Today is a Sad Day

Today I'll be attending the funeral service of a fine young man who was lost to us way too early. My thoughts go out to his family and friends. It's never an easy thing to make a card for these occasions - and I just hope this brings a tiny bit of comfort to his mother, my friend.

Later in the week my thoughts will be with my extended family as my DH's sweet aunt is laid to rest. Unfortunately this funeral is on the other side of the world so we can't attend - but our hearts and thoughts will be with everyone there on that sad day.

Hugs to you all...

Debbie

xXx

My "Better Late Than Never" Blog Candy

Well I have FINALLY put together the blog candy I had promised back in um.....December I think it was?!?!?! It was to celebrate reaching 200,000 hits on my blog AND 700 followers - all of which happened in the week before Christmas. I have NO EXCUSE for being tardy but I hope the delicious parcel I will be sending someone will make up for it. I can't BELIEVE it's MARCH already!!!!

This is just to say THANK YOU to all my blog followers and visitors - and a HUGE apology for not reciprocating blog visits very well over the past few months. I always have good intentions and I LOVE to visit as most of my inspiration comes from these visits - but there are just never enough hours in a day!

There are some of my favourite things in this parcel - from some of my favourite stamp companies Tickled Pink Stamps, The Craft's Meow, Make it Crafty and Magnolia - to my favourite embellishments - glitter, bling, flowers and mesh ribbon. You can click on the picture for a better look at what's here...

To enter - just leave me a comment telling me some of YOUR favourite things and I'll post a winner on March 31st, 2012.

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #135

This week over at Magnolia Down Under Challenges we are asking you to use the colour combination "orange, pink and white" on your cards.  This sounds like quite a scary combination but I loved the end result - so fresh and pretty.

Don't forget to check out the AMAZING inspiration from the fabulous MDUC DT and our wonderful guests on our BLOG. 

Copics used - Skintones (R20, R11, E11, E00, E000) plus RV63, RV55, RV10, R59, E37, E35, E33, E31, E08, YR07, YR00

Story Time with Mo

Before I bought my Silhouette Cameo I had been eyeing off the gorgeous patterns from SVG Cuts and this Book Box in the Spirits of Christmas Past Set was something I knew I wanted to try out. I love all the fabulous detailing on this pattern and it was fairly easy to put together. I figured since it was a "book" I'd use one of Mo Manning's gorgeous story book characters on the front cover -  this is Snow White. 

As you can see there's a drawer that slides out to pop some treasures or a little gift in. 

The spine of the book has room for some more fun details. I added some scraps of the Webster's DP and stamped a sentiment from The Craft's Meow's Lovely Labels 18 set - it has just the vintage feel I wanted to finish it off.

Copics used - Skintones (R20, R11, E11, E00, E000) plus E43, E42, E41, E40, B99, B97, B95, B93, B91, B05, C10, C6, C5, C2, R39, R37, R35, R30, G24

Tickled Pink Stamps is sponsoring Passion for Promarkers

This week Tickled  Pink Stamps is sponsoring Passion for Promarkers Challenges where they are asking you to use "Black and White". I used one of the images from the Lil Little range - one of my favourite ranges though that may just change after the next release (what a tease - LOL). This is Lil Little Lad Luca and I did manage to sneak just a little bit of colour in - ssshhhhhhhh.

I usually use the cool greys when I do B&W but challenged myself by using the warm greys this time - they suited my DP better AND I do like to challenge myself to try new things - makes life interesting.

Copics used - 100, W7, W5, W3, W2, W1, W00, RV000, B02, B00, B0000

Some More Fun With Tickled Pink and My Cameo

You may have already seen these over at the Tickled Pink Stamps blog but I thought I'd share them here too...

I was recently VERY lucky to get myself a Silhouette Cameo cutting machine - this is one AWESOME piece of machinery let me tell you! While checking out online tutorials I found THIS one from Under a Cherry Tree on how to use pictures on your computer to print and then cut out gift tags - all done on the Cameo software. 

In Jin's tutorial there are some elements you need the upgraded software for but I made these using the coloured images I'd done for Kellie for the store and the software that came with the machine. The outer mask is a little too wide but I'm happy with my first attempt.

Here they are fresh off the Cameo - printed and then cut out ready to mat and decorate!

All done - once I spent the time making the pattern up it took mere minutes to print, cut and finish them off.

