A couple of Christmas Cards I made this year

I have had a lot of things to do in the lead up to Christmas so didn't have a lot of time to make many Christmas cards.These are the last 2 I made, there were a few others like my Magnolicicous group Mingle card but I forgot to photograph them so before I sent these ones on there way I took a couple of quick snapshots.

With everything that has gone on in the last couple of weeks, I was in a bit of a black somber mood so I found myself wanting to use black cards, it was also hard to find my mojo, I am hoping this will come back once the kids and I get settled in our own place, I just wish I had all the answers for them now. It has been a really difficult time for them and I had hoped that things would have a been a lot easier on them but you know what they say about the best laid plans they never go the way you want or expect them too. I know that next year, 2011 is going to be my year. A year filled with personal growth and achievement as I stand with my children and create the life we deserve, a year filled with joy and laughter, hope and Love. I want to show my children that you can start again when there seems like there is no hope, that by trusting and sharing with each other we will get through. I also want them to know that if you hate you allow all that was wrong in the first place to stay in your life and you wont be able to move forward. Go on and lead the best possible life you can by not giving into the power of hate but by embracing love you will always lead the life you deserve.............expect nothing less.

Enough of my musings for now, I wish all that read my blog the very best for 2011, to those who are near at hand I hope you join me for the ride.

Darelle

A CHRISTMAS GIFT I MADE FOR A WONDERFUL YOUNG LADY

My son asked me if I would make something for his girlfriend for Christmas...............mmmmm I said, and what would that be exactly? (not that I have a problem making something for his girl, she is an exceptional young lady whom I admire very much) You know that frame thing you made for Juliet, well I know she would like one of those. Okay then but it will be different to Juliet's as I don't want to make them exactly the same.

I don't think I can show the original one I made as it was published in the Home Decor addition of Scrapbook Creations....some of you have probably already seen it anyway)

The photos that they gave me were taken with a mobile phone and were not very good so I am going to take some more professional shots on Tuesday so that I can finish the project and send it on its way to its new home. We have some lovely bushland at the bottom of our street so I will take some shots there, hopefully i will get some nice ones to use.

I have used some really nice Prima Flowers out of my stash and I made the big pink flower on the far left hand side out of coffee filters, Glimmer Mist and some Kaiser paint lightly brushed on with a dry brush. I know I will still add some finishing touches to this project over the next couple of days, some beads here and some distressing and tearing there until I have it just right, but overall i am very happy with the way my gift is shaping up. I hope you enjoy checking it out.

Darelle

Happy Birthday to a Wonderful Friend

To my Wonderful Friend Vanessa, heres wishing you a wonderful Birthday. Vanessa loved some other monochromatic cards I had done so it was only right I did one for her Birthday. I know she loves this little Tilda with presents so I just had to use her for this card. I have used warm greys for this card from W0 through to W7. So that it was not so harsh I added a very pale pink RV10 to her cheeks and B000 around the edge of her apron. I have also used G000 and R02 on the the ribbons on the presents.

I used the magnolia flag banner on the inside of my card. Again I have used very muted colours underneath my pale greys add a bit of depth to the image. Overall I was very happy with the results, monochromatic colouring is one of my favourite techniques.

I hope you enjoy checking out my cards.

Darelle

November Mingle Card

This is my November Mingle card for the Magnolia-licious group. I had lots of fun playing with the feathering technique that I learned at the acreditation class. On this card I Feathered with 3 colours, a lavender, pink and aqua blue colour (BG000, RV00, V01). The teacup is also a Magnolia stamp, when I coloured this I wanted to give the cup the look of fine china so I started with a really pale Beige (E40 or E41) and added pink colour by using R81, R83, R85 and R89.

My favourite skin colour at the moment is Roooo, Rooo, R20 for Blush and E21 for shadow and the hair colouring I have used is YR20, Yr 23, Yr24 with a hint of E99 for highlighting, it gave a nice golden blonde finish.

