Answers to some questions

So I received a few comments and questions with regards the material and tools used in my last card.
First of all, the image is Sassy Cheryl's, coloured with Letraset Promarkers (Bluebell, Lilac and Amethyst, plus Blush); Cuttlebug (dots) and Sizzix (vine) embossing folders; white pearls, butterfly die-cuts; Circle Nestabilities; for the flowers I used a new type of punch I recently bought - 3D Punch and Emboss from Docrafts XCut. It gives a beautiful and delicate effect, doesn't it? Yeah, I love it too.

A break

Last night I needed a break from children's birthday cards and presents and I came across a few interesting challenges that inspired me. So here's my card, which enters the following challenges:

Stampavie and More: Distressing

Quixotic Challenge - How distressing

Delightful Sketches - Pull out your Punches

Your next stamp - Going dotty

A Spoon full of Sugar - 3D

The Cuttlebug spot - Flowers and embossing

Charizma Card - Girly card with flowers

Flutter by Wednesday - Clean, simple and butterfly/fairy/angel

Sassy Cheryl - White on white

Thanks a mil for your comments!

Boy's Birthday card

2 done, another 3 to go :-) I told you this week was all about children's birthday cards!

This card in particular is for a 6 year old boy, the really boy-ish type, if you know what I mean.... He likes skateboards, bikes, scooters, rough sports, all that sort of thing.

The stamp is one of Sliekje's (check out her blog, she offers free digital images often and they are all very cute!) and I thought it was perfect for the occasion - cute but cool!  I downloaded a graffiti font from the net to give that rough look and coloured it all with Letraset Promarkers. Not overly ecstatic with the result, but it will have to do because I am running out of time :-(

The card enters 2 challenges, both with the Birthday theme:
Creative Belli Blog  and Stamp with Us.
Right-eo, I am off to make more children's birthday cards- let's see if I can get inspiration for the 3 remaining ones!

Where's my mojo?

Where's my mojo? This week I have a bunch of children's birthday cards to make and my inspiration seems to have completely evaporated. It has taken me hours to come up with today's card!

In the end I went for this cute Pollycrafts digital image, vivid colours using Promarkers and ribbons, and dry embossing.

I am entering the following challenges:

Sew many challenges - Anything goes; A Spoon full of Sugar - 3D; Kaboodle Doodles - embossing

Thanks for your comments!

Another Bugaboo card

This is such a great image and sentiment for a witty birthday card! I have used it often and love it still. Check out here for some more Bugaboo stamps.

My card enters several challenges today: Creative Card Crew and A Spoon Full of Sugar - Happy birthday; Papertake challenge - sketch 39

Hope you like it! Have a nice weekend!

Flowers

I could not craft for a few days, life just got on the way... This afternoon, finally I got some time to sit down and be creative again. Ah, it feels nice :-)
I was asked recently how to make paper flowers, so I decided to put together a card with a few of the different types I usually make.
This flowery card enters 2 challenges:
S2gPaperCrafting: Spring has sprung, flowers
and
Creative Inspirations: 3 flowers, 2 patterned papers, 1 ribbon.

Thanks for your comments! Have a nice day!

My zebra "out and about"

I am thrilled to see my dear digital zebra out and about, in "new environments".

Karyn did an amazing job with the image! I love the sponge effect for the sky and the sun -stunning! Check Karyn's blog here.
Deloris was also very creative; her use of the zebra is so clever!  And the embossed background is fab! Check out Deloris' blog here.

Aren't both cards super cool?!

Thanks girls!

Because today it does feel like spring!

All the stamps used in today's card are from Dimension Fourth, a British company that I discovered last year while attending a crafts show in Birmingham. They have lots of self-cling polymer stamps, a fabulous range of images at very reasonable prices and, very importantly, an excellent customer service.

Don't you think the stamps are beautiful? I got these ones recently and could not wait to play with them.

And I am very happy with the result: the bird house is adorable and the final card offers that spring/summer feel that I was looking for. The weather has been fantastic today and I feel optimistic -spring may finally be here!

I coloured the different images with Letraset Promarkers, and cut and layered some of them with 3D pads to give dimension. I added glitter to the butterfly wings and to the bird, as well as 3D embossing fluid, for extra dimension.

Today's card enters the following challenges:

Stampavie and More: butterflies

ABC challenge: S for sparkle

Stamp Something Challenges: layers
4x4 Friday: Spring garden
All Sorts challenge: In stitches
Sweet Stamping: In stitches
Penny's Paper challenge: Anything goes
Hope you like my creation, thanks for visiting my blog!

Decoupage card

I rarely use decoupage in my cards and defenitely never use peel-offs. No special reason, I just don't seem to find the right card for them. However I was demonstrating the decoupage technique the other day and a peel-off came in handy to finish this particular card.

