N for Note to Santa

What a day! Our car didn't quite make it through its MOT last week so had to go in for a bit of work yesterday and wasn't allowed home until today. DH happy now his car is back in his tender care - it is a fact that my husband loves his car almost/more than me so the agonies he goes through every year at this time is almost unbearable!

I, of course, consoled myself with a bit of crafty work - as you do :)  So here is the next card in the Alphabet series entitled N is for Note to Santa.

It was harder deciding what the letter N would stand for than it was to make this card. The cute Popcorn stamp came with the Crafter's Companion Make Christmas Cards pack

I used Momento Rich Cocoa to stamp the image and then coloured it with Promarkers and, of course, I've forgotten to list them again but I remember using, caramel, putty and blush for his body, buttercup and pastel yellow for Souffle's body, ginger for his beak and feet, cardinal red for the blanket and hat, cobalt blue for the pencil and ice grey 1 for the highlighting and edging. I glittered up the edge of the blanket and the little heart on Popcorn's ear and used fluffy stuff on his hat.

The gorgeous red backing is something different, not paper but sticky backed fabric which made it really easy to use. I found this together with the embossed gold card (used for matting, lace border and circle nestie) from Rosebuds, my local craft shop. The ribbon is from my stash and matched perfectly. I finished off the inside and back with some of the fabric stuff (can't call it paper) and a Sentiments 4 You sentiment and that was it - really easy.

Just a little note, I'm totally devastated as Rosebuds closed on Saturday and I really did love that shop - not least because they sold Promarkers individually in all the colours. No one else does that in the area. Also there was a wee coffee shop attached where I could relax with a latte after browsing round/buying up the shop. I will sorely miss it. However it is not all dark news, Andrea, the proprietor, who is a fount of knowledge and readily gave me hints and tips to help me with my card-making, plans to set up an online site in January. As well as selling many of the craft products as before, Andrea will also be organising classes and workshops, details of which will be up on the site.

Tomorrow is Wednesday and that means WOYWW so I'd better go tidy my messy desk before the reveal.

Bye for now.

Elizabeth

M - Mrs Claus

To everyone who sent me good wishes for my birthday I'd like to send a big THANKS. I had a lovely day, mostly pottering away in my craft room, and DH spoilt me totally by making me a lovely birthday dinner and even washed up afterwards. A perfect day : )

I finished a couple of cards yesterday but haven't photographed them yet so more of them later. In the meantime, here is the M card, easel shaped, in the Alphabet series - M for Mrs Claus.

Apologies for the quality of the images but the light is really bad at the moment and despite wandering all over the house looking for the perfect light I can't improve on this. The sexy lady is a Kenny K digi stamp - one of quite a selection, some rather more risque than others!

Coloured, as usual, with Promarkers and I still haven't developed the habit of keeping a record of which colours I've used, but includes:

soft peach, blush, ivory (skin), black, ice grey 5 & 1,  indigo blue, powder blue (hair, sack, belt, stockings & boots), burgundy, cardinal red (dress and hat), pastel yellow, marsh green, poppy (bells, holly and belt buckle) and not forgetting the trusty blender.

For the dress I tried out a technique called 'tip-to-tip' using the burgundy with the black - you put the tip of the burgundy to the tip of the black, it darkens the burgundy, not too much but enough, to use to define the shadows.

The two sentiments are also digi stamps from different sources, the round 'Baby . . . It's Cold Outside' is from Sentiments 4 You and the 'Be Naughty' is a Maloorney digi available at Digital Stamping by Louby Lou.  I blinged them up with silver and red glitter.

The red backing paper is one of my Christmas favourites, a freebie from Bearly Mine Designs, and the striped one is from Papermania's Mono Paper Pack by Tina Higgins.