I finished off the card with some Kaisercraft pearls and some Prima flowers with some Tulle and some seed beads. I love participating in the mingles on this yahoo group it is so nice to put together a card and package for the my mingle partner and its so nice to recieve one in the post as well. I bug my postman waiting for the delivery, the anticipation of it arriving makes it very exciting. My daughter rushes home from school everyday and asks did it come today, i think she is more excited than me.

Bye for now

Darelle

BACK ON BOARD AFTER A BUSY FEW WEEKS

After a busy few weeks helping out at the craft show, doing my Copic accreditation and then attending the Fantasia Bush meets Country retreat I am exhausted. I have fallen asleep on the lounge every night this week. Today is the first time I feel ready to get back into my craft room.

I thought I would start by colouring a few images and making some cards. I should be working on christmas cards but just cant get into it yet.

I was browsing the copic blog and discovered they had a feathering challenge, as this was something I learned at the accreditation day I thought I would give it a go. This is my first ever finished image using this technique. I much prefer the stronger coloured images so this was a real challenge for me, I look at it and feel like it is missing something..........in the end I had to put down my markers and just be happy with it the way it is.

I feathered the skirt, the hat, the socks and the clothing in Tilda's suitcase. The yellow I have used on the clothing in the suitcase has photographed green unfortunately, in real life it is a very soft lemony colour.

I will definately keep trying to perfect this technique, I cant wait to try lots of other colour combo's. There are so many things I learned from Kathy and Johnnie at Penrith last week, I hope they have the imtermediate course up and running for next year.

Bye for now as I am off to the Hunter tommorrow to see Crowded House, theres nothing like revisiting your past.

Darelle

I have been creating some Christmas cards for an upcoming craft show display. I thought i would try my hand at colouring in sepia tones, i had ordered the colours i wanted to use but had to wait for them to come in. I used Copic markers in the E series 40 through to 49. I am really happy with the finished card.

Who would have thought that in short period of time i have owned my Copic Markers i would become so addicted to them and enjoy colouring in as much as I do.

Im not a lover of Mauve and Blue for Christmas, but was a bit over colouring Red and Green so thougth I would at least make one Christmas card in these tonings.This little Tilda is such a cute little lady and she fit perfectly on my Alota stamps Christmas Sleigh.

Tilda with Reindeer ears is probably my favourite Christmas stamp she is just so cute. This card is my favourite, It came together really easily, i think that the flower soft goes really well on the edge of my sleigh, it almost does look like snow.

My final card that i am sharing didnt come together as quickly as the other three, I wanted Santa to stand behind the sleigh and be leaning on it but it meant i had to make a really big card so i went back to the drawing board and coloured some more Christmas images. I did want to stack all the presents and baubles but again this didnt work for me so i ended up strategically placing the items on the page and this is what i came up with. I have used Flower Soft, white ultra fine glitter and puff paint to create a 3D effect on my images.

I am off to finish some more cards now, i will post these when i am done.

Darelle

I did this card a few weeks ago but have not had the time to post it. I have enjoyed creating some monochromatic images and this is one of my favourites. I havent decided what this card is for so i will add the sentiments when i gift it someone.
Ballerina Tilda is such a sweet stamp that would look good in any colour. This was a bit of a challenge for me, with over 200 colours in my collection i still find it hard to find a blend of pinks that i like so when i decided to colour her all in pink i was a bit worried about the end result..........overall i am very happy how she turned out.


I was so excited when i got Mermaid Tilda but wasnt sure how i would use her, then i found this Under the Sea background at Alota Rubber Stamps and new that they were meant together. I found the sentiment at 2 Peas in a bucket and changed it slightly to suit my card. My Daughter keeps hinting that she would like this for her next Birthday but its no tuntil May next year so am not so sure this will last that long in my card box.

I Used Copic markers to colour this card, for those of you who dont know what copic markers are or havent tried them then you are really missing out big time, I have rediscovered how much I love to colour in.

