Friday, December 30, 2011

A Beautiful Love…

In a time when divorce is just another step in the marriage process for some, there is beauty in a lasting love.  This is for a couple that really aren’t as old as this card depicts, nor does she have weight issues LOL.  I’m using it more as a symbol of the depth of their continued love.



I turn to another image by Mo Manning.  The image says it all.  It’s a beauty that can’t be found in young love.  It’s one that has had joyous occasions and many trying ones, I’m sure.  Because, unlike love stories or love songs, it doesn’t just happen and last forever.  It takes much work on both parts.



I’ve kept the card pretty simple, but I try to go for balance.  I like the color combination of the purples and the navy, and it was not difficult to pull the papers together after I had already colored the image.  I do this most of the time. This coloring was done with Prismacolors and Gamsol.  



I’ve used Spellbinders, Cheery Lynn and MS products for my cut outs.  The flowers and gems are by Recollections and the multicolored paper under the bow is by Basic Grey.  The beautiful bow is tied with my Bow Easy. I’ve use Inspirations Paint on the flowers and the sentiments are from a collection.

I’m entering this in the following challenges:

The Paper Shelter – tied bow
Everybody-Art-Challenge – anything
Party Time Tuesday – anything
Aud Sentiments – anything
My Mum’s Craft Shop Challenge – anything
The Pixie Cottage – sketch
Scrapbook Sisters – anything
Digi Doodle Shop Challenges – anything
4 Crafty Chicks – something new - the image
Secret Crafter – anything
Basic Grey Challenges – anything
Mark’s Finest Paper – anything
The Cutie Pie Challenge – card w/sentiment
Hiding In My Craft Room – Creative Inspirations paint
Creative Inspirations Paint – anything w/their paint
Crafty Boots Challenges – celebrate
Craft Room Challenge – anything
Sparkles Forum Challenges – anything but Christmas
Pile It On Challenge - bling
Delicious Doodles Challenge - anything



Thanks again for stopping by.  Hopefully you won’t get tire of my anniversary cards, as I have a few more to go.  LOL.


Hugs,


dj1952 (Debra)

Thursday, December 29, 2011

My favorite Mo card of 2011????

Wow, that’s a hard one.  I love so many of them.  However, I finally narrowed it down to two and of these I chose:



Home Tweet Home.  

I did this for some friends who bought a new home (to them) and then renovated it and finally were able to move in.  I do love easel cards and shaped ones also.

I’m not included a photo of the runner up, since I don’t want to add anything that might disqualify me for the challenge over at Mo’s Digital challenge this week. But if anyone is curious you can look at “I Need My Mummy”.  I was thinking of my grandson when I did it.  Not that he looks like the boy, just that he’s cute.

I hope you enjoyed my look down memory lane. LOL.  (It was only about three months ago.)

Hugs,

dj1952 (Debra)

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Anniversary number…?

I’ve lost count now of the anniversary cards I’ve done and still have to do.  My list just seems to grow longer.  But I don’t really mind, I enjoy doing them.  It’s just that I can’t always remember what image I’ve already used for any one couple.  I started writing down who I sent what card, but I got out of the habit, and now I couldn’t begin to remember who I’ve given what.



This is a card where I merged two of Mo Manning’s images together.  I also asked her permission to erase the basket that the boy was carrying, and she didn’t mind at all since I had asked and it was for my personal use.



I’ve made this into a large, joy fold card since I wanted to join in on a couple of challenges, in which I needed a little larger card.  My Cheery Lynn Dies also needed a little more room. 



In case you are wondering, the striped paper is curved, your eyes aren’t going on you. LOL.



The card doesn’t have much in the way of embellishments other than paper, jewels, flowers and Cheery Lynn dies. 



I didn’t want to distract away from the beautiful dies, so I left most everything to a minimum. I believe the yellow DP is from MS, but I’m not sure about the dotted and striped ones.



All of the dies are by Cheery Lynn Designs.  I love how intricate the designs are and the fact that they can be embossed after cutting out the die. 