The black & silver trim and the tartan ribbon are from my local knitting/craft shop; the bow is made from black metallic mesh ribbon from Ribbonbox. This is quite different from normal ribbon - you shape it first by pulling tight before shaping into a bow and then pull out again to form the fullness of the bow. (I'm not sure I've described this well, I think it is one of these things you have to see to get the idea - but the effect is good!)

The flower is actually a white poppy is from Wild Orchid Crafts - I just embossed it with silver to fit with my design. As usual, I decorated the inside with the papers before calling it finished.

I'll be back later, once I've photographed the other two cards, but in the meantime I hope you all have a lovely day and for those of you suffering the white stuff do keep warm.

Bye for now,

Elizabeth



Birthday Goodies

Good morning - more snow for us here. I love it but DH hates it - he sees it only from a driving perspective so it's just a nuisance to him! Anyway, it's my birthday today - I'm 63 and I can hardly believe it as I really don't feel that old - and I want to share with you my birthday goodies.

For once DH knew exactly what to get me because now that I'm crafting he picks up the vibes as he follows me round the craft shops. So, yippee, I now have a lovely collection of Sheena Douglass stamps, and a set of Rock a Blocks to put them on - hopefully this will save me hours of cutting out kling-on, a really horrible job. There's also some Perfect Pearls, some small paper packs, including Woodland Folk and Festive Frolics from Papermania - gorgeous papers - and a really lovely pack from Paper Cellar which I believe came from Tescos! The book is entitled 'Word for Every Occasion' by Judith Wibberley, and it really does have verses and sentiments to fit almost any situation. I really appreciate this as I'm always looking for sentiments that I can print out myself. Last, but not least, is a pack of DVD cases for me to store the new stamps in - a great idea I got from Kelli of Kelli's Table Scraps.

I'm off to have a nice cup of tea and then I've a card to photograph, another to finish and ditto, a card to make for my Auntie Millie's 86th birthday - maybe I'll use one of these new Sheena Douglass stamps. Oh, yes, must find time to snoop around the workdesks I've not managed so far : )

Bye for now,
Elizabeth

An NSR Thank You

It's a frosty morning here with just a light scattering of snow. My sympathy to all of you who are knee deep in the white stuff.

Just a quick card today - one I made to say thank you for a RAK I received from one of our fellow bloggers. She has the card now so safe to show it here.

This is a No Stamp Required (NSR) image from My Craft Studio's Serendipity CD - I think the these are cosmos flowers so I've used a bit of 'artistic' licence in colouring one blue - never seen a blue cosmos!

They are coloured with Promarkers and adhered to a pale pink die cut. I used two very pretty backing papers. The white/silver is a gauzy transparent paper - similar to Washi - from Ribbonbox which I layered it over a pink Basic Grey papers called Indian Summer.

The little Thank You ticket used inside is from a Hero Arts set of stamps. Embellishments are pink grosgrain ribbon tied with a faux bow (like tying these in this type of ribbon - traditional bows never seem to look right somehow) and silver peel-offs.

Got to take Bonnie to the vet's for a quick post-op check today and then it will be back here to try to tackle the growing list of cards I have to make. There are quite a few birthdays coming up in December and there's the never-ending list of Christmas cards to complete.

Bye for now,
Elizabeth

L for Love

Good evening, everyone.

Just taking the opportunity while DH takes over the nursing of a somewhat needy post-op Bonnie for a wee while to do this post. I really enjoyed making this card because this is my first attempt at using fabric and stitching.

The fabric has everything you need for a Christmas card, a red, gold, white and black colour scheme and snowmen, holly, lanterns and robins - perfect! I stitched it to red card cut out with the one of the new baby nesties from B-C-E and then adhered it to black backing paper. I chose the Nellie Sugar stamp, Snow Loved, thinking it an ideal match with the fabric and stuck to the colour scheme.

