Thursday 13 September 2012

YAY! It's not a DT piece or an Alphatag!

Hi Lovely Visitors,

Thank you for dropping by and I'm really pleased that for once I have something to show you other than a DT piece or an alphatag, lol!

This week has seen the birthday of one of my very special crafting friends.  Oooh, this crafting/blogging lark has such a lot to answer for and in my opinion, all of it good!  The friend I'm talking about is Elaine, one quarter of the Craft Stamping Quartet (our poor neglected little blog ;( ) and also one of my ex Chocolate Baroque DT buddies.  As lots of you will know, because we live such a distance apart we rarely manage a get together but it's all down to the wonderful technology most of us have that I feel she has been in my life a lot longer than she really has.  She's a very special lady so I was glad I managed to make time for her card.  A bought one just wouldn't have been good enough, lol!


I apologise for this first photo being at a slightly odd angle but it was the one which most closely showed the true background colour.  I started with a 21 cm square base card and then cut the same size square from a sheet of beautiful Mariposa paper (DCWV).  Cutting into papers from this gorgeous collection is soooooo difficult ;D!  I then blended Bundled Sage Distress Ink over an individual Heidi Swapp butterfly mask moving it around randomly and a Tim Holtz swirl mask and then inked all round the edges with the same Distress Ink.  I followed this with randomly stamping script over the page, again using Bundled Sage DI.  I then attached this to the front of the basecard.


I then created the arrangement of embellishments for the top right corner.  I used my new Spellbinders Venetian Motifs dies to cut the decorative circle and the flourishes from white card which I then coloured with Broken China DI and the fancy motif which I used as leaves which I coloured with Bundled Sage DI.  The sentiment stamped in the circle is from a Kaisercraft clear stamp set called appropriately 'Friendship Sentiments', lol!  The roses were left over from one of my Snazzy DT pieces using EDIT : Graphic 45 Olde  Curiosity Shoppe (sorry to earlier visitors this morning as I forgot to add this after I'd double checked ;D) papers, the blue butterflies were cut out from the left over piece of Mariposa paper and the metal butterfly was from a dismantled necklace.  I used my round nosed pliers to shape the metal butterfly.

Somehow I felt the card wasn't quite 'balanced' so I put the pretty and very delicate Memory Box die cut (
a gift from another dear CSQ buddy, Judith) on the top left corner to finish it off. 


I finished the card off with an all over misting of Dew Drop Glimmer Mist.  The inspiration for this card came from the work of the very talented Anna Dabrowska, aka Finnabair (check out her fab blog).  I can't wait to have another go at something similar but adding more random bits and bobs and more mica sprays as Anna does.  I daren't try it on Elaine's card as I didn't have time to do another one if it went wrong, lol!

I hope you enjoyed looking at something other than DT work or another alphatag and speaking of alphatags ......... I failed miserably for August :(.  This time it wasn't because I couldn't think of a subject/theme for the letters Q and R but purely that I ran out of time.  I did get Q finished so I am going to do R as well and keep them for myself so that I will still have the full alphabet and I'll show them as soon as I can.

Thank you for dropping by and I hope you're having some of the glorious Autumn weather we've been having this week.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx










17 comments:

Suzanne C said...

Yeah! Glad to see you creating and such a beautiful project it is! Love the butterflies! Perfect!

Beryl said...

This is so beautiful Lesley and such a lot of work has gone into it. Every minute was well worth it though.
Beryl xx

Elaine said...

Thank you my lovely friend, what a special card this is. All the more because I know how hectic things have been for you. Beautiful composition, I too have recently been inspired by Finnebair - how clever she is. I really appreciate the fact you did cut into that beautiful paper, the extra masking, stamping and misting added so much too. Much love Elaine x

Astrid Maclean said...

Lesley this is glorious, love everything about it, the subtle layering of masking and stamping and of course the wonderful roses!! Love those dies too, they are definitely on my wishlist! Great to see you have time for some crafting again too lol!!

Paula Whittaker said...

A beautiful card, love how youve used that paper.
Have a great weekend x

lisa said...

It's lovely to see you, Lesley and hope all is well in your world.
This is a stunning card, I'm sure Elaine will be so thrilled to receive it. Well done for cutting into that beautiful paper, I don't think I could bear to give it away, it's yummy.
I love those paper flowers too, you are so clever.
Have a great weekend. It's turned very Autumnal here this week with heavy rain and strong winds but the forecast for tomorrow looks good so fingers crossed.
Hugs Lisax

Sue's Crafty Corner said...

Elaine is one lucky lady. This is gorgeous Lesley, I love those beautiful roses. I'm glad to see you still manage to get a little crafting in to your very hectic life. I'm off to check out the link to the blog you've left.

Sue x

mamapez5 said...

I love all the swirls and butterflies, and I've seen so many lovely cards using the Venetion motifs, I think I may have to have that set one day. Lucky Elaine. I'm sure she loved it. Kate x

Paula (PEP) said...

This is a real beauty & very special. I was utterly intrigued by the process so thank you for describing how you made it. I certainly know the sense of creating something & deciding to quit whilst I'm ahead - pity I don't remember it & act on the quitting for I invariably end up having to redo!
Take good care of yourself - you're much in my thoughts.
With love
Paula (PEP)

Miranda said...

Hi Lesley, always a pleasure to see your delicate and great work, only don't have the time to leave a message always....I am sure you understand as a designer! I hope you are fine on the 'life'road and despite the fact I don't write often, you have a place in my heart. warm greet Miranda

snazzyoriginal said...

Happy Birthday Elaine, how lucky to receive such pretty card in lovely soft colours. I know what you mean about the blogging thing Lesley, although I try to blog regularly on the store blog I rarely get the chance to make anything for my own blog. Sometimes life just gets in the way lol! Hope to see you at Kettering, take care xx

Lynne K said...

Hi Lesley, this is just stunning! Who wouldn't be delighted to receive it? Lucky Elaine! Know what you mean about cutting into gorgeous paper. You're a braver woman than me!

Hope all's well with you,

Hugs, Lynne xx

Sally H said...

Gorgeous card, Lesley! So beautiful. Not surprised Elaine loved it. Thanks for your lovely comments and good to see you have had a little craft time and blog time in between your duties. Take care of yourself my friend. I may be taking my laptop with me to Rwanda as the hotel has free wi-fi, so I will try and blog from there if I can.
Sally x

Val said...

Just stunning Lesley. A beautiful piece for a lovely friend. I met Elaine once and the Art Stamps England show, and found her delightful.

Valxx

Christine B. said...

Hi Lesley your card is beautiful I love how you've used the paper and your embelishments are gorgeous. Thank you for your lovely comment on my blog. Take care Love and Hugs x ChrisB

Shirley said...

Talk about detailed work, this is lovely, so feminine, and gorgeous!!!

G Peplow said...

Hi Lesley, Woah this is a very special card for Elaine ( Happy Birthday to Elaine:0)) I love all the beautiful detail. The Mariposa papers are gorgeous but you've totally done them justice! Anna Dabrowska's work is work is sensational and such an inspiration, I can just about see her influence but this is definitely your own interpretation and very beautiful, how gracious you are:0)
Thank you so much for your visit to my blog and lovely comments, you're very kind, hugs Gay x