31 Years Young!

Hi Everyone,

I have a new card for you today using Studio Calico products.  I made this for my friend, Lynsey, for her birthday earlier in the month.  She is the number one female triathlete in Scotland!  We are all so proud of her and hope she leaves them standing at the World Championships next month.  When I saw these cute little wooden bikes I knew I needed to use it on her card.  And here is the finished result:

I started with an A4 piece of cardstock which I scored in half on the Ultimate Pro.  I spritzed with the silver Mister Huey's to add a shimmer.  Using the Simon Says Stamp star die I cut the star border straight across the front.  The doily is from My Paper Stash and I left it plain.  I used Tattered Lace sentiment dies for the Happy Birthday and then attached with Cosmic Shimmer glue.  

My focal point was made using Spellbinder Hexagon dies and X-Cut Star dies.  I also used the Spellbinder Classic Circle dies for the bicycle base.  My papers and wooden embellishments are from Studio Calico.  Finally I used a Tim Holtz alphabet die to cut the numbers.  Here is a picture in the sun.

When I was over at Lynsey's for her birthday party, I noticed that she had framed my card from last year - I was so chuffed!  It also had a bicycle on it so I had better not do a third in a row for next year!

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

Fab'n'Funky Challenges #158 - What's Inside

Hi Crafty Friends,

It must be Wednesday as we have a brand new challenge for you at Fab'n'Funky Challenges.  We loved all of your romantic and heart projects last week - what a lot of love is going on in the world this week!  The winners and Top 3 are on the blog now so do take a look.

And now to let you in on our new challenge, we have the brilliant Beccy and she has chosen...

What's Inside

We would like to see the inside of your cards decorated.  You can decorate it in any way you like, just make sure there is something extra special in there for the recipient.

Our sponsor this week is one of my faves - Stamp Fairy.  You can click here to check out their fab designs.  The randomly picked winner will receive a $10 voucher to spend in the online store.

So, I bet you are wondering what I've created this week, so without further ado...

Isn't he cute?  This is Garden Goblins 1 from Stamp Fairy and you can find him here.  I took him into Serif and used the Cut Out Studio to cut away the main white part of the mushrooms.  I added a red polkadot background paper behind and then once printed out I fussy cut around with scissors and a craft knife.  I coloured using my ProMarkers and Flexmarkers in Satin, Almond, Dusky Pink, Cinnamon, Cocoa, Caramel, Burnt Umber, Lipstick Red, Ruby, Surf Blue, Aquamarine and Soft Aqua.  I hope you can see the shading.

My red layer is a piece of Coredinations cardstock which I distressed with my Tim Holtz paper distresser.  I embossed the mushroom frame from the Cuttlebug Freshly Picked set and then sanded back to reveal a bit more of the design.  My circle of clouds was made using a Darice folder and an X-Cut circle die.  I printed the blue and brown papers from Serif, recolouring using the colour picker tool.  My card blank is from Hunkydory and I used Antique Linen Distress Ink to age the edge. 

I layered up more of the papers that I had used on the front and then added a border of mushrooms.  This paper was also printed from Serif.  My mushroom die is by C.C. Designs and I've had it in my stash for ages but only just cut with it today.  I used a stamp set, with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Fired Brick, that was a free gift from Create and Craft as part of my club membership.

I hope you can link up your creations this week.  The team have come up with some brilliant ideas to I hope you can visit them for some inspiration too.

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

Fab'n'Funky Challenges #134 - Angels and Fairies

Hi All,

Well, we've had a day of all seasons here today.  At the moment it's summer but this morning was definitely winter.  Long may summer continue!

It's time for a brand new challenge at Fab'n'Funky Challenges.  Our host this week is Judit and she has chosen a lovely theme...

Angels and Fairies

So dig out those winged beauties and get crafting!  Our sponsor is Digi Darla Designs and one lucky winner will receive 5 digis from their store.  Check out the wonderful designs here.

Now on to my card.  The DT had lovely images to play with and I chose Annie Angel 4 which is a very cute angel digi. 

My papers are from Basic Grey and I love the bright colours of this pack.  I used my X-Cut star dies to cut the shapes from the pink paper and then layered using foam tape over the orange paper.

I coloured my lovely image using ProMarkers in the following colours:

Almond
Blush
Vanilla
Bright Orange
Rose Pink
Cerise
Pear Green

Then I cut her out using my Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles.  The ribbon was recycled from some packaging and I love how it pops.  My sentiment came free with a magazine and is from the Polka Doodles range.

Be sure to check out the other DT inspiration.  They are truly angelic!  Looking forward to seeing your creations. 

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

Fab'n'Funky Challenge #111 - Mellow Yellow

What a lot of leaping we were all doing last week!  Check out the Fab'n'Funky Challenge blog to see if you were our winner.  Great entries all round.

This week we are celebrating St David's Day.  So our theme is aptly named:-

Mellow Yellow

We were given some lovely digi images by our sponsors:-

and this is my creation:-

The yellow card hasn't show up very yellowy in the photo but it is definitely YELLOW!  I used the Spellbinders Grand Labels Eleven to make a card blank and then cut a piece of yellow card two sizes smaller to match.  I wrapped yellow and white baker's twine around and secured with sticky tape.  This layer was then mounted using foam tape.  I coloured my image with Promarkers but forgot to write them all down for you.  Must remember to do that next time!

The three circles were cut using my X-Cut circle dies.  To achieve the green, I coloured a piece of paper with the same Promarker used for the flower stem and then ran it through my Grand Calibur to cut and emboss the shape.  I can't remember where the sentiment stamps came from but they have been invaluable. 

Top Tip for Newbie Crafters - invest in a set of varied sentiment stamps in a range of sizes.  Consider generic sentiments such as "Thinking of You" which can be used for a wide range of occasions, for both male and female projects.

Happy crafting,
Rachel x

Purple Blooms

This is the first card I've made from my new Stamping Up stamps.  The card is made using the Pretty Petals range.  I just love this stamp.  I stamped the flowers all over the purple textured background card and then mounted it on lilac silk art card which I punched on either side with an EK Success punch. This was all mounted on silver mirri paper. The ribbon is from a selection from DoCrafts. To tie-in the sentiment I stamped it on the same purple textured card and then mounted it on the lilac silk art card.  The sentiment is from the Daisy and Dandelion range.  I rounded the corners with an X-Cut corner rounder punch.

This was a very quick card to make.  I used silver mirri-paper for the first layer and then covered this with a printed background paper that I designed using My Craft Studio.  I cut out two butterflies for the topper and shaped the top one to add dimension.  This was attached using Pinflair Foto-Glue.  The sentiment was taken from a peel-off set.  All corners were rounded using the X-Cut corner rounder punch which I can thoroughly recommend.