Daring Cardmakers Oriental Splendour & Cute Card Thursday #46 Metallica

The first challenge was not to use any red or black for Daring Cardmaker's Oriental Splendour this week. However it really was a challenge for me! I don't DO oriental and this kimono stamp was the only thing vaguely resembling Oriental in my drawer.
The image was painted with Cosmic Shimmer, blue/lilac, and a water brush. It actually looks far more purple in real life than it appears on the picture. The embossing is Cuttlebug, as is the little scrolly thing in the corner.
The charm hopefully qualifies it for the Cute Card Thursday challenge, Metallica. A butterfly was the most oriental kind of charm in the packet!
There's no sentiment as I don't have any oriental type calligraphy... I could always find a little something on the internet and print it out on the computer, but I'm always afraid of making a faux pas, as not understanding the language, there's always the chance of getting it horribly wrong!!!

Sketch & Stash Challenge #3 & Papertake Weekly Challenge Hearts & Flowers

I just received this stamp from the States. I hadn't realised quite how big it was, but I think It's really cute and several sentiments come to mind when I look at the image!!

I think that this is a great sketch which works really well.

The border embossing is Cuttlebug as are the white bits of the flowers. The remainder of the flowers being made from an XCut flower punch, shaped a little with an embossing tool and a splat centre. The background paper is a free download from Canon (I love so many of those papers) and the manuscript is an old piece of music that was hanging around the house. The ovals are Nesties embossed with Cuttlebug Swiss dots. The image was coloured with Whispers pens and a water brush. I tried a little accent with an acrylic gel pen, but I think that the results are what you might call 'subtle', ie you can hardly see it!

I have had a rotten cold this week and haven't felt much like doing anything, but hopefully it has now got past its worst. I'm having my nails done at lunch time so that should make feel better! Let's hope so!

Colour Create First Challenge

Well, my very talented blogging buddy Tara has launched a fabulous new Challenge Blog called Colour Create. The first challenge was to use the colours green, pink and brown. Sadly this card barely looks any of those colours as my photographic skills and apparatus leave much to be desired. However, I would like to assure you that those are the colours used, albeit the pink is a little dusty!
The flowers are my trusty Woodware embossing punch, with a splat punch centre and an adhesive gem. The small ones are Cuttlebug from the Hippie Chick alphabet. The butterfly is also Cuttlebug, in card overlaid with vellum and embossed together. The body of the butterfly is the lower case letter 'l' from my Fancy Pants Cuttlebug alphabet. Instead of discarding the centre of the loop I included it, twinkled with a little Glamour dust. The swirly thing is a Big Kutz flourish. The papers are Papermania and Anita's.

Super Surprise from Susie!

I was so delighted to receive this award from fellow Hampshire resident, Susie! This is worth so much more because of the awesome crafter she is. DO take a look at her wonderful work. She must spend hours on each project.
It cheered me up no end as I had hoped to visit my daughter today in Bath, but what with the snow and the fact that I have a really wheezy chest, I have stayed home in the warm. I have spent part of my day working on my latest wedding stationery commission. I am rather pleased with it and the bride and groom are delighted, which is all that matters.
So now, I would like to pass this award on to Ikki, Tara, Zoe and Leslie (whose fab blog I discovered today). Wonderful crafters all!