First Day of School

This week the challenge theme at Michelle Perkett Studio is "Back to School"  I didn't think I was going to get to play this week as it's been/still is! hectic around here...but I'm scraping in by the skin of my teeth before I head off to the land of nod :)

I made an 8x8 photo board...here 'tis:

I used the very cute Mary Margaret digi stamp...a freebie from Michelle's PCP group. You can sign up at PCP HERE to join Michelle's fabulous group.  Or take a look at her Etsy shop HERE to find more gorgeous images :)

I found this supercute blackboard digi paper which is part of the collection called Teacher's Pet at Scraporchard.  My wonderful hubby cut the board for me, which I painted with black craft paint before adhering the DP to the front.  The Ruler Photo Frame and apple are from the same digi paper collection. Mary Margaret was printed onto Xpress Graphx blending card and coloured with Copics. Her bow has been highlighted with glitter pen. Both apples have been glazed with SU Crystal Effects. All images have been fussy cut and popped up on foam dots. The caption is computer generated and printed onto CM blue CS.

Here's a close up of the very sweet Mary Margaret :)

Thanks for looking...have a wonderful day :)

Life is Sweet

Here is a little cupcake box I made for the Inkspirations colour challenge over at Keesh's site this week.

I've been wanting to play in one of Keesh's challenges for soooo long! Keesh is the lovely lady who helped me decide on whether to buy my Copics or not...and I'm SO pleased I rang and spoke to her coz I LOVE my Copics SO much :) Thanks Keesh. Admittedly there's not that much colouring on this project but I'm just happy to have managed to play in the challenge at last!

This is the colour combo:

 And here is my cupcake box:

This is the same style cupcake box I made HERE. The box is made from SU Rich Razzleberry CS. The DP is from Two Peas in a Bucket digi paper kit called Cupcake Royalty. The cupcake images were stamped onto Express Graphx blending card and coloured with Copics...making the Razzleberry colour with the Copics was fun!!! I blended 2 colours together to get it as close as possible :)

Supplies:
CS: SU Rich Razzleberry, Pretty in Pink, Choc Chip, Whisper White, Express Graphx blending card
DP: Cupcake Royalty
Stamps: SU Cupcake Wheel (separated), Kaiser cupcake, Foot Long cupcake
Colouring: Copics
Ink: SU Choc Chip, SU Pretty in Pink
Other: SU Crystal Effects, SU Dazzling Diamonds, Clear EP, Kaiser Pearls, Bought Cupcake :)

Thanks for looking...have a wonderful day :)

Harmony Mermaid Frame

I'm baaaack!!! I feel like I've been MIA for EVER! It's been 3 weeks since I blogged/created anything but it feels longer...I've been having major withdrawals lol! Life has become WAY too busy this year and has been encroaching on my creative time :(

This is a photo frame I made to enter in the Michelle Perkett Studio challenge #41.  The theme this week is Anything Goes.  Michelle has a fabulous new DT and this is the first challenge posted.

Supplies:
Kaiser Wood frame
Turquoise metallic craft paint
DP: Paper Inklings "H2Oohh!"
Digital Stamp: Harmony Mermaid from Michelle Perkett
CS: Xpress Graphx Blending card
Other:  Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol, MS glitter, glaze pen, Spica pen, SU Crystal Effects, Cuttlebug tag, Kaiser Droplets

Thanks for looking...have a wonderful day :) Hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later with the next project!

Aloha! Holiday Fund :)

Welcome to my Aloha! Blog Hop project :)  If you have been hopping in order from the start of the hop at Michelle's blog HERE...then you will have hopped here from the lovely crafty CLAIRE'S blog...and from here will hop on to the lovely RANDI'S blog.

Note: My thank you letter is at the bottom of this post

Here is my Aloha project:

I've made a money box from a Kaiser wood tissue box cover!  I cut a piece of chipboard to make a base for the box and painted the box with blue craft paint. Leilani was printed onto Xpress Graphx blending card and coloured with Copics. Glaze and glitter pens were used to highlight areas of the image. She was then cut out and popped up on dots.

