A Colourful Floral Happy Birthday

I recently had a girlfriend visiting for quite some time

and we had a whole lot of fun creating in so many different ways.

The card I present here is one we made together.

I wanted her to have fun with the layers of the Honey Bee Coneflower Die.

As it worked out it is perfect for the challenges at

Seize the Birthday 

Challenge #262 Make it POP!

and

Double D Challenges for Flowers

We played with a whole lot of different coloured

Lindy's Magical's and each chose the ones we liked together.

Embossed the bottom half using Quickuts Diamonds and Dots 

attached ribbon and layered up my

brightly coloured conflower.

Think it pops with colour and dimension!

The variegated Happy Birthday sentiment is

one my girlfriend bought while here.

It was a whole lot of fun creating this card with my friend.

PS after they left here we met up again when I

spent a few weeks with my daughter for celebrations 

and soaking up the sunshine and warmth in the north

before coming home to the start of winter.

Thanks for coming to visit and leaving 

your kind comments - so appreciated.

It's Lemonade Weather in Oz

The heading really says it all for me! 

Welcome to my post for the day.

What an amazing Mood Board below

to Celebrate 4 years of DD Challenges

Congratulations Dianne and Darlene and not forgetting

the Talented Designers for showing off their Works of Art!

I was super excited when I saw it - so tropical
 and then the stamp/die set for the Winner.

Perfect for me to ink up that very stamp

 I bought months ago at my Annual Craft Show.
Shame I didn't see the die that goes with it.

It never got used for the challenge 

so time to get it inky here. 

Of course we all have those 'out of vogue' punches

 that lay sleeping in our drawers - another great time

 to get them out of hibernation for this challenge.
I used a Martha Stewart punch on mine.
I think she was Queen Punch way back as we all
'had to have them'

It's a pretty simply card focusing on
that Lawn Fawn stamp set. Of course I went
with the bottom left for the colours!
Card base is from yellow Bazzill card stock.
Embossed the white card stock, inking up those
baby lemons at the bottom.
Adhered a scrap piece of colourful dp.
I used SB circle dies on top with the inked glass of lemonade.
My 'straw' was cut from a paper clip.
Fussy cut and popped the jug. Added some
glossy accents for 'fizz'.
Attached tiny pearls to the MS punch.
STAMPlorations sentiment I thought perfect!

Hope you like my summery card.
Thanks for dropping by.

On the First Day of Christmas!

There's a super fun challenge over at

Double D Challenges focusing on the

popular Christmas song - Twelve Days of Christmas

which starts of with - On the First Day of Christmas

My True Love Gave to Me and so on...

Check it out Here

This was such a different type of Christmas card for me - 

All the more reason to go with something new.

I so enjoyed making it.

Starting off with all the variety of colours in my

partridge image I went delving into my

DP bits box and came up trumps!

I cut my image from a wonky die then

backed it with some dp that matched his feathers.

The back layers were cut and framed then

adhered to a leaf embossed piece of card stock.

Again I matted it with grey to match up with the DP.

My large leaf flourish is from Kaisercraft and has 

a couple of tiny coloured circles that I added glossy accents to.

The pears, bird beak and eye were also touched up with

glossy accents. Don't you love how the pears just pop!

Sentiment is from Tim Holtz Great Outdoors.

Card base is from Bazzill, matching the colour of the birds beak.

Thanks for popping in

It's a 'Christmas' Tradition

Hello and Welcome to today's post for the

Double D Blogspot where we are required to

Share our 'Christmas Style' 

Mine isn't what you call a style but it is a 

Tradition I do yearly when making my

Christmas cards for my two sisters.

It always incorporates the use of tartan

and look at this lovely Mood Board

There's 'tartan/plaid' there!

