From a drinks mat to a pretty flower ......

This 4inch mini card features a sparkly brad, stardust stickles and a sparkly flourish - my favourite embellishment (after ribbons and flowers is anything that sparkles) a flower which was die cut with a Sizzix die from the back of a drinks mat then covered with another flower shape cut from pink card which was embossed prior to assembling.  The top flower is a flat pink bloom plus a jewelled spacer (The Hobby House) and lastly, a brad from stash.  The background papers were stitched to kraft card and the strip across the middle is pleated paper, again, stitched on the sewing machine using white top stitch thread.  A portion of a Zva clear crystal flourish, a scrap of 25mm cream cotton lace and some natural button twine plus a tiny tag with a Papertrey Ink stamp finished the card.  All of the paper components including the actual card were distressed with Tea Dye distressing ink.

The matching presentation box features a strip of ivory crepe paper over co-ordinating paper, topped with a 15mm pink satin ribbon, fastened with an 18mm clear acrylic button tied with natural button twine.  I added a blank kraft tag cut from a scrap of kraft with a Papertrey Ink die.  I applied sticky tape then pink grosgrain ribbon around the edge of the box. 

I will enter this into the Cupcake challenge to use something recycled
and into Pollycraft Monday Challenge - use your favourite thing

I'll be back tomorrow with my Papertake Weekly card,

See you soon, Mary G x

A fishy tale ................

For this 'under the sea' birthday card, I used the super cute Hanglar mermaid which I coloured with Copics - I tried to merge the aqua and pink colours to be more 'fish-like' then I highlighted her tail with Stardust Stickles, and when it was dry I added lots of Glossy Accens to make it shine!  I cut her out and placed her on a background of blue striped paper plus some of this gorgeous new aqua crazy mesh - I slipped in an anchor charm behind the mesh and stuck it down with more glossy accents.

I tied fuschia pink ruffle edge sheer around the card and added some fuschia tulle to continue the 'fishing net theme' and an 18mm acrylic sparkly button tied with ivory button twine.  I used my new Magnolia flower die to make the flowers, I used two sizes of die then finished with a pink brad from stash.  I was very impressed with the die, it gave a lovely sharp finish and it was easy to get the 'holes' clear, unlike some other makes I have tried in the past.

A close up of the tail and crazy mesh - the sentiment was computer generated - the crazy mesh, tulle, ribbon, button and button twine are all from Ribbon Girl

This weeks challenge over at Papertake Weekly is Happy Highlights  -  please highlight part of the image or paper using something like glitter, glossy accents or decoupage - why not pop over to the PTW blog where you will be inspired by the fabulous projects from the design team.

See you soon, Mary G x

have a wonderful day .......

I love this little hedgehog lying on a bed of flowers  ...... he looks as if he's just had a huge meal! I stamped him onto kraft card and coloured him with copics.  The image was mounted onto white then navy plain card, then I stuck it onto more plain kraft and adhered to a plain white card.   (I have to say that Andrea was most impressed at my restraint - I usually go for 'more is better' approach to cardmaking and I love adding as many embellishments as possible.

All it needed was a tiny piece of peacock blue ribbon pencil stripe ribbon and a small piece of natural button twine to finish, both from http://www.ribbongirl.co.uk/

This is for my husbands umpteenth birthday on Tuesday and I am also entering it into the Penny Black Saturday Challenge

note:  considering the weather this morning is GREY, wet and miserable, I am amazed that the photo has turned out so well (taken in the back garden first thing this morning by Andrea still wearing her pj's)