I used Crepe paper and tissue wrap to creat the water effect on the cardstock line and have added flower soft and Magic Scrap ice shavings which give it a real shimmering effect that doesnt really show up in this photograph. The rolled edges have been painted with Glimmer Glam (Dirty Martini)

Its been a while

Well it seems my blog is the last thing on my mind at the moment, so i have marked the calendar 4 times and am going to try and upload 4 new images this month but dont be upset if i dont manage this, I do have a lot going on in my life right now. Today will be the first upload and it will be a card with one of my very favourite digital stamps, i just have to wait for some daylight to photogrpah it. So look out for it around lunch time...........I should be up by then. I will try to upload some scrapping layouts as well just not sure which one yet. Be surprised.

By for now
Darelle

Totally Copic Obsessed

Well I don't know about anyone else but I have been totally hooked by Copic markers, I think it brings back childhood memories of having not a worry in the world except being a kid and the thrill of being able to colour anything and everything that I could get my hands on. Its funny I haven't ever really thought about these memories until now. Its funny what triggers things from our past.

They might be a costly addition to your craft supplies but they are well worth adding, they are so easy to use and blend like a dream and the colours that you can choose from, for me its like being in a candy store, my budget says I need to buy the Ciao markers but the sketch markers have so many more colour to choose from. Such a dilemma, I think I will have to have a bit of both. LOL

This weekend I am off with the girls for a much needed scrap retreat, I am so looking forward to it, I cant wait. As one of my friends keeps telling me only 2 sleeps to go. WooooooooHoooooooo

but what to pack, this is the question.

Catch you all soon

Darelle

Whats happening

Well I have been to SIA, I must say its a busy 2 days crammed with lots of new things, my heads just buzzing. I am a convert to Copic Markers, I thoroughly enjoyed a class with Mandi - Lee Klinger she is just an amazing teacher she really makes using the copic markers sooooooo easy. I can see another obsession coming on. LOL

Wendy Senger was amazing she is so passionate about Tattered Angels and Glimmer mist and while I have always loved using these products I feel inspired to use them in more of my projects, I also cant wait for Glimmer Glaze and Glimmer Glam to hit our shores. I met Heidi Swapp and some really nice people from Prima and I fell in love with Darkroom Door Stamps allover again, Rachel Grieg has some wonderful new products she is adding to her range and I cant wait to play around with these, oh and did i mention that I spent way too much on new stamps, I guess I am going to be chained to my desk for months to come.

I have some exciting projects that I am about to start, but you will just have to wait to see them in the coming weeks as I create them. I am really excited about my biggest project ever that I am about to undertake, but I really need to win an ebay auction tomorrow to get started, watch this space and I will tell you more as I start to create.

I am on the way to mastering Windows 7........yay so i hope to be updating more often to the blog.

Bye for now
Madmummie

Natural Beauty

I thought I would try some crepe paper on this layout, I have been following Heidi Swapp and Rhonner Farrer and they have been playing with coffee filters and crepe paper which I found really inspiring. I was really happy with the way it pleated and was easy to stick down, I will definately be using this technique again.

I really dont like cutting photos down the middle, I would rather try to fit them onto one page but with this layout I could only fit the photos by strategically placing them so that the cut wasn't through the centre of Juliets face.

Happy Scrapping everyone, I hope you are all being very productive now that the nights are getting cooler, its definately scrapping weather.

Madmummie

Some coffee filter and patty case flowers I made with glimmer mist.

After planning to enter a layout in the Easter Show for the last 2 years I finally got around to it this year, My layout "Foster @ Family.com.au" was awarded first prize......WOOOO HOOOOOO it was very exciting to get a blue ribbon and a cheque for $50. I cant believe the amount of people who actually saw the layout and have acknowledged my win.....Thank you to all.


Congratulations to all the other winners as well, all the layouts were very inspiring. What a wonderful craft we are involved in, a craft were we get to record our memories, tell our story, to leave a lasting imprint for our future generations. This craft called scrapbooking is such a wonderful legacy not to mention the many wonderful friendships I have made with ladies I will call my friends forever. It would be wonderful to see many more entries, so that we can show those that dont scrapbook what they are missing out on. So if you are thinking about entering next year then check out the RAS website for entry dates http://www.rasnsw.com.au/


I am off to finish my SIA projects so will catch you all later.

Madmummie