The front and side panels were made using Kaiser DP for the 'sky', CM DP for the water and DP from my stash for the sand. The palm tree is a CM die-cut that I've coloured with Copics and added Kaiser pearls to for the 'coconuts'. The side panels have been created using an assortment of CM stickers from my stash and a K & Co 3D umbrella sticker.

To create the lid with the slot I cut a panel of SU CS and the same Kaiser 'sky' DP and cut the money slot with a craft knife. The lid has been hinged with ribbon. The wording is computer generated, with a couple more stickers to finish it off.

The caption reads:  Aloha! Holiday Fund.......All Donations gratefully accepted!

I'm not normally much of a sticker girl but with a sprained wrist happening in the middle of this project, it was out of the question to do any more colouring for the panels...and it was a good way to use up some of those CM stickers I've had in my stash for a looooong time :)

Now off you hop to RANDI'S blog to see her wonderful creation!  Don't forget to leave some love for everyone along the way :)

THANK YOU

I'd like to firstly thank Michelle for inviting me to be a member of her DT.  Thank you for everything Michelle...not least your beautiful artwork that I LOVE to colour :)

I've LOVED being a part of this group...they are a fabulous group of ladies...supportive, caring and happy to share...and soooo welcoming of newcomers. They made me feel right at home from the beginning.  

My crafting has grown in ways I would never have imagined since becoming a member of Michelle's PCP group. Everyone has been so encouraging and enthusiastic about my projects...that means so much to me girls...thank you!!

As for the other DT girls...your amazing creations have continually inspired me.  Thank you for being such an amazing group to work with...well, it's been more like playing really lol!!

It has been such a privilege to be a part of this DT. I can't wait to see what Michelle has in store for us
next :)  

Hugs
Lynne xx

Princess Oceana Joy Fold

The challenge this week at Michelle Perkett Studio is to make a Joy Fold card. This is my last project as a DT member for Michelle's group.  I have soooo loved being on the DT.  Work commitments have meant that I don't have much creating time these days and I like to give my best when I make a commitment and don't like to always be scraping in at the last minute, which is how it's been for the last couple of months now :(  I LOVE Michelle's art work and will still be an active member of her group...and enter the challenges as I can.

Thank you so much Michelle for inviting me to join your DT.  My crafting has grown in ways I would never have thought of. It's been so rewarding being on the DT and such a privilege to work with you (well, it's been more like playing really lol!)  Keep those gorgeous images coming :)

Anyhow...on to my project...this is the card I made:

This is a clean & simple card...a style I like :)  Image is Princess Oceana from Michelle Perkett's Etsy shop. She has been printed onto Express Graphx blending card and coloured with Copics then highlighted with glaze and glitter pens. I used embossing powder on the pearls. The base card is CM CS from my stash, the bubble panel is SU Glossy White CS embossed with the Spots & Dots Cuttlebug folder and brayered with SU Baja Breeze ink. Patterned DP is Kaiser from the Airy Fairy collection. I've had the little plastic starfish for years and thought it would finish the card of nicely...I added some glitter to it before adhering to the circle :)

A close up of the beautiful Princess:

I really like Joy Fold cards...and there are so many varieties...so come along and join in the challenge this week and show us your gorgeous Joy Fold card creations :)

Tea for Two

This is my DT project for Michelle Perkett Studio challenge #38.  The theme this week is a colour/sketch combo...I've used the colour combo for my card...couldn't work the sketch into what I wanted to make!

