Everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day

 Another three cards, I seem to like doing things in threes at the moment. And boy have I been colouring, if its not cards, it's small images I have cut out on the Scan 'N' Cut to put together on cards.   

I need to slow down, maybe stamp out some some images from the million stamp sets still waiting to be used....no wait... I've already done that, I have three trays full.

I know it must be time to sit and cut die cuts, then send out some cards to some friends.  Yes I am suffering, from EMPTY NEST SYNDROME. Aaron and Rachael have bought a house, we painted it (I should say John painted the ceilings and walls and we all did the  trimming/cutting in of the whole house last weekend. Sunday afternoon we walked around like a couple of old people who needed walking frames. Bouncing round now and the kids have gone and its so so quite and I have to learn to cook for three not five.  Time to start something new I think........

I've not done St. Patrick day cards before but I just couldn't resist this little sweetie from Mo's Digital Pencil - ohhh my goodness just check out that face. And what a fabulous colour combo, my favourite colour GREEN together with purple what a knockout. Copics of course being my favourite medium.

Had to give her fiery orange/red hair to go with that sweet face. So loved colouring her. Decided to add her to the card base with some glitter ribbon on each side.

The glitter ribbon is actually a deep rich green on both sides. Finished off with some sequins taken

from a few different packets and she's ready to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. With a name like Ryan I reckon we may be celebrating it too.

This little cutie is a Stamping Bella image stamped and coloured with Copics. Not so sure

I like how it turned out with the mum looking all spotty but ended up I decided to leave it alone before I wore a hole in the cardstock.  I will give it another go later. I did the baby chicks in a lighter colour and like how they turned out.

I cut the image out with a Wonky Stitch Square die then layered with this gold type of material/paper cut slightly larger. Each attached with double sided tape to the green cardbase. A few enamel dots to finish it off. The sentiment comes with the chick stamp.

I've had this stamp from Mama Elephant for a while and haven't used it but while away camping it was one of the many images I took away to colour. I did the leaves in  YG01 YG03 YG25 YG17 and the flowers BG000 BG00 BG11 BG15 BG49 and the hello in RV04  RV02  RV000 so its bright and bold. Love this stamp and now I have the Thanks one to try out too.

Added Glossy Accents to the letters. Some enamel dots to the card and cut the coloured image out with a wonky stitched rectangle die then attached to a coloured card base. After it was finished I wished I had made the card base a bit bigger as you can hardly see it but I wasn't going to try and remove the panel after attaching as I have done this before and totally ruined the front panel.

Challenges

Penny Black and More: March: Feature A Creature

Happy Mothers Day

Time Out Challenge #104

'Hello' card the sentiment is bright and Pink

and Glossy Accents so it fits the bill

for BOLD

Addicted to Stamps and More #282 Make Your Mark

I really am struggling here to decide which card to nominate for this challenge at Addicted toStamps and More because I love the colouring on both the St Patrick's Day girl and the Hello flower but today cute wins me over as I just love her face and Im so happy with how my shadows have turned out on the dress so Im going to go with St Patrick's Day.

A Gem of A Challenge #214 Mothers Day

Happy Mothers day

Just Us Girls #431 Trend Week Mythical/Magical

Everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day

I hope my Irish Fairy is mythical enough 

Alphabet Challenge Blog Y is Your Choice

Hello card

Fab 'n' Funky Challenges #384 Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Girl Power

Everyones Irish on St. Patrick's Day

Watercooler Wednesday #160

Everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day

Four New Cards and Lots Happening

Lots of photos and lots to say. If your here just for the cards scroll on down to the first photo, if you want to have a bit of a share of whats been going on then grab a coffee, and lets get started:

The new couple of cards I coloured while on holidays down the south coast with my husband a

Elysha and Jake (the dog). It was our first proper holiday in the camper van we had just inherited from John's dad. John's dad is now in a Nursing Home with emphysema and life is hard and sad for him. He offered us the camper van and though I am on preference a 5 star accommodation person I thought ok lets give it a go.

Well it poured with rain the first night and I thought we were going to get washed away but then settled down to hot hot hot for the next five days then the last two days it was torrential rain which of course meant lots of mud and packing in the mud and rain. All things considered it was a brilliant caravan park, people are extremely friendly stopping to chat, happy to help and share. People were wonderful with Elysha and that means a lot to me as we have met some terrible prejudice over the years. Jake bunged on a bit of small dog syndrome but then I found all the little dogs did this but his Guide Dog Assoc training paid off in the long run and he was a good boy with people all wanting to get to know the puppy (he is 10 years old but has a look of him that people mistake for puppy).