I stamped onto a white card, coloured with Promarkers and blinged it up with glitter. I then inked up the edges in red and then embossed with gold powder. This last was actually pretty tricky to do - I first went round the edges with a Versamark pen then embossed with the powder but wasn't too pleased with the result - too bitty. So, I took a glue pen and went over the top of the gold embossing which I then covered in powder again and I was much happier with the result. However, what I did discover is that the glue heated up much quicker and even bubbled in one corner. It's too easy to overcook it so another lesson learned :(

Now, I always try to decorate inside and back of my cards but the fabric presented a bit of a problem. I didn't really want to stitch it onto the inside and back so what to do? The solution was to scan the fabric, print off a page, then import it into My Craft Studio Professional and subject it to a bit of digi punching to design my own sentiments. Here's the results:

Inside

Back

Sentiment on front.

The finishing touches were some gorgeous red ribbon printed with Christmas trees, and a charm from my stash and, finally, some red flat-backed Prima pearls,  bought mail order from the lovely Hayley at Funky Farm Scrapbook Barn.

I really enjoyed making this card, feel I've learned a lot, and, happily, I am pleased with the end result. And, better still, I've plenty of fabric left - they call it a 'fat quarter' in the business, it measures approximately 40cm x 42cm, enough for several cards.

To all her well-wishers here's a pic of our Bonnie.

She is much brighter today, eating and drinking again and going quietly round the bend trying to remove that collar! She is banging into everything. Poor wee thing - it's only when you see her struggling to get around with this lump of plastic around her neck that you realise how much she depends on her whiskers to feel her way.

That's it for now - I'm off to take a look round all the other WOYWWers desks for a while then it will be on to the M card in the series. Goodness knows what I'll have to talk about when this is over :)

Bye for now

Elizabeth

WOYWW - Week 77

A bit of a mess this morning - in fact, it's just as I abandoned it last night. There's the latest card in the Alphabet series in process so bits of ribbon, fabric, scissors, glue, card, etc., There's my box of adhesives - I started with some Pritt stick and look what I have now. Everything from sprays, tapes, dots, dimension foam tape, Velcro - the lot. You can also see the ribbon storage my husband knocked up for me after I pointed out what somebody else's husband had made for her - can't remember who but many thanks for the inspiration!

Last but not least there's my wee sewing machine. DH bought this for me a good few years ago now and this is the first airing it has ever had!!! It is cute but it only sews straight lines so which is limiting - I did want to use a zigzag stitch on this card. Next time I'll get the bigger machine out - another present from DH which has never been used - you've got to give him ten out of ten for trying to get me sewing again:)

That's all for this morning because Bonnie, our cat, is having to go for surgery this morning and admission is very early. She has a cyst in each ear and one on the top of her head hence the surgery. She is an elderly cat so worrying but hopefully she will be okay.

For those still wondering what WOYWW is all about please pop over to Julia's blog, Stamping Ground, and discover the crafting snoopers paradise that is What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Edited later with: Bonnie is now home after the surgery. She is fine, or she will be when she gets accustomed to the collar she will be wearing for the next week - right now, she is confused and really unhappy. Because she is an elderly cat we are just relieved to have her home again. Thank you to everyone who wished her well.

Bye for now

Elizabeth

K for Kiss

Many thanks to all of you who wrote such nice comments about my J card, Jingle Bells. I have only been crafting for a few months and writing this blog for even less time so it's good to have your input. Over the next year or so I'm aiming to try as many new techniques as I can and perhaps by doing this develop my own particular style. Jingle Bells was quite a departure, vellum embossing, orange and brown - so different! Well, with the K card I've tried another new technique. I think it's called 'reveal' but not entirely sure.

On white card I stamped a combination of a mistletoe spray (Let's Get Crafting) and tiny hearts (free with a recent Docrafts Creativity magazine) all over in a random way. I then embossed with clear embossing powder before sponging on blue ink. Before the ink could dry too much I rubbed the embossing with kitchen paper to remove as much blue from the embossing as possible and reveal the white of the card. I edged the card by running a Versamark pen round it and then embossing with white powder. I discovered it's not easy to get even coverage doing it this way and had to repeat another twice before I was happy with it.