These are the colours for the challenge:

And here's my card:

I had this mad idea the other week that I'd like to make a teacup card for this challenge, so asked my very clever friend, HELEN, if she would make me a KNK cutting file...much easier and neater than hand cutting it! I haven't learned to make cutting files with the software yet but when I go to visit Helen in August she's going to give me a lesson...then hopefully I won't have to pester her all the time :) Thank you so much for creating the pattern for me Helen...MWAH...*waving*

The card is made from SU Very Vanilla CS. The image is Juniper & Cecilia from Michelle Perkett's Etsy shop. It is printed onto Neenah Classic Crest Cream paper and coloured with Copics. Glitter & glaze pens have been used to highlight areas of the image. The lip of the cup and the saucer have been cut from CM metallic gold CS (this is my version of sand from the colour combo!!) The teabag "tag" has been computer generated onto CS and matted with SU Choc Chip CS. The "string" is embroidery floss. All edges have been chalked with SU pastels for depth...unfortunately it doesn't show that well in the photo but looks much better IRL.

Inside the card:

The stamp is from an SU hostess set called Time Well Spent.  I love this stamp set and was so happy when I was able to buy it from a local demo after it was retired. There was no way I was ever going to "earn" it with a $1000 order!!!! I stamped with Choc Chip ink, embossed and coloured with Copics. The edges have also been chalked and the insert matted with Choc Chip CS.

Since having this idea of a teacup card, I have since seen teacups everywhere I look on blogs lately...not shaped cards, just lots of teacups!! Just goes to show that there's no such thing as an original idea lol!

I hope you'll come and play along with the challenge this week. We'd love to see what you create with the sketch/colours :)

White on White!

The challenge theme this week at Michelle Perkett Studio is "White on White with coloured image".  I actually had some free time last night, so thought I'd give it a go.  I've never done anything layered in the same colour before so had to think about how I was going to tackle this :)

I made an easel card for my sister's birthday, which is later in the month. Here's what I came up with:

The image is the beautiful Lily from Michelle Perkett's Etsy shop. She has been printed onto Xpress Graphx blending card and coloured with Copics. Glaze and glitter pens have been used to highlight parts of the image.  The base card is SU Glossy White CS. Lily and her Cuttlebug-embossed orb have been popped up on foam dots on the Mulberry paper background, which I spritzed with Glimmer Mist. The Glossy White butterfly border has been made with an MS punch. The very pretty large butterfly was cut with my KNK Maxx. The sentiment is 2 SU stamps combined...frame & sentiment...which have been stamped and embossed, then cut out and adhered to a small piece of Mulberry paper. I used a punch from my stash to make the 3 small butterflies. To finish the card I applied Diamond Stickles to all the butterfly wings and 3 Kaiser half pearls to hold the card open.

Thanks for looking...have a wonderful day :)

Hey Birdie & Just Buggy!

Woo hoo...I'm on a roll this weekend :)  After not getting in hardly any crafting for the last couple of months, I've made 3 things in as many days!!

I've had this idea for a while now and haven't had the time to try it out.  I love the Kaiser wood products and use them a lot for my projects. One of my favourite things to decorate are the 10" square wood photo frames. The only problem with them is that sometimes you lose too much of the design on the 12 x 12 DP, either from the borders or the centre, where the opening is for the photo. I've been wanting to try a photo board like this one to get around those problems. I'm really happy with the result and will be making more of these :)

My lovely hubby cut a sheet of craftwood into approx 11 1/2" squares so I could experiment. The board has been painted with gold/green metallic craft paint and the DP adhered to the front. The DP I chose for this project is from the Kaiser Hey Birdie collection and just has the little tree, bush, mushroom and grass printed on it..it's called Skedaddle. The large tree was cut with my KNK Maxx from coordinating papers from the same range and the trunk and mats for the patterned circles are SU Soft Suede & Old Olive CS. The tree stump and cute girl are from CC Designs and have been coloured with Prismacolor pencils and OMS, cut out and adhered to the DP. The extra little birds have been cut from one of the matching papers and popped up on dots on the trees. The butterfly is a K & Co 3D sticker.

The centre pink circle is actually a photo frame. It fits a 4"round photo and is popped up on dots to allow the photo to slide in and out from the top...dots have been placed around the bottom and sides only.

The cute girl:

Thanks for looking...I'm off to see if I can create another photo board before I run out of weekend and have to go back to the work stuff!!

