Walk Like an Egyptian.......

Morning all.

Apologies now to all for putting the idea of the song in your heads....but when you see the card...you will get the title!!!

I was asked to make a card by one of the doctors at work (yes...he is one of my best customers!!). He was playing the part of Best Man for 2 friends of his that were getting married. To paraphrase him, I was given the brief of......"They are both Egyptian, doctors and they have a VERY good sense of humour. Make me an Egyptian themed wedding card....and take the mickey out if it if you wish!!" How could I say no??

Once again, Google cooped a real work out as to what ancient Egyptians wore when getting married and the common theme was gold, turquoise and a LOT of jewellery....so the seeds were sewn. I wanted to make the couple with the SU Owl Punch and after much trial and error, This was the final result........

 

Needless to say, there is a LOT of punch art and a lot of sponging on this card. The camel was CASED from Ellen Kemper here. I did however downsize the camel (used Lg Oval punch instead of Wide Oval Punch, Small oval replacing large etc) as her camel was slightly too big for my card. The blanket and hump for the camel was achieved by cutting out the smallest Fancy Flower Framelit and then punching it to the "hump" shape with the small oval punch. The belly tie was a left over petal cut straight to the centre. Does that make sense? The sand beneath was sponged using a post it as a mask. Given that the newlyweds had no card to drive off into the sunset in, I hung the "Just married" sign off the back off the camel!! It was generated from the computer.

 

 

 

 

 The bride and the groom were another challenge altogether! here they are close up......

 

The groom's Pharaoh-like hat is the chest of the owl turned upside-down. I used a wide oval punch and a 1"circle punch to achieve the Cleopatra-esque hair. The eyes ideally would have been almond shaped, but hard to get even. I ran a black SWM around the edge for the "eye liner" look.

 

Finally (and thanks for bearing with me) the pyramid. I masked off the section for the pyramid and lightly sponged it with River Rock ink. Then, to get the "brick" look, I carefully cut with a craft knife bricks from the sticky part, Put that across the top, and then sponged each layer in Crumb Cake ink row by row...offsetting as I went.

 

 

I received some feedback about a week later. Apparently the card was a hit (apparently I am also to expect a phone call form the bride when she is back from her honeymoon)!! The doctor that ordered it LOVED it and the bride and groom got such a giggle

 

Thanks for enduring a detailed post. I will try to list all things used, but if you feel I have missed something or have a question please leave it in the comments with an e mail contact and I will get back to you. Thanks for popping by.

 

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Whisper White, Close to Cocoa (ret), Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede,, Pumpkin Pie Textured Taken with Teal (ret), non SU brushed gold CS, turquoise embossed paper and groom's chest piece were scrap donations from another bride's invitation!!

Ink: (SU) Baja Breeze (sky), So Saffron and Sahara Sand (sand), River Rock, Crumb Cake, Black SWM

Stamps: NONE!!!!

Punches/Dies: SU Owl Punch, Large/small/extra small oval punches, 1/4", 1/2" circle punches, Boho Blossom Punch (camel's hair tuft), Word Window Punch, Fancy Flower Framelit dies

Other Bits: Latte 1/2 pearls from stash, Post it notes (lots of them), Dimensionals, Metallic Gold Cord

 

Lynda xx

 

Sunset Butterflies

Morning all.

For those of you who are frequent readers, you will know that I do not sponge a lot. However when I saw THIS card by the mega talented Darlene from Darlene's designs, I had to give it a crack. She does a lot of instructional VDO's and this helped greatly.

This is my original version of Darlene's card......

 

 

Her colours pop a lot more than mine, but for a first attempt I was not totally disappointed. The "sunset" look and the colours used blended so well.

 

 

My cogs then got a clunkin'. The first card was on Whisper White and I know that gloss card, well the ink goes on a lot easier, so this is how take 2 ended up.....

 

 

(Sadly the dicky weather we had been having in Sydney did not allow for fab photography!!!!) However, IRL the colours popped a lot more in this example. Some of the butterflies lay flush and some were popped up on one side on a dimensional.

