I felt like a change....

I never use orange. I don't often do minimalist. So I did both for this card! And I have been influenced by all the orange and black flooding the blogs from all the Hallow'een cards. I don't 'get' Hallow'een myself so I never bother with cards etc for this celebration. It's definitely more of an American thing than a UK thing! But I love some of the effects I've seen using these colours, so I thought I'd have a go myself.

Most of my design ideas come to me when I am just about to fall asleep for the night. Which is great, but quite irritating, because I will want to get up and scribble the idea down before I forget it, but can never manage it, because I am practically asleep at this point....so I just imagine making the card in my mind and usually the next morning, I have at least a vague recollection of what I designed.

This idea came from one of these designs, but the only thing I could remember was using the scribble stamp as a background directly onto the base card, and having a bright ribbon on the top and the bottom (in the end, I only used the bottom as it looked too fussy with one at the top as well).

The stamps are all stamped using black ink, then quickly embossed with holographic powder for a bit of bling. This unfortunately doesn't show up very well in the photos (the lighting is awful, I'm sorry) but in real life, it definitely adds to the overall effect. I'm not sure about the scalloped edges...I'm still considering chopping them off completely...but I may not bother.

Not my best/most favourite card, but I like it enough to put it on here for you all to have a look at....what do you think?

Get Well Soon - again!

I made this card in a rush (hope it doesn't show!) for my Father-in-Law who wanted a card for a friend. I happily sat and made a gorgeous girly get well soon card...then he informed me it was for a bloke and the card I'd already made was totally inappropriate.

Man cards are notoriously difficult to design at the best of times, but I was in a super rush, so I just went right back to basics, grabbed some co-ordinating paper and my white souffle pen and whipped this one up in about half an hour. Then I decided I hated it, because originally I'd used the yellow as a background to all of the squares, so I pulled most of it apart again and replaced the yellow with the green. A vast improvement! And I sent it off with no guilty feelings - I'm my own harshest critic.

Get Well Soon

For this card, I wanted something bright and cheerful, so the recipient would feel, well, brighter and cheered by it! I had thought of doing something with a cartoon/stamp of someone with a leg in plaster, but I couldn't find anything suitable, and I decided on this design. Because I was also strapped for time, I also used this design to make a similar Happy Birthday card for a friend, but this time I used a DL size card for a long and thin version. The photo did not come out so well, so I have not included it here, but it's just a long and thing version of this card with a different sentiment!!

I created this card using a stamp I made from a Cuttlebug die cut and funky foam - an idea I saw on Mel's blog and clear embossed the stamps on pink paper. Then I used cranberry ink and sponged over the flowers to make them 'pop'. I really love this effect...it makes a very boring piece of pink copy paper look like expensive background paper - bonus!

I then printed the sentiment on blue paper and sponged the edges in a dark blue ink to give a bit more vah-vah-voom. My paper collection is quite depressing, mainly due to my budget, so I have to spice it up in any way I can...

The rest was made with creative use of my nestibilities and lots of patience, but eventually I came up with something that I was happy with as the final design. I don't usually use window cards, but decided to have a go with this one, and quite like the effect.

KWerner Colour Inspiration #25 - My First Attempt!

So, I've finally got around to taking part in Kristina's colour challenge, and managed to upload it in time too! Yay! I found this colour combo difficult, mainly because I don't have any Stampin' Up! products and finding papers to match the swatches was difficult (due to my pauper's collection of papers!). But I'm happy with the result - and I used techniques inspired by Kristina too - a lot of clear embossing fun....I just love this effect. I made a whole batch of thank you cards recently using purely clear embossing and they looked great!

This flower is a Cuttlebug die cut covered in diamond glitter for a bit of bling. And a jewel for the centre to lift it and make it sparkle even more! I love my jewels ;-)

The 'Happy Birthday' was just handwritten. I'm fed up of forking out for new stamps and then not having the exact one for the look I'm trying to acheive. I have fairly nice handwriting, so I'm trying to be brave and just grab and pen and scribble away!!

Boys boys boys

I've had a bit of a black and white theme over the last few days, and I'm really loving the monochromatic effects! Black and white cards are perfect for men, and this is no execption - this is for my big brother, so going for the 'industrial' look was a good starting point to get going with, but I softened it by using circles.

This was such a quick card to make! And he loved it by the way - success!! I still want to run a few video tutorials but I've still not got the web cam working....it's so frustrating!

Grandad's 89th Birthday

This card is for a super special man who is now my Grandad by marriage, although I don't ever remember not calling him Grandad! Not having any grandparents of my own, he's extra special to me. He's practically blind now, so I went for super contrast (black/white) and BIG. We're going to visit him on his birthday, so I'll be able to hand deliver his card for once and see him open it in person.

Love you Grandad!