Oriental Spice

This is a card I made for my friends' son, Loren. He really loves Japanese style cards and although I was trying not to make this card too 'girlie' I still decided to go for just plain black and white with a hint of pink. You can't really do cherry blossom in any other colour...can you?

Anyway, I like it and hope he will when his birthday comes around. A friend sent me the stamped image (sorry I don't kn0w who makes it) which I then cut out and mounted onto a white linen base card and then took the stamped image of the cherry blossom and carefully cut around all of the image leaving just a thin white border around the edges. This I then decoupaged with foam pads to give a 3D effect.

I coloured the flowers very carefully with watercolour, building up the colour gradually so that it would have a washed effect but making it quite dark in the centre, again to give the effect of depth. I then added the black and pink flower which I fastened with a pink brad.

Here is a close up of the image so that you can see the beautiful effect of the flowers, which, once coloured, I highlighted with a white gel pen

Hugs and Thanks

Just wanted to say thank you to all the people who commented on my previous 'WANTED' message and to those who emailed me for my address and also to those who know me and posted vouchers through my letterbox. The vouchers will be put to good use and we'll definitely get to visit another one of the places besides Thorpe Park through your kind generosity. They will all be put to good use and will not be wasted. Another week of the summer holidays left and we plan to make the most of every day remaining.

Thanks again everyone xxx

WANTED...

I am planning to take the children out to Thorpe Park for the day on Tuesday next week. Does anyone out there shop at Sainsbury's?

The reason why I am asking is because Sainsbury's offer a 2 for 1 voucher at the checkout for various attractions (including Thorpe Park) and I only have one of these. Which means that me and one child can get in free. I am planning to take another friend with me and was wondering if anyone had a spare of these vouchers. This way we will only have to pay for two adults and the children can go in for free. It would be very much appreciated.

If you do have a spare one of these vouchers, and you are able to post it to me today or tomorrow, I would be happy to reimburse you any postage costs. Please contact me on moonstone1405@hotmail.com

Thanking you in advance.

Miss Mimi 2

This is another of the Miss Mimi decoupage sheets, I really like this lady, she's jus so jolly - sure to brighten anyone's day. I also love this colour combination, I tried to coordinate with her dress so I used a turquoise basecard which I stamped with my favourite PSX leaf stamp in green and then stamped little stars (Banana Frog) in blue in the gaps. I added the ribbon the flower and the gemstome and the Birthday circle greeting.

Tattoo No. 3

I know some people are not big fans of tattoo's but personally I can't see anything wrong with them. It's an individuals way of expressing their personality and individuality.

Occasionally, I have been known to design tattoo's for friends and friends of friends (through word of mouth) and I really enjoy doing this as it also gives me the chance to show off my creative skills and my own individuality too. It's especially appealing to see my one off, original artwork on someone else's body. I have two tattoo's of which were both my designs and over the last couple of weeks, through careful thought and consideration I have decided to get another tattoo, my third. This one will be in the lower part of my back, just on my waistline. I spent a long time last night, designing this to get every little aspect of it just right and this is what I came up with.

The triangle represents Lianne, Lewis and myself. The heart represents our unity, the fact that me and my children will always have a connection which is why the heart goes through the triangle and the wings represent my protection of them.

I always get my tattoo's done by Andy at Pointed Image, and I recommend everyone who asks me to design something for them to go and see him. He's brilliant at taking a piece of artwork and transforming it into something fantastic! He's brilliant at shading as well, which is, as far as I'm concerned quite difficult to do without a pencil, ha ha ha! Anyway, Andy has kindly agreed to do this for me... watch this space. I'll get Lianne to photograph it once it's done.

I'd love to know your thoughts... What do you think?

Crafting Fairy Blog Candy

Check out Debbie's blog (Crafting Fairy) to see her blog candy giveaway. She's just gone over 10,000 hits on her blog and is celebrating by offering some fantastic blog candy. She has a fantastic blog and some great inspirational ideas, definitely worth taking a look.

The blog candy giveaway deadline is soon as she will be announcing the winner on Sunday 24th August. Good luck everyone.

A Spoonful of Sugar

This is a card I made for the 'A Spoonful of Sugar' Challenge 13 Sketch. I know number 13 is generally an unlucky number but I am hoping that I will be lucky enough to win the 'Whiff of Joy' stamp that is on offer as blog candy.

Take a look at the 'A Spoonful of Sugar' blog to get the sketch design and see what you can come up with. I decided to follow a lilac, purple and silver theme. The stamp is from Whipper Snapper Designs as the ASoS team have agreed that you can now use any stamp designs on their challenges, which is all good.

Wish me luck and good luck to anyone entering the challenge who heard about it through my blog.

Miss Mimi

This is Miss Mimi, again by Marij Rahder. This is a get well card I couldn't wait to make as soon as I bought the decoupage images. She has such a cheerful disposition who couldn't help but feel better looking at her?

I used one of Katharina's sketches to design the card layout but instead of using a single message to the left of the card i decided the add the casts, bandages and other relevant things... thanks for the inspiration Katharina.

Thriller Driller

This is who I call Drillin' Dianne. Another great decoupage image from Marij. As you can see, I'm on a roll with my male cards and I'm making them while I'm in the mood, at least that way, next time a male birthday comes up I'll have a selection to choose from and won't have to make a mad dash card for an unexpected male's birthday.

This is a close up, I love these girls... not literally, but they're not skinny, bony girls, these images are how women should be... voluptuous and curvaceous...

Choppin' Charlotte

This is another great decoupage sheet from Marij Rahder. I call this one Choppin' Charlotte, although that is not her real name (they don't have names) I thought it suited her. This is another great male card and although you all know I hate making male cards as they are so limited in what images you can actually use, these images make it so easy.

This is a close up of the decoupage so that you can see it in more detail and so that you can see the layers involved. For this image I only actually used three of the five layers because I was getting tired and a little bored (I have to admit) of all the cutting involved. Well... I did say earlier that decoupage wasn't my most favourite 'craft time' past time.

And another close-up from a different angle. I couldn't resist using this little wooden mouse. I've had him for what seems like ages and just couldn't find the right card to use him on, well on this one, he's watching Charlotte cut down the trees, so I guess he's a field mouse. Do they have forest mouses??? Anyway, I thought he was the perfect finishing touch, so he's staying!!