The main image is a Mo Manning digi stamp called Kisses for My Sweet - I just love the humour in this stamp - the mistletoe spray is part of the set.

A lot of stamping went into this card - the tag is an Anita's stamp and inside I've used a Docrafts stamp from the Penelope and Percy pack.

Embellishments were some royal blue eyelash fibre, paper lace, and blue flat-backed pearls - from my stash. The blue satin ribbon and white snowflake trim I found in my local knitting/craft shop - part of the haul I bought on Saturday. I don't go shopping often but when I do I make up for the times I don't - here's some of the evidence:

Mainly satin ribbon in colours that I didn't have in my stash (not really a blue girl). The rose pink really sang to me as did the fat quarter of fabric with it's cheery snowmen. I've never made a card with fabric sown on so going to have a bash at that next.

That's me for tonight - off to watch High Street on BBC1 now.

Bye for now.
Elizabeth

Mouse with Books note card

Woke up this morning and it was zero degrees outside - brrrrrrrrr!

It's a big day here in Ayr - the Christmas lights are switched on at 4pm. I'm told it's a star from the X-Factor who is going to be doing the honours but as I won't be going down to watch I'll have to wait for the local paper to find out who it is.


In today's card I've used the cute little Library Mouse, drawn by Elizabeth Dulemba, a children's book illustrator.  Her blog is a wonderful source of free digital cartoon images and well worth a visit, especially if you are involved with children's education in any way. 

This was a quick and easy note card to make using a gingham backing paper and trims from the SWALK Series 1 disk from Crafter's Companion; some taupe coloured card, the image coloured with Promarkers. For me the advantage of printing paper from a disk like this is that I can adjust the colour to match whatever I'm working with as I did here. I took the paper over onto the back of the card but this time didn't decorate the inside as I planned to write a paragraph or two in it. 

As I said simple and quick to make. I cut the circles of card out using one of the sheets of scrapbooking templates I have had for some time. Even though I have a Cuttlebug and so could use dies to cut these shapes out I do like using templates - for one thing, they are cheaper than dies and, I don't really like the damage dies do to my Cuttlebug plates. Is it just me that feels this? I know that it's not supposed to do them any harm but I can't seem to get over it, although I love using my Cuttlebug for embossing. So here is my latest template purchase, Baby Nesties by B-C-E , which arrived in the post yesterday.

Love the fact that they have a scalloped edge and a plain edge and that there's a range of shapes and sizes in each pack. They are transparent so they can be positioned just where you want them and I think I will be using them a lot.

Yesterday I bought the latest edition of Craft Stamper - lots of interesting techniques to try out in this magazine - and Docrafts Creativity and guess who get's a mention, moi! There's a really dreadful photograph taken by my husband at one of our favourite places, Loch Doon - not his fault it's dreadful, it was just a bad hair day for me, all windblown and sans make-up.  It's in reference to the Craft for Live win I received a few days ago.

Inspired by an idea in the Craft Stamper I'm off to get my fingers dirty.

Bye for now.
Elizabeth

Blog Award

I was delighted, though greatly surprised, to receive this award recently from the very talented Sally at Cards For All Reasons. Sally makes beautiful cards and projects - her Christmas Lantern tutorial is brilliant - and I find her work an inspiration.

Thank you Sally. As a newcomer to cardmaking and blogging this gives me to think - I must be doing something right. Now, I have to tell you three things about myself and pass the award on to three deserving souls. Firstly, three things about myself:

• Although I now speak with a fairly pronounced Scottish accent this was not always the case. I was born in Hampshire and had a decidedly English accent when my parents returned to their homeland, Scotland, and for most of my childhood I was known as that 'English Lassie' - the teasing encouraged me to learn to 'speak as the locals do'. : )

• This worked so well that during my service in the army I was nicknamed Scotty - it could have been worse, it could have been Haggis!