Fishing was a bit hit and miss; sunburn, me on my back sitting in the shade colouring in, should have moved. John got really badly burned on his feet where his thong straps go across his feet, the only white bits on his body, it was like 3rd degree burns and caused much pain for four days or so which made getting around very hard.

We ate, drank and worked on a 1000 piece puzzle with the help of total strangers and yes I will go again. I also had phone calls from dad everyday at least 15 times a day letting me know that the creek between mums cottage and where he lives was filling fast and reaching critical levels. He was very worried it was going to flood, highest levels it had been in ten years (he has only been there just over 2 months now). I kept assuring him they would get him out if it flooded but it only settled him down when I said we had a dingy and could come get him if it overflowed. Dad had his 92 birthday last week and apart from a few escapes is doing well at the new nursing home now.

On to the cards:

This beautiful card is a Penny Black Stamp, all the work is done as you stamp and the flowers are already in the vase so all you need to do is colour. I have coloured with Copics. I tried to keep the colours nice and soft and the only strong colours are the two main flowers and they are R81 R83 R85 R89 for deep shadow. I got a little heavy handed so the colours got darker than I intended. 

I have tilted this photo and really lightened to show the sparkle as I added Wink of Stella to the flowers. I added it to the centres of the flowers coming out (not the whole flower) and the lines of the vase. Really looks beautiful IRL. I have taken all these photos while babysitting so I don't have facilities to take photos to show up sparkle as well.

I added some grey copic to the base then used the '0' colourless blended to breakup the grey.

Finished off the card with some sequins and silver glitter diecut 'celebrate'

This card is so cute. I got this image given me by a crafty friend and it has been sitting there

waiting for me to colour her in for ages. I decided to go really light pink/peach. This is a

Stamping Bella stamp and I am thinking she needs to join my collection of stamps, but will have to wait, as I have just seen the latest release and ohhh boy am I going to be broke after I finish shopping there.

Anyhoo After I coloured her with Copics R000 R00 R10 R20 I also added some Wink of Stella and again you are going to have to believe she looks fabulous cause my photos didnt catch the glitter. I die cut with rounded stitched rectangle die, added fun foam behind then attached to a card I had added patterned paper to. No sentiment so it can be used for anything. 

This is another image I coloured while away but had to work out how to fix you see I stamped it at an angle then decided to add the vase and had added the sentiment which was straight across the card so I had to do a bit of fiddling around but I got there. I love this stamped image totally, its just beautiful and so easy it colour. Its from The Ton. Coloured again with Copics and very happy with how the vase has turned out.

I ended up using a stitched rectangle die on the piece then added to a yellow cardbase but attached at a distinct angle so the vase is in the right place. I added some bright coloured enamel dots then to cover up the original sentiment that was stamped and now at a weird angle I die cut a white and gold polka dot tag and added a gold cardstock diecut 'thanks'. Makes it an odd shaped card but will make a special envelope for it. I love how the colours look against the yellow cardbase.

This next card was actually inspired by the arrival of three parcels in a row with crafting goodies all ordered over a number of weeks but being in Australia we often have to wait for deliveries. In this instance some were held up, some arrived when expected and others arrived quicker than expected and then I went to a craft shop and as I was driving home I was thinking of this sweet image from Mo's Digital Pencil and thinking it would  was the perfect front for my introduction to what I have bought..........oh my goodness

In this instance you can just see the glitter on her dress. I couldn't resist giving her a bit of red in her hair to go with her yellow dress. Isn't she the cutest, in this instance as she is a digital image I manipulated her in Adobe Illustrator and just put her on the edge of the page so I only printed what I wanted and also at a tilt as though she is looking around the corner and has spotted my supplies!!!

So I can use it after I have stamped inside with this fantastic sentiment I managed to find in the shop I was in. How cool is it. It will get so much use from me as I am shocking at getting cards out on time. I do so love making cards, but getting them to people on time - never.

  

This was the craft shop items, the Distress Oxides I didnt have yet that I wanted to add, only the brights and lights as I don't use the duller or darker colours. Some extra Alcohol Inks, Transparent Yupo, blending foams and a couple of stamps. 

A lovely pile of new Mama Elephant stamps and a die.