Edited to add: Yep...managed to get the other one done...here it is:

This one was fairly quick and easy as there's no colouring on it.  I searched everywhere for a little boy with bugs of some sort so I could colour and mount the image, to no avail :(  Doesn't feel quite right when I make something that doesn't have colouring...I am sooo addicted lol!

This photo board uses Kaiser DP from the Just Buggy collection...the background DP is a 12 x 12  and the photo frame has been made using papers from the 6" pad.  The wording is made with CM alpha stickers from my stash.

No more from me this weekend! I've had a lovely time playing but tomorrow it's back to the work stuff...maybe I'll manage a little play time during the week :)

Cupcake Card

I made this card today for a work colleague's daughter's 3rd birthday...which was last Friday...ooops!! Oh well, better late than never!

I made the card from a KNK cutting file that my very clever friend Helen created some time ago. There are 4 sections to the card: the cupcake 'paper' case base card, 'paper' case DP, icing top and a small cupcake shaped card that adheres to the back. I used CM pink CS from my stash for all the base pieces, DP from my stash for the cupcake 'paper' case (which has been put through a crimper to look like the real thing but doesn't show up well in the photo) and JAC paper covered with AED glitter for the iced top.

The cute little girl is Abby from Michelle Perkett's Etsy shop. She has a cute little dog with her which I used on the 60th birthday card I made in THIS post. They are called Abby and Walter and one day I will actually use them both together in a project lol!! I printed Abby onto a piece of Schizzi Sketching paper by Fabriano and coloured with pencils and OMS. She has been highlighted with a little glitter pen and some Frosted Lace Stickles for her frills. I cut her out and popped her up on foam dots.

A close up of cute little Abby:

Michelle has some seriously cute new designs at her PCP and CDAC groups that she has offered as freebies for the members of her groups. If you join either of her groups you will be able to grab them while they're available :) Michelle's images are very addictive...and beautiful to colour...so hop on over and join in the fun!

Cupcake Box

Michelle Perkett is sponsoring the first challenge over at the new Crafter's Digital Art Centre site. The challenge theme is Birthday Whimsey and Michelle is offering a cute free digi stamp for the occasion...thanks Michelle :)

The inspiration for the challenge is this vibrant cake:

I wanted to make a cupcake box, so went trawling the web for ideas; in the end I decided I'd make an exploding box, as I think it would be a pain to try and get an iced cupcake into, and out of, an ordinary box without making a mess of it!! I made up my own measurements for the box, lid and insert. Not too taxing for the mathematically challenged like me lol!! The finished box is 4" square. I saw THIS BOX on my blog hopping and loved the idea of the acetate window in the top, so used that inspiration in my project. This is what I came up with:

I used the colours of the cake for inspiration but wanted my box to be a little more subdued :)  I found these great Garden Party digi papers at Two Peas in a Bucket...they are the perfect colours for the effect I wanted! The box is SU Pretty in Pink CS. I printed out Michelle's cupcake image in 2 sizes (plus one top only) onto Xpress Graphx blending card and coloured with Copics. The 'icing' flowers were then 'frosted' with fine glitter and a dot of Liquid Pearls added to the centres to represent edible pearls. I cut a circle in the lid for the window and put a piece of acetate on the underside. The coloured images are popped up on dots. I cut down the circle off-cuts to make a label for the inside back wall and stamped it with one of my SU stamps...it says...a little Yummy for your tummy :)

When I went into town yesterday I went looking for a decorated cupcake to use as a prop for my photos.  The ONLY one I could find was this rather pathetic example :(  Not at all what I wanted!...and I don't have the time to try and whip one up in my kitchen...not that cake decorating is my forte anyway! So you will have to use your imagination and see a beautiful, pink-iced cupcake in there lol!

I hope you will come and join in the fun for this first challenge and show us your Birthday Whimsey creations. And don't forget to hop on over there and get Michelle's cute cupcake freebie :)