Monday 15 February 2010

3 cards and a premiere!

Hi everyone! Hope you had a lovely weekend and Valentine's Day! Thanks to all of you who left kind comments about my new job and about me feeling ill. I'm feeling a bit better this week though still am not really firing on all cyclinders.

I had my first proper shift at my new job on Saturday which went OK but I really I hate being new and not knowing what I'm doing!!! I had a very exciting day on Thursday which I dragged my butt out of bed for!! ha ha. We went to the premiere of Valentine's Day in Leicester Square. It was really fun as we got to walk up the red carpet and we saw some Hollywood stars like Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Alba and Topher Grace! The film is really good, basically a US version of Love Actually so I'd recommend it if you love a good romcom!

Anyway, onto some cards. I'm really pleased with this one as I was worried I'd lost my mojo a bit but I like how this has come together so maybe it's not as dire as I thought!!

This card is another card for my Auntie's 81st birthday, this time my Mum asked me to make her one. I've used the sketch from Sketch and Stash and have used this gorgeous Stampington stamp which is one of the first stamps I bought and I hardly ever use. I stippled the background with paprika ink and embossed with glittery clear powder. It's quite a nice effect as I covered the whole image with powder so the bits that were still wet from stippling got glittery too! The frame is a Sizzix Bigz die which I could've embellished more but as I'd used quite funky paper, I didn't think it needed it. All the papers were Ambrosia collection from Basic Grey. The little butterfly is stamped on the paper and is by Hero Arts from one of their "Friend" sentiment set.

I'd like to enter this for the following challenges:

Pile it On- "Flowers"- does a dandelion count or is it a weed?!
Our Creative Corner- "Something you haven't used/used for ages"
Fussy and Fancy- "Dazzle Us"
Paperplay- "Birthday card for someone special"

Crafty stash used: Stamps (Stampington; Hero Arts); Papers (Basic Grey); Glitter clear embossing powder; Paprika ink and stipple brush; Assorted cardstock; Sizzix die; Punch (EK Success)

Onto my second card. This is an anniversary card for my friend who will be celebrating her 1st anniversary this week. I didn't want to do a girly girly card for her as she's not that sort of girl so I thought I'd use hearts but with a strong colour theme. The image is Stamping Bella coloured with lyra pencils. The stamped sentiment (words and heart) are by Elzybells, the heart I clear embossed. I also clear embossed the 3 hearts using an Elzybells heart from the Valentine's Tag sets I won recently. The paper is DCWV from their Love stack and then I just used assorted cardstock. I quite like the colour theme as it uses a mixture of red, pink and black which I think is quite unusual together.

I kind of got the inspiration for this card when I was having a strawberry bellini at the weekend with friends to celebrate our forthcoming house move!

I'd like to enter this for the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday- "Sketch"
Lots to Do- "Love is in the air"
Daring Cardmakers- "Have a heart"
Simon Says Stamp- "What's love got to do with it?"
CCEE Stampers- "Use inspiration"

Crafty stash used: Stamps (Stamping Bella; Elzybells); Paper (DCWV); Assorted cardstock; Nesties; Lyra pencils; Embossing powder; Photo corners and brads

And finally a very personal card to finish. My Aunt wanted me to make a birthday card for her friend using some old photos she had of them together as friends in the 1940s would you believe! I scanned in the photos and changed the colour to sepia as I thought it would go better with the papers I wanted to use. All the papers and little tags are from a Papermania vintage set I've had a couple of years. I printed out 3 little signs on my PC which say "Happy Birthday" and then the names of where the photos were taken and the year, 1948. Sorry the photo is a bit rubbish, the light seemed to bounce off the photos so I couldn't really get a good shot but you get the general idea!!

Crafty stash used: Papers (Papermania); Embellies (Papermania); PC generated sentiments; Photos

Hope you've enjoyed stopping by today. I am aiming to get round to see all of you this week now I'm feeling a bit better! Can't wait to see what you've been up to! x

26 comments:

sam21ski said...

WOW Love ALL your creations and all so different

Thanks for playing along with us over on Lotstodo this week - Sam xxxx

crafty creations said...

