

Used some ribbon on the side - I coloured a piece of the white ribbon with a permanent marker because I didn't have any black ribbon - and finished everything off with a small tag stamped with "FRIEND" and glued it in place with a small orange heart (I really don't know why the heart shape doesn't show in my photo).
Matted all on black cardstock and then to the white card.

Nothing spectacular but I had a great time fiddling with it and especially trying out the inking over peel offs thing. :)

Thank you Dutch Dare for making me think and putting me to work. It was a very good exercise for my braincells. The few I have left :-D.

Wishing you all a wonderful Sunday.