I’m entering this card in the following challenges:

The House That Stamps Built – What if Wednesday – sketch
Simon Says Stamp Challenge – bingo: bottom three; multifold, flowers; brads
Shelly’s Images – anything
Meljen’s Designs – shaped card
Do You Stack Up – stripes
Cheery Lynn Designs – celebration
Pile It On – bling
Paper Playtime – anything with sentiment
Totally Gorjuss – for someone special
Everybody-Art-Challenge – anything
Aud Sentiments – anything & sentiment
Scrapbook Sisters – anything
My Mum’s Craft Shop Challenges – anything
The House that Stamps Built – Shaped Card Challenge – shaped card
Digi Doodle Shop’s Challenge – anything
Wags ‘n Whiskers – fancy folds
Secret Saturday – anything
Basic Grey Challenges – anything
Mark’s Finest Papers – anything
The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog – card with sentiment
Hiding in My Craft Room – use it or lose it – flowers
Crafty Boots Challenges – celebrate
Bunny Zoe's Crafts – shaped cards
Sparkles Forum Challenge – anything but Christmas
Bearly Mine Challenges – anything
Craft-Room Challenge - anything
Party Time Tuesdays - anything
The Pixie Cottage - sketch or someone special
4 Crafty Chicks - something new - images




Thanks again.  That’s all for today.

Hugs,

dj1952 (Debra)

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Ragged Romeo…

Isn’t this just the most adorable couple?  I have so many friends celebrating anniversaries coming up in the next couple of months, and when I saw this one at Mo’s Digital Designs, I just knew I had to have it. 



I also really love this combination of pink and brown, too. It’s just that my brain isn’t working very well right now.  So please just overlook any garbled language you might see.
 
I haven’t slept much in the last couple of nights as my sweet dog, Oliver has been having seizures over the past three days and evenings, so far he’s had 23. We have medications for him, they’re just not working.  And the side-affects are almost as bad.  Oh well, enough depressing info.

Here’s a close-up of the image, which was colored with Prismacolors and Gamsol.



I always like to decorate the inside of the card too, so here’s a photo of that.



This is a close-up of the page the stamp is on.  I’ll be writing my own message on the right side of the card.




Recipe of items used:
image – Mo Manning
paper – DCWV or K and Company
Dies – Cheery Lynn and Spellbinders
Punches – MS Ribbon Loop
Butterflies inside – EK Success
Butterfly outside – Creative Creations
Flowers – Recollections
Bling – Recollections, Liquid Pearls and Stickles
Lace & Sentiment – not sure
Embossed strip with Cuttlebug folder
 I’m entering this card in the following challenges:

Stamp + Fun = Creativity – favorite material: flowers
Corrosive Challenges – anything but Christmas
One Stitch At A Time – anything
Southern Girls Challenge – celebrate
Craft Room Challenge – punches/die cuts
The Crafty Pad – anything but Christmas
Party Time Tuesday’s – ribbon
The Paper Shelter – lace
Simon Says Stamp – bingo: top line
Mo’s Digital Challenge – punches/dies 
Shelly’s Images – any celebration
Do You Stack Up – stripes 
Sundays With Crissy – anything 
Really Reasonable Ribbon’s Ramblings – trim 
Pile It On – bling 
Paper Playtime – anything + sentiment 
Flutter By Wednesdays – butterfly + anything 
Everybody-Art-Challenge – anything
Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog – anything 
My Mum’s Craft Shop Challenges – anything 
Scrapbook Sisters – anything 
Little Miss Muffet – anything 
Digi Doodle Shop Challenges – anything 
Sketches by Carly – sketch 
The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog – card with sentiment 
Karen’s Doodles – spots + stripes 
Sparkles Forum Challenges – anything but Christmas
Totally Gorjuss - for someone special
Mark's Finest Papers - anything
The Pixie Cottage - sketch or someone special


Thanks again for stopping by another week and leaving comments.  I hope that I inspire some of you some also.

Hugs,

dj1952 (Debra)

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Precious Moments…

Good morning.  I want to share another anniversary card with you that I finished over the weekend.  This is for a younger couple that we really enjoy being around.  This is my first attempt at the “surprise pop-up card”.  I followed the tutorial here, most of you probably recognize the artist, Beate Johns.  It was much easier that I thought, and you can make it any size.  

Here is a picture of the card when it is closed.

 

These are photos of the full size card, one opened as you would see first.



And this one, with my handwritten message on the back.  You could also put another stamped sentiment here if you like.  I placed some dark green paper under the back of the card so you could see the tag more fully.



The paper I’ve used is Basic Grey, and I thought it was beautiful.  The two blues and dark green are regular card stock.  I used a MS punch and a Cheery Lynn die for the top of the card.



I added a button, ribbon piece for a bow and some pearls to finish it off.  Of course there is also ribbon on the end of the tag.  (I made it this color by coloring a light blue piece with my dark green Sharpie marker.