 

 

Thanks for popping by today. Things are very slowly settling back down although we are still setting a cracking pace. Thanks Darlene for getting me out of my comfort zone too.

 

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Whisper White, Glossy White, Basic Black

Ink: (SU) Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Pink Passion (ret), Stazon, Black SWM

Stamps: Amy R - Birthday Sentiments, Clear generic stamp fm stash

Dies: (SU): Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die

Other bits: Post its, Dimensionals, Sponges, White 1/2 pearls fm stash

 

Lynda xx

 

 

 

Sunny With A Chance Of.....

Morning all.

Today....I have a very, very rare card....a Teen MALE card!!! Recently, Bestie's eldest hit the big 13! I think she is nearly over the shock. She is my role model as her eldest is nearly a year to the day older than my boy.

Whilst blurfing (as I so often do) I came across this magical technique by Geri Utterback. Ashamedly I had not inked up my Extreme Surfer stamp that retired the year previous to the one just gone!! I had this idea bouncing around my brain for a fair while. It combined 2 techniques I do not do often....sponging and wet embossing. Her is the new teen's card......

 

Personally, I think it looks just a little cool...and a massive happy dance was done when finished!! DH when I showed him even thought I had bought the card!!! Here is the embossing up close....

 

 

Usually I would first ink up in Versamark and then the darker ink and then the clear EP, but with the new formulated SU Foam Ink Pads, they are so JUICY, I did not need Versamark!!! Both the birthday boy and Bestie were suitably impressed with the card...I hope you are too.

 

Thanks for popping by.

 

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Glossy White, Summer Sun (ret), Night of Navy

Ink: (SU) Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy, Midnight Muse

Stamps: SU Extreme Surfer (ret), Jemac "Happy Birthday"

Other bits: Post it notes, Sponging and masking, Clear EP

 

Lynda xx

 

Every Princess Needs a Castle....

Morning all.

I decided to continue on with the kid's birthday idea and show you what I put together for DH's niece. She was 1 on Mother's Day this year (mid May) and all of my DH's family got together to celebrate. This is Miss Pippa amongst her birthday bounty.....

I had purchased some beautiful colourful bookends with fairytale motifs on them. I carried this idea through to the card. I had come across this stunning card by Carrie Rhoades in my blurfing travels and thought it perfect. It comes with a tutorial in the post. This is my version of Carrie's card......

Who thought a Spiral Punch could do so much??

I did put a little of my own spin on it, in that when I think of castles, I imagine them covered in wandering ivy. I stamped the flourish from Vintage Vogue and stamped it in Versamark over the Crumb Cake CS. Worked OK I think.....(click on an image if you wish to make it larger)

The wee flags are the points of stars, the door an oval punch and windows 1/4" squares (perhaps the fiddliest bit for me!!) The sun is a double punched scallop circle with a 1 1/4" circle with the number on it.

I was very happy with the way this came out. Being the first time I had done it, it did take a wee while. There is a lot of sponging and snipping, but final result was well worth it.

Thanks for popping by.

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Certainly celery, Whisper White, Summer Sun (ret), Windsor Knot DSP (ret) - door, DSP flags I cannot recall...sorry, Hot Pink Glitter CS fm Alice In Paperland

Ink: (SU) Crumb Cake, Summer Sun (ret), Versamark

Stamps: (SU) Vintage Vogue

Punches: (SU) Scallop Circle, Spiral Punch, XL Star Punch (ret), Large Oval Punch, MS Grass Border Punch, Carla Craft CP1 cloud punch, CM 1 1/4" circle punch

Other Bits: Cuttlebug Olivia Alphabet (for the #1), Dimensionals, Sponges

Lynda xx

Christmas CAES-ing Kez - #1

Not that long ago I was privileged enough to be involved in another session of Cards For The Troops with Kerry Bunting. Between all of us we mastered about 250 cards in under 4 hours. The mood was jolly and light and many laughs were had. You can see the cards we made on Kerry's blog HERE. To save confusion, This is the card I worked on at the session and consequently also CASEd.