• When younger I loved participating in various sports, mostly racquet sports and swimming, but the one experience I particularly loved was abseiling. I always wanted to abseil down from a high building - never did and would not, I repeat not, do it now. 

Now for my three nominees that I would like to pass this award on to:

1. Sarah at The Handmade Card Blog. It was Sarah's YouTube video's that originally inspired me to try card making. Sarah not only makes great instructive videos but produces great cards in her own distinctive style - at the moment she is cataloguing her attempts to empty her seemingly bottomless scrap bag. And, as if that isn't enough, she also shares her delicious recipes!  

2. Lyn at Spyder's Corner - a fellow WOYWWer who produces really gorgeous cards - to drool over - and draws brilliant cartoons. Pop over to her blog and while your admiring her work you can catch her one day freebie digital stamps. 

3. Lisa at Lisa's Craft Garden. Lisa makes the most fabulous crafty projects such as exploding boxes, tags and scrapbook layouts. She is also a keen photographer and posts the most gorgeous photos taken in and around her home and garden - today's photo, taken on the Yorkshire moors, is just fabulous. And, if that wasn't enough she makes and decorates the most amazing cakes!

  

My thanks goes again to Sally for honouring me with this award - I'm thrilled, not least of all because it has given me the opportunity to pass on the award to three inspirational crafters.

For those not yet familiar with what it means to be a WOYWWer then take a look at What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday, the brainchild of the honourable Julia at the Stamping Ground - here you will get a peek at all sorts of workdesks, from the anally tidy to the downright messy, from around the world.

I have a couple of cards to share with you but, because it is Bugsy night on TV this evening, I'm packing up here and saving that post for tomorrow.

Bye for now

Elizabeth



WOYWW - Week 76 & the J for Jingle Bells card

Good afternoon to you all, and welcome to What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday again.Here's what's was happening on mine early this morning - not a lot:

The cold I had at the weekend developed into sinusitis and with all the associated dizziness and nausea I couldn't do much except try to keep my head still, so Sunday, Monday and Tuesday turned into real duvet days for me.

But look what the postman brought me - another prize! I'm obviously on a roll now as this is the second prize in as many weeks. This time it's 3 cards handmade by the presenter Konnie Huq at a Craft for Life, Make a Card a Day, event supporting Cancer Research UK and run by Docrafts Creativity Magazine. And, there's a certificate signed by Konnie on which she says 'I Craft for Life because it's fun and creative and personal cards can mean more ...'

At the front of the desk is a card I started working on late last night - it's now finished. It's the J card in the Alphabet Series - J for Jingle Bells. The colours used are a range of oranges and browns, dictated by the choice of digital background paper from Bearly Mine Designs, CD22 in the Christmas Delights pack and a need for a dark background beneath the bell panel.

I drew inspiration from the famed Barbara Gray's, of Clarity Stamps, demo on TV this weekend - what else can you do with duvet days but watch crafty programmes on the box : ) I stamped the bells from the set from Let's Get Crafting, Issue 26, in Momento Tuxedo Black onto a strip of white vellum, then embossed them with Papermania clear powder. Next, I turned the panel over and using the embossing tool went over the bells - never tried this before but was pleased with the effect. As you can see in the photo I used a mouse mat as an embossing mat - a tip from Barbara!

The rest was fairly straightforward - the panel was mounted on some brown card and attached with tiny orange brads from my stash. I edged the paper and card with Tim Holtz' Brushed Corduroy and I stamped out the 'jingle bells' using a small alphabet stamp set then embossed with gold powder, added the ribbons and the charm and job done! Oh, and being me, I decorated the back and inside because I just can't leave them blank.

