Sunset Aperture, Birds in Garden, Female

Eek...  I haven't posted in ages, have I?

I've been having some ongoing health issues that are a huge inconvenience more than anything else...  they kill my energy, make my eyesight blurry at times and make me oh so very dizzy (among many varied other things).  Not conducive to 'playtime', hey?  Still...  it could be worse :)

My card today was specifically made for the latest Poppystamps Challenge, but as I've taken so long to get it finished other challenges have popped up along the way that also tie in perfectly.  I guess that's one advantage to being so S L O W...  spotting other challenges and tailoring the card to suit them all :)

Dies used...

Poppystamps 'Resting Birds'

Poppystamps 'An Apple A Day'

Poppystamps 'Garden Step Ladder'

Poppystamps 'Serendipity Bird Frame'

Poppystamps 'Grassland Border'

Poppystamps 'Bushel Basket'

Stencil...

Tim Holtz 'Bricked'

Stamp...

Kaisercraft Edges 'Texture'

Here's my card...

Believe it or not, this was originally going to be a CAS (ish) design that featured the Grassland strip section (minus the far left bird) paired with a sentiment.  I kind of changed my mind on that idea, but will use it again someday!

I'm entering this card into the following challenges...

Poppystamps

Simon Says (Wednesday) Challenge

City Crafter/Week #280  ('Fall Has Arrived')

Creative Card Crew/Challenge #96 (Fall)

Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge

Use Your Stuff/Challenge #192 (Fall Theme)

With the exception of the Grassland borders, all other dies used were from my 'snippets' card collections.  I still have many, many more to use up...  so I'm so glad I found a happy challenge blog where some mischief is allowed...  as well as my many teeny, tiny offcuts :)

Not sure if 'grunging' it up like this has worked or not.  Part of me says 'yes', but the other part thinks CAS would have been the better way to go.  

What do you think? 

Don't know what I'm going to make next...  but something far less 'busy', I think...

Take care...  and if you are popping in from 'The Playground',  here's a *Wave* just for you :)

'Bye...

Filmstrip Card, Thank You, Male/Female

Hello.

Now...  try not to faint...

I'm posting a card today that has nothing to do with Christmas!

This card was made as a favour for my husband and he specifically asked for my Marianne Designs Filmstrip die to be used again...  so he can showcase some of his photo's whilst saying 'thanks' to a fellow photography friend.

On the plus side, this gave me a chance to CASE my own design that I had used quite recently but wasn't quite sure I was happy with.  

There had been a few glitches along the way that I knew I needed to avoid this time around  (TOP TIP...  Using Core Dinations worked ok for the Filmstrip until the glue was added for the photo's...  then it started curling...  so go for thicker cardstock than that and you should be okay). 

I also wanted to try and add to the somewhat 'bare' feel that the card had had before.

So this time I've paired up my Kaisercraft Film Edges stamp along with some of the stamps included with the Filmstrip die, used a Darice 'Tattered Page' embossing folder, added three clear Morning Dew Drops and gone for three, rather than two filmstrips.  

More matt silver cardstock (Core Dinations 'Metallics'), less Kraft card, a 'thank you' punched sentiment from Martha Stewart...  and a shiny silver card base.  

Makes this card gender neutral, I think...  except for possibly some of the photo's!!!

For those of you who may be wondering about the slight curve you can see...  don't worry, the card's not bent at all.  

A pet peeve of mine is cards that open up with a top spine that then go 'splat' when on display.  

My remedy for this is to use a scoreboard to create an inverted 'v' shape at the bottom of the card that acts as a glued plinth for the card to sit on.  

Yes, it's more time consuming...  but the final result is worth it...  I hope!!!

I'm adding this card to the following two challenges...

Cuttlebug Mania 'Anything Goes'

and

Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge

This card will have to be weighed and sent off to America.  I wonder how long it will take to arrive?

Take care...

Donna

Christmas Tag Card, Polar Bear, Joy

Hi.  How's your weekend going so far?

It looks like I haven't posted anything for a while, but I have been busy crafting away.  Honestly, I have...  How about you?

Anyhow...  I'm later than I'd hoped for my entry into the latest Tag You're It challenge.  This is partly because I've been working on two birthday cards, but also...  I had no watercolour card and I had to wait what seemed like ages for it to arrive.  Not that I'm impatient, of course!

Here's my finished design...

...and here's the inspiration picture.  Isn't that 'Ruff Day' sentiment just the best?  

As you can see, I've kept to a similar colour scheme.  I'm guessing that Anja may have stencilled her card background on with ink, but I could be wrong.  I used the new 'Shimmer' stencil from Memory Box with some Sparkle Medium (Sparkle Gel) from Imagination Crafts.  Sadly, the camera doesn't do justice to the slight sparkle effect.  Never mind...   

My layers are different in style to Anja's, and in lieu of Washi Tape I've chosen to stamp on a distressed film edge. To be honest, I had so many different edging options, but by this stage I knew that I wanted to portray the 'captured moment' of a polar bear cub seeing it's first snowflake...   Does that come across in this design at all?  I hope so :)

The 'colour wash' was made using Tumbled Glass and Weathered Wood Distress Markers.

One large sentiment to echo Anya's original tag (coloured using my Stampin' Up Chalk Marker), some twine...  and then I had to walk away before the temptation to add some more punched snowflakes from my Martha Stewart/All Over The Page 'Aspen Flurry' took over!  

As my husband's into photography I'll be saving this card for him.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by.  If you can spare the time, I always enjoy reading any comments you may have :)

Donna...