PLEASE be aware that I asked Kellie for permission to re-produce these coloured images even though I had coloured them up myself. Many stamp companies don't allow mechanical re-productions of anything but the lineart - so check the Angel Policy or contact the stamp company if you have ANY questions about doing this! You could also use family photos or clip art in the same way!

Re digital stamp lineart and the print and cut feature- using some of the methods I used here I worked out I could print and cut some of my digis ready for colouring - I need more practice though as I don't think the effort is worth it. My scissors aren't obsolete just yet - LOL

Red, Black and BITE

My daughter is reaching the age where she's starting to attend lots of 21st parties and she's asked me to make more cards suitable for these occasions. Since she also has a lot of friends that are on either side of 21 too I decided to create a stash of cards I could always turn more age specific if I needed too. 

This FABULOUS image from Mo Manning is called "Bite" and is just perfect for this age group. I've also used my daughter's favourite colour combo.

Now it's time for a little confession - or is that advice on making the most of a mistake - LOL. I had meant to just have a very pale grey shadow around her but the alcohol in my C00 copic pen re-hydrated parts of the strong red in her skirt and dragged some colour out, even though her dress had been coloured up a few days before - grrrrrr. Some darker grey dotted in not only hides many of the red streaks but also ended up giving the image a funkier look - guess my mistake was MEANT to happen - LOL. Recently I tore up an image in frustration when I made a last minute mistake - and the next morning I looked at my poor torn up image and realised it HAD been salvageable! Live and learn and PUT THINGS AWAY to later if they aren't working out.

Copics used - Skintones (R20, R11, E11, E00, E000) plus  C10, C6, C5, C2, C0, C00, E53, E33, Y21, G24, R37, R35, R32, R30

Tickled Pink Stamps is Sponsoring Do You Stack Up Challenges

This week Tickled  Pink Stamps is sponsoring Do You Stack Up Challenges where they are asking you to use "Layers". I chose the gorgeous new Lil Futuristic Lolita Willow to use and cut the funky maze out using my Cameo and then layered it onto an embossed background.

We hope you'll go over and play along for a chance to win a Tickled Pink Stamps prize.

Copics used - Skintones (R20, R11, E11, E00, E000) plus E35, E33, E31, E13, E08, 100, C2, C0, C00, R39, R35, R32, B06, B02, B00, B0000, YR14, Y19, Y11, Y08, Y00

Mo's Dream Team Blog Hop

It's that time of the month again when Mo's Dream Team get together to bring you a themed blog hop. This month it's all about MUSIC and our hostess with the mostest is the lovely and talented Julie - so hop on over to Julie's Blog if you want to start at the very beginning - a very good place to start - if you read you begin with ABC, if you sing you begin with Doh Re Mi.....See I have you singing away to the Sound of Music already - LOL.

If you are already waltzing along the hop then you should have arrived here from Amazing Alice's Blog.

Mo has some wonderful music and dance themed images in her store HERE. This cutie is called Kalei and you can find her HERE. I can almost hear the waves crashing on the shore and the sounds of the ukulele's strumming away as Kalei dances - can't you?!?!?

Now grab your dancing shoes and turn up the music - it's time to head on over to Marvellous Mina's Blog.

And here's the hop order in case you get lost along the way - the links are on my left sidebar under Mo's logo.

Julie, Debby.Y, Heidy, Alice, Debbie, Mina, Pops, Lori, Gretha, Kerttu, Jane 

Chipboard embellishments from Make it Crafty

Copics used - Skintones (R20, R11, E11, E00, E000) plus R35, G28, G24, G21, G20, E43, E41, E40, E08, 100, C10, C5, C0, B18, B05, B0000, V17, YR16, YR14, Y19, Y15, Y11

Emerald Faeries Garden Challenge #18 - Tag It

It's time for a new challenge over at The Emerald Faerie Garden - we're asking you to "Tag It". You can either create a tag or use tags on your project. I've seen some gorgeous CAS cards lately and used them to inspire me with this tag - though I couldn't help sneaking a few flowers on - LOL. I chose the gorgeous Ebony to use - she was the first faerie I ever bought and I STILL love her.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the DT inspiration on our blog HERE and remember you have 2 weeks to play along.

Copics used - Skintones (R20, R11, E11, E00, E000) plus E44, E43, E40, C3, C2, C1, C0, C00, G24, G21, G20, YG01, V17, V15, V12, V01, V000