A Card For Brenda

The lovely Brenda (of Floral Fantasies) is celebrating not only her 4th Blogaversary, but also gaining almost 4000 followers. To mark these fantastic achievements she has invited her followers to make a project which reflects her blog, however we like to interpret it. Whenever I think of Brenda, images of flowers, trees, butterflies, fairies, silhouettes and general inkyness come to mind, with a touch of vintage thrown in for good measure! I think I've managed to incorporate most of these in my card!

I made the background with my Gelli Plate, using metallic acrylic paint and a Crafter's Workshop mask. This was then simply overstamped with various images.    I added a paper doily, a few tiny flower buttons, a butterfly and a sentiment, cut and framed with Nesties. A touch of glitter glue on the fairy's wings and the butterfly completed the picture. Here are a couple of close ups of the details.

All stamps by Chocolate Baroque, except for the bit of background text, which is by Hero Arts.

Since I first met Brenda, she has been a wonderful source of inspiration, and any time my mojo goes walkabout, I can be sure that a look around her blog will bring it back. Not only that, Brenda is incredibly generous in sharing her talent and creativity. So I'd just like to say thank you and congratulations on reaching these marvellous milestones, Brenda, and long may you continue to inspire us.

Sir Stampalot Special Challenge

Here is my entry for the Sir Stampalot Special Challenge, hosted by Brenda. The challenge is to celebrate Sir Stampalot's relocation to new premises, and so the theme is "Moving", which is open to interpretation.

My card has two "moving" elements. Firstly, the main flower picture has been moved from its original location by image transfer, and secondly, inside the card there is a pop-up.

For the image transfer I used one of my own photos. With my graphics programme I altered the colour and toned down the background, and then printed it out on to photo-quality inkjet paper to give a good clear print. I'd never tried image transfer before, so I followed the instuctions given in the February 2010 issue of Craft Stamper. I did the acrylic paint method, which was very easy and worked a treat. One might ask why I didn't just use the original photo! Well, I wanted to try image transfer, and also I wanted the softer look which the method provides. And, of course, it was a way of interpreting the theme. I was very pleased with the result.

The background was splattered with ink and stamped with a flourish by Crafty Individuals. A Hero Arts butterfly and word by Inkadinkado completed the front of the card. Inside I used the Hero Arts Dandelion frame, more Hero Arts butterflies, grasses by Elusive Images from Graphicus and a sentiment stamp which I've had so long I can't remember who it's by!

Special Challenge and Blog Hop!

On the first of  February, Brenda will be organising a Special one-off Challenge and Blog Hop! The main prize will be "mega" candy - not just any old candy, but a really serious piece of kit! Not only that, but as well as the main challenge prize, there will be runners up prizes and a Blog Hop with prizes to be won at each stopping point. Brenda will be giving sneak peeks of the prizes over the next three weeks, so hop along to her Blog to get all the details.

There will even be prizes for spreading the news, so to get yourselves in the draw for those, just put the links in your own blog - see Brenda's for what to do. The more people who join in, the more fun it will be!

(This post will - or should, if I've done it right! - stay at the top until the 1st of Feb, so please scroll down for new posts in the meantime.)

Paper Roses

Yes, I know, I should be making Christmas cards, but after seeing Brenda demonstrate her beautiful paper roses at the Sir Stampalot Demo Day on Saturday, I just had to have a go at making some for myself. I bought the required 1" flower punch at the demo, and made a couple with that. Then I remembered that I already had the matching tiny one, so I made a tiny rose too.

I couldn't resist buying another Sarah Kay stamp, and thought that she and the roses would go well together. The tiny rose became a perfect decoration for her hat. She seemed to be looking for something, and just then a butterfly alighted close by. I coloured Sarah and the butterfly with Promarkers. A few leaves and star flowers completed the picture. The background paper is by Papermania, and the butterfly is from Craftwork Cards.

Anyway, must go. Got an owl to shrink......