I certainly got a crash course in sponging on that day....mind you....I could have had to cut out 50 of the doves....hee hee hee. I loved the tones in this card and they had a real classic, vintage feel to them. This is my version......



For the version above, I cut out the Crumb cake layer all together. I added the Dazzling Diamonds to the dove and randomly to the main image. I am not usually a fan of sparkle, but it did add something very special to the card. Here is the dove close up....

Thanks so much Kez for providing me with the inspiration for such a fantastic card. I love it to bits. Belated thanks for allowing me to be a part of cards For the troops again. It is such a rollicking afternoon for a brilliant cause.

Thanks for dropping by.

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla

Ink: (SU) Crumb Cake, Soft Suede

Stamps: SU A Wish For Peace (ret), Kaiser Clear Christmas Greetings Stamps

Other Bits: SU Dazzling Diamonds, Nestabilities Classic Ovals, Sponges, Dimsnsionals

Lynda xx

Goodbye Miss Smith

Sadly again, not so long ago we said goodbye to another wonderful teacher from our school, Ms Smith. Whilst she never taught any of my children, she was always up for a chat (and more often than not a laugh) and really was the most wonderful soul. I could not let her go without something small to say thanks and goodbye.

I drew inspiration from a card on Andrea Buckland's blog here (the 2nd card) and came up with this.....

Sadly the dodgy photographics do not do the background justice, but believe me when I say I really learnt a LOT about sponging doing this project....LOL!!! I also sponged the sentiment here....

I teamed it up with one of my co-ordinated butterfly bookmarks......

Hopefully the colours sponged on the background are better shown here.....

And of course the set together.....

Next time I decide to do sooooooooooooo much sponging I need to allow myself a little more time to do it I think....hee hee hee, however, I was very pleased with the result.

Thanks for dropping by.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Pale Plum (ret), Perfect Plum, Very Vanilla

Ink: (SU) Pink Pirouette, Pretty In Pink, So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Pale Plum (ret), Perfect Plum

Stamps: (SU) Butterfly Prints, Baroque Motifs, En Francais BGS

Punches, Dies, Embossing: (SU) Butterfly Punch, Bigz Butterfly Die, Square Lattice Embossing Folder

Other Bits: SU Very Vanilla Gros Grain Ribbon, Ivory 1/2 Pearls fm stash, Pale Plum 3mm Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals, sponges!!!!

Lynda xx

A Blushing 1st Timer

This is another escapee from my "gunna" file.

NB: The BLUSH in this post refers to that of awkwardness and slight embarrassment

Now as some of you may (or may not) know, I have had a brayer for nearly a year and alas it has not seen the light of day....that is...until recently. I am a MASSIVE fan of the brayering queens out there, and know to emulate such feats is batting WAAAAYYYY above my average. So, to embark on my first brayering foray, I went to Michelle Zindorf and her brayered Golf Card. My FIL is a massive golf fan, so I thought it may be a good idea to try it. (Insert far away and wistful sigh) this is the card I gave to my FIL.....

Now, as you can see, it's slightly different to Michele's card (perhaps for the better), but the brayed section is the same dimension. Given that US/Canadian cards are different sizes to the ones we have here, so I amended things slightly. I was happy with the layout of the card. The sentiment is form my Amy R set and I mounted it on a black oval to carry the theme through. I also carried the golf "dots" through on the background.

The golf ball is on dimensionals, and the shadow is sponged.

The things I have learnt through brayering this card are: # Make sure your post it notes are of a good quality. # Overlap (ever so slightly) the post it marks so that no white lines happen. (Perhaps most importantly) # Start off with an easier project!!

Thanks for enduring to the end of this post. I will be back soon with some other (very much) co-ordinated cards and gifts. Ta so much for popping by again.