I have this Elizabeth Design Merry Christmas die
which is quite large and knew it would be perfect
in front of my Echo Park 'tartan' paper.
It was cut from gold paper.
The hardest part then was the arrangement.
My Spellbinder and Marianne Design poinsettias
 were coloured with Finnabair Waxes in
Mint Sparkle, Vintage Gold and Fire Ruby.
Background greenery dies are from Tim Holtz Holiday Greens
and Kaisercraft Berry Vines in metallic green and white.
Added some gold chunky glitter to the centres of the flowers
to finish it off and attaching to white card base.

That's it for now. I have another Christmas card scheduled
that will pop up in a wee while so two post from me today.
Hope you enjoy my take on this Challenge.

Spotlighting my Thistle Silhouette

Hello and Welcome.

Today I am showcasing a favourite Stamp

using a Silhouette image for Double D Challenges

and what else would it be for me but 

The Flower of my Homeland - A Thistle.

Something a little different from me here.

I had not planned to highlight my thistle

but the dark background just didn't show

the flower properly so thought I would

ink it up in white and colour it in it's true colours.

The background is a combination of 

various distress inks swiped from side to side

onto photo paper and then heat embossing 

my Lavinia Thistle in black.

I inked the edges with black archival ink

and  randomly swiping also from side to side.

Added some Art Alchemy in Rich Copper

and Stampendous Aged Copper embossing enamel

to ground my flower.

Die cut sentiment twice - black on white

and is from CUTplorations.

Popped my die cut thistle, sponging with a light lavender

to soften the whiteness,

 added a white mat and adhered to black card stock. 

This really was a fun card to make. 

Thanks for a great challenge DD.

An Orange 'Twofer' for Double D

Hi and Welcome.

I had a bit of fun today inking up 

my floral Enchinacea stamp from Imagination Crafts

using 2 different papers. As you will see

'What a Difference' it made.

I am entering the second one in the current

 Orange and White Challenge at

Double D Challenges

Isn't it a gorgeous Mood Board?

They were pretty simple to make.

My first card I used VeraFine Clair Summertime

on basic white card stock

backing it with a retired SU Designer Paper

and attached to white card base.

I found the VersaFine Clair ink pad

perfect for getting coverage on this stamp.

Added a simple Happy Birthday sentiment

and that one's complete.

This one is much more interesting with the

Acrylic Painting Paper

 I bought from our local Aldi Store.

Love the textured outcome here with the same ink as the first.

I added a white backing and then popped onto white card base.

Sentiment is heat embossed on vellum with

Lindy's Pumpkin Fiesta.

Finished with some Nuvo Drops.

This card is also heading over to
Day of the Month Card Club
for their Challenge #8 encouraging us to
Make and Send a hand made card because
You are Important to Me.
I thought the sentiment on this card was perfect
for that very reason.

Thanks for stopping by. I would love to know

 your thoughts on which one you prefer.

The Beautiful Ulysses Butterfly

Hello and Welcome. Today's card is for the current 

Double D Challenge where we are to 

pick out a Butterfly from this Gorgeous Mood Board.

Details are Here

Now who doesn't have a collection of these beautiful creatures?

I know as soon as I saw this I was going to use my

Australian Nature #1 by Inspired by Stamping set.

You see the butterfly I used is the

Ulysses Swallowtail and is truly a site to see.

I have often seen them fly through my daughter's back yard

in Tropical North Queensland.

I went cas here as I wanted the feature to be

THAT beautiful butterfly.

I used Linen card stock as my base and

attached some Kaisercraft DP.

I then lightly stamped the orchids on top.

Once more I am using a new die I got

a few weeks back from Uniquely Creative - 

Crosshatch Texture

I heat embossed my butterfly with Ranger Copper Powder

then went on to colour her using a variety of mediums

including - Rustic Brown Metallique Paint,

Imagination Crafts Wax in Black and Blue,

PearEx Powder #681 (blue/green)

even a touch of Magicals. All in all

I have a lovely shimmery butterfly.

This was fussy cut and popped.

The sentiment is from the same set and

using the same embossing powder and

cut from a MFT stitched die and slightly popped.

Thanks for dropping in today

and leaving your comments.