Foiled!

It's Jo's turn to set the DCM dare this week and she's dared us to raid the kitchen drawer for aluminium foil and include it on our cards. Here's mine...



I have no idea why but foil feels quite 'retro' to me so I went for a sort of groovy '70s thing here! I scrunched up the foil and then flattened it without trying to smooth out the scrunchiness, if you see what I mean. Then I stuck it to chipboard and scribbled over with a few shades of blue and green alcohol marker. I cut freehand wibbly edges and added three watery dewdrops.

The stamps all came in a batch of second-hand UMs I got on eBay and the seller provided no maker info so I'm afraid I have no idea what they are. Fun for this though! If anyone recognises them, I'd love to know!

Supplies: kitchen foil, chipboard, Tria and Copic pens, dewdrops (Water), Clearsnap chalk ink (Azurite, Ice Jade, Aquamarine), UM stamps (unknown maker).

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed the card!

Sympathy Silhouettes

People often say that sympathy cards are hard and when someone said it again on Carolyn's, I decided to have a go. Let's face it, they're the ones you least feel like making when you find out you need one so having one or two put by is probably not a bad thing.



Supplies: Silhouette Blooms I and Cheesecloth Backgrounder (CHF), Barbedor Script (Ma Vinci's Reliquary), Clearsnap chalk ink in creamy brown, chestnut roan, dark brown, Nestabilities classic oval dies, copper brads.

I made the frame for the sentiment just by putting two Nestability dies into my die cutter at the same time, one inside the other. I hit the two copper brads with a ball-end embossing tool and hammer to make them look more like rivets for the frame. I wanted to use antique copper really but I can't find them at the moment! I think these look OK, though.

Thanks for looking, I hope you liked the card.

New Nest!

I haven't done a DCM dare in ages so I thought a New Year was a good time to get back into the swing of it. Lynne's set the dare this time and she wants us to celebrate something new with our cards. I'm doubling up my challenges here as Carolyn has just set a 'birds and bees' challenge on CBC so I thought a new home card should do the trick.



I masked off the area for the nest before stamping the bird so that he looks like he's sitting rather than standing. I also tried to make him look a bit more settled by not inking his back wing before stamping! I used the 'negative' of the mask to ink in the nest area and then added a bit of detail with a Prismacolor pencil. I thought gingham would provide a nice homey sort of background and I used pinking shears on the edges and did faux stitching to complete the fabric effect.

Supplies: Singing Swirly Bird and Gingham backgrounder (both CHF) and New Home (Tanda Stamps), Ranger Distress ink Broken China, Clearsnap Chalk ink Dark Brown and Creamy Brown, Whispers ink Azure Seas, Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, blue Quicklet, grosgrain from stash, Nestabilities Classic Circle

Thanks for dropping by!

Brain like a sieve

I have a friend with a birthday on Christmas day and usually I post both cards at the same time. This year, I totally forgot so I decided to make her a New Year hello card by way of a substitute.



She speaks lots of languages so I though the French sentiment was appropriate - I got it in a grab-bag of stamps from Alluring Impressions just before Christmas. The background stamp is one I won during Lisa Strahl's birthday celebrations at Cornish Heritage Farms.

Supplies: Single Black Eyed Susan and Broad Stripe Backgrounder (both Cornish Heritage Farms), sentiment by Alluring Impressions, Adirondak Cool Peri, Tsukineko Brilliance Pearlescent Crimson, Clearsnap Chalk Wisteria, Tria markers, white gel pen, paper piercer

Happy New Year to you all, I hope 2008 is kind to you. Thanks for stopping by today.