The rest of the stuff in view is my usual tools of the trade. Someone recently admired my green check workmat.  This is simply an off-cut of the kind of plastic material used to make kitchen tablecloths - I bought several pieces for £1 from a stall at the Ayr Flower Show this year. I keep one piece for when I'm messing with paint and the one on my desk is for when I'm distressing with TH ink pads.

For anyone who is still wondering what WOYWW is all about pop over to Julia's blog, Stamping Ground, where you will find you have the opportunity to snoop at a lot of workdesks around the world.
Bye for now
Elizabeth

A New Home card and Another Graduation Card, this time for a new PhD

It's been calm, bright but cold for us today - quite a bit of blue sky showing - a perfect day for a walk but I've still got this cold hanging on so staying in the warm. Yesterday, I made these two non-Christmassy cards and enjoyed the change.

The first card is for my DH's lovely grand-niece, Laura, and family.

It was quick and easy to make using an A6 card base, landscape,  covered with design paper from Papermania's Summer Bloom 6"x6" pack. I found a use for the decorative strip I made recently when I was experiment with embossing on the Cuttlebug and punching a lace edge with my one and only Martha Stewart punch. The digital image is Home Sweet Home from Squiggles Stamps, coloured with Promarkers and the sentiments were made using My Craft Studio Professional, edged with a turquoise ink pad from Studio G. Inside and back simply decorated.

The other card is another graduation card but this time it is for a friend's daughter, Amy, who has just been awarded a Doctorate in Music. How she found time I do not know because, not only has she been teaching in Edinburgh, and as she lives in Glasgow that means quite a commute each day, but in the time it has taken her to write her thesis she has also given birth to her second child!

Again I used an A6 base card, portrait this time, and covered it with left over design paper. I used the Grad Anya digi stamp from the Greeting Farm again, coloured with Promarkers. And, again, I used a couple of stamps from the Congratulations stamp in the SWALK series, silver embossed, to decorate the front and inside.

Now, I have to clear my craftroom - DH is coming in tomorrow to put up a shelf in the corner for our little TV to sit on. You see, I've got quite a collection of videos with recordings of some of the Create and Craft stamping programmes showing techniques I want to try out at some time. Especially those with Barbara Grey from Clarity Stamps - I love what she does and the way she demonstrates. And, of course, the best place to follow them is here at my workdesk.

I'm told it will only take a couple of hours so should be back crafting later tomorrow.  Actually, it's forced me to have a clear up and that's no bad thing!

Bye for now
Elizabeth

I is for Ivy and Ice Crystals too

It's been a better day here in the SW of Scotland - that awful wind has died down at last. I'm nursing a cold at the moment but, so far, it's not too bad and I've been able to complete the I card in the Alphabet series.

Lots of stamping, wet and dry embossing and distressing on this card. The stamp used in centre square is from a free set from Let's Get Crafting magazine and the ivy frame is a Petaluma stamp bought in America years ago. I used Ink It Up in Kelly Green for the stamping, embossed with Stamp-N Stuff Crystal Transparent embossing powder and loved the effect.

Unfortunately, it doesn't show up well in the photographs. The edges are distressed with Tim Holtz's Shabby Shutters which was a bit too bright so it's toned down with Weathered Wood.  The back panel is embossed with the Ice Crystals Cuttlebug folder and matted on dark green card.

The very pretty Bearly Mine Design digital paper into My Craft Studio Professional, the colour tinkered with to get a match with the stamping before printing of to size.  Then I used the digital punch to cut a border of leaves from the same paper which was then fashioned into a frame and used for the insert and the back covering.

The embellishments are silver Offray ribbon, snowflakes from GSC imports and Hero Arts green gems.

Before I begin the next card in the series (letter J) and just for a change I am making a couple of non-Christmassy cards that have to be done - life doesn't stop to let you concentrate entirely on Christmas, does it?

Bye for now

Elizabeth

H is for Holly

Good morning to you all wherever you are. For those of us who are based in the south west of Scotland, it's a horrible day - all nasty rain and gale force winds with no sign of a let up yet, the barometer is right down. A perfect day for staying indoors, keeping warm and crafting.