Great cards - I especially like the very special bottom one

Thanks for joining in with the Lotstodo Challenge xx Hilda

Audrey said...

What beautiful cards! Thanks for joining us at Pile It On.

Lynda said...

Beautiful cards. Thanks for joining in with Daring Cardmakers this week.

Lynda xxx

Julie M said...

Three really special cards, Steph. Love the vintage photo one - that will be loved!! My favourite, though, is the first. I have that stamp and I love it (don't use it enough either!!!) and the papers and colours - yum!!

Thanks for joining us on PaperPlay this week.

Julie :o)

Deirdre said...

Love all your cards - stunning.

Thanks so much for joining us on Paperplay this week. ♥

Pretty-In-Ink said...

Gorgeous cards Steph!
I especially love the girlie one!
The colour combo is very striking and looks fabulous!
Hugs
Nicola

Sue said...

Hi Steph
3 gorgeous cards hun, luv the tree image striking papers, sue,x

Jill said...

beautiful cards Steph, I love the bright orange card, the colours are gorgeous, and the sepia card is beautiful and will be treasured thanks so much for joining in the fun at sketch n stash hugs Jill xx

Rosanne said...

Lovely card!Thanks for piling it on!

Jennifer said...

This is such a darling card! Thanks for joining us at PIO. Hugs!!

COCO said...

Oh your card is very gorgeous !!! Is very stunning flowers !!! very nice !!!
thanks for your joining to S.S. this week !!
hugs coco

Linanna DESIGNS said...

Good evening Steph, how are you hunny? congratulations on your new job, i didn't realize you were going back to work my hunny. Wow what a great selection of cards you've been making, i love them all. Your last card is particularly amazing, well done you hunny! Well hunny must catch up with you soon, would love to have that crafting session together, big hugs Linda x

Tosha Leyendekker said...

Three super cards, all a totally different style!! LOVE it!! LOVE the tree and sweet butterfly in the first....the fabulous colors, martini and sparkle of the second, and the wonderful vintage feel of the third!! WOW! Thanks for joining us in our CCEE challenge this week!! :o)

Chris said...

Hi Steph! Gorgeous cards and such lovely images, papers and designs. Particularly love the card with the old photographs, they always seem so special. Good to see you have a new job and I hope it's going well, I know what you mean about the being new bit, it's horrible I agree and I'll be doing it myself starting next week EEK!!! Take care sweetie, hugs, Chris x

Chris said...

Oh and I forgot to say, your blog looks absolutely amazing!! Where did you get the graphics? :D, C x

Susie said...

All of them are gorgeous, but I especially love the one for your auntie! Susie x

Joanne (jojot) said...

you have been a busy crafter.....thanks for playing with the CCEE

Liza said...

Gorgeous work Steph, I love the colours and designs.

Liza x

Anonymous said...

I love all three cards! Gorgeous!
Thank you for joining us at Fussy and Fancy Friday!
Hugs,
April

Unknown said...

Fantastic cards! Great job on the challenge! Thanks so much for joining us this week at Our Creative Corner.

Cathy said...

Stunning cards Steph. I adore the colours on this.
Thank you for joining in the Sketch and Stash this time.
Cathy xx

Jules said...

Hi Steph

Gorgeous creations.

I love each and every one of them for different reasons.

I don't think you need to worry about your mojo. It is shining through.

Pleased to hear you are settling into your new job. I hate starting new jobs too and turn into a nervous wreck for about 4 months (the good side being I lose lots of weight in the process LOL!!).

Happy Sunday!

Love Jules xx

Lexxie said...

So glad to hear you are feeling a bit better Steph, and congrats on your new job.
All of your cards are fab, love the image on the first one, and the second card is really striking. And how lovely to make such a personal card with photos, I'm sure it will be treasured,
Keep up the fab work Steph,
Love Sarita xx

Lori said...

Hi Steph ~ Glad to hear that you are feeling better : ) I haven't seen Valentine's Day yet... How exciting that you got to see the 'stars'.

You've been busy creating such masterpieces! Nice work! Thank you for choosing to play with us at Fussy and Fancy Friday.
Love and hugs ~ Lori

Juanita said...

Gorgeous cards, all three are great. Thank you for joining us at Fussy and Fancy!