Stuff Used:

CS: (SU) Basic Black, Sahara Sand, Whisper White

Ink: (SU) Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy, Versa Black (for golf hole)

Stamps: Amy R - Birthday Sentiments

Punches: CM 1 1/4" Circle Punch, SU Large Oval Punch & Word Window Punch

Other Bits: Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Dimensionals, Brayer, Post-it Notes

Lynda xx

Triple the fun.........

You may recall that a little while back I made a Pea-In-A-Pod here.

Well, one of my co-workers recently became a Great-Aunt (I think) to TRIPLETS, 2 girls and a boy. She set me a challenge to make her a card. Given that triplets it not a frequent occurence, you can appreciate that there would not be THAT much variety in cards for the occasion, so with that in mind, I set to task.

I had so much fun doing this card. I was also a little more confident with it in that I had done one before. I also think I did this one slightly differently in that I also highlighted in white gel pen the actual peas that were the bodies.....makes such a difference!!

I havd tied the 2 wee pink bows again out of 3mm ribbon....but did not wish to leave the wee chap unembellished...so to speak. So I made him a super-dooper teeny tiny bow tie!!

The sentiment was from the Warm Words set and I felt it suited better than a "congrats" or the ole "it's a boy/girl"

I think part of the attraction of these cards is the small details in them like the sponging and the highlighting.

         

As a final touch I added some "buds" in pink and blue on the vine. Not that I think that the new Mum is going to go back anytime soon for any more bubs!

Great Aunt Cheryl was wrapped with the card as was the brand new Mum. Oh...and by the way, for the record the triplets were named River (boy), Ila and Amaya.

Thanks for dropping by.

Stuff used:

CS: (SU) Pale Plum, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Blush Blossom, Whisper White, Non SU pink and blue shimmer paper

Ink: (SU) Old Olive, Bashful Blue, White Hybrid Gel Grip Gel Pen., Black SWM, Pink Pirouette (sponging of faces)
Stamps: (SU) Baroque Motifs, Warm Words
Punches: (SU) Wide Oval, Scallop Oval and Large Oval, Carla Craft CP2 3/4" Circle Punch, Leonie-M Small Sun Punch.
Other bits: 3mm pink ribbon fm Big W, Dimensionals and Mini Glue Dots

Lynda xx

A Pea in a Pod!!

One of the gal's in my netball team recently had a beautiful baby girl (Meredith Lily) on July 26th. I wanted to do something a bit different for the card and I recalled seeing these beautiful "Sweet Pea" cards on Andrea Walford's blog here.

I based the card on the picture she had on the post. I used shimmering white card, which when stamped gave a slightly uneven texture, which I liked. I took the pics of this card at the netball courts, hence the not-so-fantastic lighting. Here's what I came up with.....

I have not really sponged much before and this little "Pea" definitely makes up for it!! I think I ended up sponging everything I could that was green at least. here is the pea pod close up and here sweet little face...and yes I even tied the ribbon!!!

I struggled with what to use for the flowers, but then I remembered a nice shape I had that would do the job. I sponged the edges og the flowers in Elegant Eggplant and then used a Leonie-M small sun punch for the centres to tie in the green/purple theme. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Sentiments, which I am LOVING at the moment. No occasion is forgotten with this set!!

 

It was so very nice to do a card for a baby girl that wasn't inundated with THAT colour (hee hee hee).

Thanks for stopping by. Catch you all soon.

Stuff used:

Card: (SU) Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery, Blush Blossom, (Non SU) Shimmery White, Stardream Purple and Green

Ink - Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Pink Pirouette and Pretty in pink (sponging on face)

Stamps: (SU) Baroque Motifs, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Punches: (SU) Large oval Wide Oval and Word Window Punch, Leonie-M small Sun, Carla Craft CP1 Sakura and CP2 3/4" circle punches

Other bits: SU Basic Black Stamp and Write Marker, Hybrid Gel Grip White Gel Marker, 3mm pink satin ribbon fm Big W, SU Dimensionals and Glue Dots

Lynda xx