Before I get on and show you the H Card in the Alphabet series I would like to say thank you to everyone who has responded to the tribute I wrote for my wonderful daughter, Juli - for those who are wondering what this is about see my earlier post entitled The Graduate.

Unfortunately, I did make a couple of serious omissions. Firstly, I forgot to mention that Juli was also voted Student of the Year by her fellow students - it is one thing to pass exams but to get the approbation of your peers is quite another.  Secondly, and probably more importantly, through all this she had the support of her husband, Graeme, who is not only profoundly deaf too but also suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. So here, to make up, is a wee photo of the two together on her big day:

Now to the card.

A really easy card, some free paper with a really striking pattern in red and green (can't remember where it came from), green organza ribbon, a Magnolia die cut banner - distressed with Tim Holtz Shabby Shutters ink pad, stamped with sentiment with Versamark and then embossed in gold - a bit of green organza ribbon and one of the holly leaves I embossed on my Cuttlebug (see last week's WOYWW). (BTW, for those who asked, my Cuttlebug is blue - it is from a special edition. I believe the newest special is raspberry pink and decorated with a butterfly!)

I distressed the leaf with the Shabby Shutters ink pad, cut around the leaf shape and sprayed it three times with Spray and Shine and then once with Spray and Sparkle in Gold (all from Crafter's Companion). I attached both the leaf and the banner with foam dimensionals and added a couple of corner peel-offs to finish the front. As usual I decorated inside and back:

Simples!

Bye for now
Elizabeth

G is for Gifts - and lots of Glitter + a surprise package arrived today

Back on track again now that the excitement after yesterday is over and here is the G card in the Alphabet Series.

Once again I decided to go for something different - this time an easel card, only the second one I've ever attempted :)

Goodness knows why but I decided on a aqua/turquoise/peach colour combo - not particularly Christmassy but the design paper is from the Docrafts Penelope & Percy A5 Paper Pack which is winter themed and that is snowflakes in the background.

The image is another digi from the Digi Stamp Boutique - Birthday Zoe - again, not a particularly Christmas themed image but it fitted in with my 'G for Gifts' theme.

Once again I remembered to list the Promarkers I used:

Skin: Blush, Ivory & Soft Peach
Hair: Burnt Sienna, Caramel & Vanilla
Crown: Pastel Yellow & Ruby
Dress: Soft Peach, Vanilla & the Blender
Gift Boxes: Denim Blue, Pastel Blue, PastelYellow & Ruby
Shoes: Apricot
Shading: Cool Grey 1

As you can see, she got the glitter treatment, and then some; gold, silver, red (Papermania) and blue (bought at Tesco a few years ago for the grandchildren to craft with and not the most satisfactory, the granules are too chunky.)

I didn't do much to the inside of this card - just a simple panel of that lovely spotty paper matted on to turquoise pearlescent card to decorate the back but a bit more decoration to the panel at the front. The sentiment is a stamp that came free with the October edition of Craft Stamper, stamped in Versamark then embossed with gold powder and adhered with foam dimensionals.

Other materials used: Prima Essentials Flights of Fancy flowers, e.line flat-backed pearls brads, brads and ribbon from my stash, origin unknown now.

The lovely lace trim is a Magnolia doily lace strips cut die bought online from Poppy's Cabin. Of course, the card folds flat for posting.

Before I go I have to tell you about the surprise package I received today - I've won a freebie! I make a point of shooting off postcards for any freebies that I fancy when they are offered in a magazine and then promptly forget I have done so - in this case Quick Cards Made Easy magazine, Issue 79. Hence the surprise when this complete set of Series 1 of the SWALK stamps + the disk from Crafters Companion arrived totally unannounced. I think that is the only issue I have :)

Bye for now
Elizabeth