My card enters a few challenges this week:
Crazy challenge: Don't call me flat
Creative Card Crew: Happy Birthday
Oh Alice: Flowers
Little Red Wagon: Dry embossing
The die-cuts are from Anita's Die-cut decoupage sheets; Manuscript embossing folder from Cuttlebug; mulberry paper, grey cardstock and peel-off from my own stash.

Pink card

Over on Cute Card Thursday things are going Mono Maniac! My card, the pinkest I have ever made ;-) enters the challenge..while on Stamping for the Weekend are looking for bows and ribbons.
I love MO's digital stamps, and this image in particular is one of my favourite. The quote is anonymous and I think it is perfect for the image of the beautiful young dreamer...
Ingredients: Paper from Papermania, Capsule Collection; Letraset Promarkers; border by Fiskars; pink ribbon and a beautiful silver charm, a gift from my friend Wendy.

Male birthday card

Finally I produce a card! This one is for a golf lover; I kept it simple, man-ish colours.

I used Nestabilities and Fiskars punches; the golf ball stamp is by Dimension Fourth; the sentiments from different sets: Papermania For Him, Daisy and Dandelion, and Studio G alphas; paper and cardstock from my own stash.

Since there is a bit of green, my card enters the Stampavie and More challenge of this week.

Thanks

I was away for a few days and only got home a few hours ago, not too late to check mail, visit a few blogs and catch up with the many comments left on my own blog during my absence - thanks everyone!
I would also like to express my delight with the response I got from the digital image. So many people contacted me to get the free zebra and sent me kind messages! Thanks a million. Whenever you make a card using the digital zebra, please let me know: I would love to show your creation with that image on my blog.

Cowboy birthday card

I needed a quick birthday boy card yesterday and I created this one, inspired by LoubyLoo.

My card enters 4 challenges: Crafty Creations, For Fun Challenges, Aifactory Challenge, S2G - all with the theme anything goes.

Last minute Easter treats

Arghh! I had completely forgotten that we were to visit our friends and their kids this evening. Luckily this morning I could still find some small eggs in the shop and made these two little treat bags.

BTW, I have no idea where I got the instructions to make the bags; I read them on the internet, but they were so easy that I did not even bookmark the page, sorry. 

Quick Easter Bag

I wanted to give my friend's daughter a little something -handmade, obviously - for Easter, so I was delighted when a few days ago Wendy offered this great template for a little gift bag. Go and get the freebie from her blog!

I kept my bag very simple: white cardstock handcut following Wendy's template; Cuttlebug embossing folder; handcut eggs coloured with Letraset Promarkers; ribbon and tissue paper to decorate the inside. And a lot of chocolate eggs to fill the bag, of course!
This will enter the ABC Challenge - R is for Red; Cupcake Craft - Easter with Chocolate (my bag is full of chocolate!); Easy Craft - Easter.
Thanks for visiting my blog!

All the way from the African savanna... Freebie!

***This image is no longer available for free***
I have been working on some digital images for the last few months. Some of you may have already seen a couple of them over on Wendy's blog. I call these two the "African digis" because they are of wild African animals.

Today I have decided to give one of my African digital stamps, my zebra, as a freebie! So if you would like this free image, please send me a mail (see my profile) and I will send you the jpg, free of watermarks, for your personal use. (The reason I am asking to send a mail is because, being my first freebie, I would love your feedback, read comments and see what kind of interest there is on the image). Once you receive the jpg, save it on your computer and resize it/print it using Word whenever you wish! But make sure you contact me soon because the offer ends on Monday 5th April!

Here's a little card I created with the image (which by the way I am using to enter this weeks challenge on Crafty Creations). I used Distress Ink over white cardstock to give that savanna look; the leaf stamp is from Dimension Fourth; Nestabilities die cut.
Why don't you show me your creation with this stamp?

I have other digital images -photos and drawings- I am hoping to be able to publish soon. Keep an eye on my blog if you are interested!

Usual angel policy applies - these digital images belong to me and are for personal use only. If you would like to use any commercially, please contact me. If you use any of my images to enter challenges or in any other creation, I would appreciate it very much if you could acknowledge it by mentioning DesigNeAl and linking it to my blog. Thanks!

SophistiCAT + Delightful Sketches challenge

This little card I made last night with some of my new stamps is entering 2 challenges:

SophistiCAT challenges - Raining cats and dogs

Delightful Sketches - Buttons and bling

Stamps by LittleClaire, Inkadinkado and Hero Arts; coloured with Letraset Promarkers; Stickles; Anita's 3D embossing fluid; rainy paper freebie; buttons and ribbon from my own stash.