I’m entering this card in the following challenges:

Delightful Challenges – anything
Shelley’s Images – anything
Little Miss Muffet Challenges – buttons and ribbons
Tiffany Doodles – digi
Frosted Designs – ribbon
Totally Gorjuss – someone special
Corrosive Challenge – anything but Christmas
Just Tracy’s Crafts Challenge – celebrate
One Stitch At A Time – anything
Stamp + Fun = Creativity – favorite materials – ribbon
Craft Room Challenge – die cuts and punches
The Crafty Pad Designs – anything but Christmas
Meljen’s Designs – shaped card
Party Time Tuesdays - ribbon
Lily Pad Cards – buttons
Sunday’s With Chrissy – anything
Really Reasonable Ribbon – anything + ribbon
Pile It On – bling
Paper Playtime – anything + sentiment
Ladybug Crafts Ink – bingo: buttons, dies, pearls
Everybody-Art-Challenge – anything
Wags ‘n Whiskers – fancy folds
Basic Grey Challenges – anything
Secret Crafter – celebration
The Cutie Pie Challenge – card + sentiment
Bunny Zoe’s Crafts – shaped card
Sparkles Forum Challenges – anything but Christmas
Bearly Mine Challenge – anything

Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving nice comments.  They really encourage me.

Hugs,

dj1952 (Debra)

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Happy Anniversary You Two…

Hi again.  I can’t believe I’ve finished another card!  (I did color up several images before I started making these cards, thankfully.)  This is obviously another anniversary card for some dear friends.
I’ve used Basic Grey paper and I can’t remember who the rest is from.  I used my die cuts from Nestibilities for the tag and image.  The one for the card is by Cheery Lynn Designs.  The flowers and gems are by Recollections.  I wanted a little extra bling, so I added some beautiful ribbon I got at Hobby Lobby’s and then made my “stitches” with a gold gel pen. 



I colored my image by Mo Manning with my Promarkers.  I still have a long way to go in learning to use them, but practice does help.

 

I didn’t do too much to the inside, but I will finish it up with some more bling and punches.



I’m entering this in the following challenges: 

I Love My Promarkers – shaped card
Mo’s Digital Challenge – banners or tags
Divas by Design Challenge – anything
Meljen’s Designs – some green
Totally Papercrafts – anything but Christmas
Daisy Doodles – sweet
Critter Challenge – sketch
The Paper Shelter – celebration
Corrosive Challenge – anything but Christmas
Sunday’s With Crissy – anything
Pile It On – bling
Cardmadfairy’s Digi Days – tags
Wags ‘n Whiskers – fancy folds
Basic Grey Challenges – anything
Bunny Zoe’s Crafts – shaped card
Tiffany Doodles – digi

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you’ll leave a comment.

Hugs,

dj1952 (Debra)

Monday, December 12, 2011

The Kissing Booth…

I guess you could say I’ve been busy lately.  I hope that I will be able to post a few more cards this week.  At least that’s the plan.  This is the first of several anniversary cards that I need to do this month.  I’m hardly ever on time with them, but I try.

This cute couple are by The Paper Shelter.  They have so many lovely images.  I won a couple, and then of course I had to go purchase a few more.  This works really well for an anniversary card; for a friend or for your mate. 



I don’t really enjoy doing all white cards, but there was a challenge I wanted  to enter this week, so I decided to give it a go again.  I’m not completely pleased with the way it turned out, because I like to have several layers of matting and paper. All of the dies on the page are by Cheery Lynn Designs.  The one border punch is by MS.  I used Creative Inspirations Paint on the “Sweet William” flower die and then put clear gems in the center.  The flower’s base is the center cut-out from the “Scandinavian Hearts” which, along with the leaf swirl I’ve glittered; I also added the laurel leaves in white.
 


I used a Cricut embossing folder with hearts for the backing of the couple.  I topped the corners with Candy Buttons.  The ribbon I used for my bow (using Bow-Easy), is from Bunny Zoe's Crafts.  And finally the stamps are from Stamping Scrapping.

I’m entering this card in the following challenges:

The Paper Shelter – celebration
Divas By Design – anything
Desert Islands Crafters Challenge – recipe: glitter, embossing, green and blue
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge – sketch
Digi Doodle Shop Challenges – nature (they’re outside)
Meljen’s Designs – some green (boy’s shirt, grass)
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge – anything
Totally Papercrafts – anything but Christmas
Digi Designs – all white except image
One Stitch At A Time – digi
Sundays With Crissy – anything
Cheery Lynn Designs – handmade flower
Daisy Doodles - cute
Simply Create Too – embossing
Corrosive Challenges – anything but Christmas
Pile It On – bling
Tiffany Doodles – digi 

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I hope you’ve enjoyed stopping by, and I hope you’ll leave a comment.

Hugs,

dj1952 (Debra)