Hero Art  only showing the Add ons to the actual kit I received in February so I am being conservative there. Also forgot to add the diecut letters of the alphabet I bought to go with the stamp.

Dies and stamps from Pretty Pink Posh. Lots to be used.

As you can see there has been quite a spending spree which is mad as

it will just add to the pile of NBUS already there but what can I 

say other than 'You know how it happened, you know you do'

'They made me do it mum'

Challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Tulips in a Vase 'Thanks'

The PaperPlayers PP383 A Theme Challenge from Jaydee

Tulips in a Vase 'Thanks'

Seize the Birthday : Anything Goes

Oh My Goodness

Belated Birthday Card

Cute Card Thursday: #519 Anything Goes

Stamping Bella Flower Girl No Sentiment

Crafting From The Heart Challenge #197 Anything Goes

Ohh My Goodness Card

Crafty Cardmakers #206 Floral Delight

Flower Vase 'Celebrate'

Allsorts Challenge Blog #457 Ladies Only

My beautiful Stamping Bella Flowergirl card

Crafty Friends Challenge Blog #78 Springtime

Tulips in a Vase 'Thanks'

Alphabet Challenge Blog 'Y' Your Choice

Penny Black Flowers in a Vase 'Celebrate'

Thank you so much for coming to visit and I hope you come again soon.

The Flower Challenge #18 Anything Goes

Its time for a new challenge over at The Flower Challenge Blog and this month it's Anything Goes. 

To make the Challenge even more exciting we have a couple of  Prizes this month.

This month we are very lucky to have one of our previous sponsors back again. The very talented EunJi Jung from DotBstamp has two of her amazing floral digital images to give to our lucky Winner this time. They are also her latest two releases for this month !

Here they are below if you want to see a preview. Of course there won't be watermarks on yours if you wish to purchase them. Aren't they soo gorgeous ! 

                                                        Anenome Bouquet 

Magnolia

All the design team have been given a choice of these same two digital images to use on our cards to inspire you all. So get making your cards for a chance to win these two fabulous digital images ;)  

The Winner will be announced in the usual manner, the day before the next challenge. 

Please don't forget to use your Florals as always and as the MAIN feature on your card.

I decided to use the Magnolia image for my card for today and have printed up on 250gsm Copic cardstock on my Laser printer. I played around with the sizes until I came up with a size I liked and was able to fit quite a few on each on an A4 size page. The lines are very fine which means the images look really beautiful when coloured. I did try using the Scan 'N' Cut but found it wouldn't acknowledge the bottom of the stems and ran out of time to fiddle so had to fussy cut. Will have to play around some more later and let you know how I go.

This is something that can happen with finer lines.

I have coloured the leaves with my favourite greens YG01  G21 YG17 and pinks R000 R00 R10 R02. Just love this combination, its soft yet stunning.

As you can see up close I have used all the magnolia pieces, the main one twice, the sharper image once and small bud three times tucking them in and around the silver glitter paper die cut piece so they look as though they are growing behind, through and infant of it.

Sorry I cant think off hand where I got the silver frame piece from, its one of those pieces you buy then never use, then find its suddenly perfect with cards in style at the moment so not such a bad purchase after all. Definitely looks good in glitter card stock. the cardstock underneath in watercolour

covered in bright pinks and oranges Distress Inks smashed and smeared and a bit of gold paint added which doesn't really show up in the photos but is there in abundance.

All finished off with a simple die cut 'love' in white cardstock.

Really happy with how this turned out. Now its time to go see what the rest of the team have made with these beautiful images provided by EunJi Jung.  

Before you go I just wanted to let you know that Ruth (Crafting While the Baby Naps) my very dear friend, such a wonderful listener and support for me since I first came to Blogland, is leaving The Flower Challenge as her family life is so busy  and work and Design Team work pressure can become overwhelming. Something has to give and this time it is us. We will of course still see Ruth as we will hound her for Guest Posts etc as we do others who have escaped.

As our team is getting smaller we are thinking that it would be nice to add to the team as well so if you are interested in joining us go to The Flower Challenge and read what Vivien has written and see if you are interested in joining the team.

Thanks so much for coming to visit and I hope you come again soon.

Challenges:

Sparkle With Us Card Challenge With Heather & Foiled Fox

Simon says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Use Your Stuff ANYTHING GOES

The silver glitter paper diecut was a die that I have had forever and had

only used once and finally found I could use and looked good.

All sorts Challenges Week #457 Ladies Only