"Ladybird" card

Second post today!
One of my best friends is celebrating her birthday on Saturday so I knew I needed to make a card for her this week. She absolutely loves red so I always try to include as much of this colour as possible in my cards/presents to her - it is a well-known fact that red makes her happy.
On the other hand, my blogging friend Lisa Jane has this challenge going on until 13th September - "a project inspired on a ladybug". Mmmmm... red, ladybug, red, ladybug.... nice coincidence, isn't it?
Well, here's the result, a clean and simple card, my favourite style, with lots of red and very ladybird-like:

The digital sentiment is by RainDrop Echo designs- I am in love with them at the moment, don't you think they are beautiful?! The background pattern I made with red cardstock, using a small pencil rubber and stamping with white ink; ribbon from my own stash; Nestabilities labels; Cuttlebug polka dot embossing folder; white pen to highlight the sentiment.

Lisa Jane is also offering lovely Celebration Candy if you are a follower and are up to the ladybird challenge. Check out her blog for more details.
So I am entering my card into Lisa Jane's challenge - Ladybugs
Sentimental Sundays - Clean and Simple
Double Dutch - Create your own patterned paper

Happy Monday!

Jewellery box + Pink Birthday card

Two posts today :-)
The first one is a double one - it features a small gift and a birthday card for a little 6 year old girl friend of my son.

We were in a beads shop the other day and my son decided to get some colourful crystal beads to make a beautiful bracelet for Mama. (My son loves this sort of thing, I guess he sees me happy sorrounded by crafty bits all day long and he has inherited my passion). There were a few beads left after my bracelet so I suggested we made another bracelet for his friend Emily's upcoming birthday. And it just seemed like a good idea to then alter a little jewellery box I had to put the little bracelet in.
I would like to enter the altered box into the following challenges:
Aly Sundays - Pretty in pink
One Stitch at a time - Girlie
For fun - Use ribbon/lace
Crazy 4 Challenges - Lattice
Craft your days away - With wings
The jewellery box has been painted and then altered with decopatch paper and paper doilies; ribbon, lace, felt flower and button, all from my own stash. The white alphas are stickers; the butterflies a Cuttlebug diecut, embossed with Cuttlebug folders.

And of course, then I made a birthday card to give with the jewellery box.

The card enters the following challenges:
Aly Sundays - Pretty in pink
One Stitch at a Time - Girlie
Stamptacular Sunday - Pretty in Pink

For fun - Use ribbon/lace

CRAFT - Birthdays anything goes

Bee Crafty - Anything goes

The image on the card ("Little Angel Alice") I am not sure of the designer, apologies (I always try to keep track of the designer but for some reason I did not record the name of this one. I know it was a free image featured on Free Digital Stamps not long ago). It is coloured with Letraset Promarkers and has some Stickles. The capital E is made in Word. The candle stamp and sentiment are both Hero Arts.

Shaped birthday card

And here's another birthday card, commissioned by the same client. For this one I used much brighter colours and a circular shape.

The image, coloured with Letraset Promarkers, is also from Ellis Designs; circle/scalloped Nestabilities; the papers and cardstock are leftovers, flower and ribbon are all from my own stash.

I would like this card to enter the following challenges:

Dare U2 digistamp - Shaped card

For fun - Use ribbon/lace

CRAFT challenge - Birthdays anything

Oh Alice - Little Girl theme

Thanks for your comments! Have a nice day!

Distressed Birthday card

Just finished: a commissioned card for a birthday girl. I felt like using pastel colours and soft patterns for this one.
It enters the following challenges:
Oh Alice - Little Girl theme
Sweet Stampin - Distressed Birthday
Alphabet - R for Roses
Bee Crafty - Anything goes

Whatever I want!

It's my father-in-law's birthday on Sunday and like every year this is a time when I am not looking forward to making a card. Why? Well, he is a lovely person, a real character, and a fun-loving man, who I know now, likes receiving only humourous cards. I have discovered that fact over the years and after a few disappointments. He does not do it on purpose, he simply does not like elegant or serious-looking cards so, much to my astonishment, he often used to discard my one after hardly reading it, while all the humourous cards had a special place on the mantelpiece! So as challenging as it is already for me to create a male card, it is a double challenge to come up with a humourous card for him every year.

And so this morning I set myself to the difficult task - nice cup of decaff latte in front of me, clean desk... And I got thinking which stamps were particularly funny and appropriate and would be worth considering for the challenge, and immediately Bugaboo came to my mind! Have you ever seen their digis? I have purchased a few over the last year or so and they are fantastic, especially if you are looking for a humourous style. I think this old fella is called Gus and maybe not so much his looks, but defenitely his attitude really fits my FIL's profile! LOL!

The beach huts in the background are a recent freebie from Little Musings. All images coloured with Letraset Promarkers and mounted on 3D pads to give some perspective. The beach effect I created with brown paper and distress ink; the birthday sentiment is a sticker from my own stash.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:
ABC - B is for Blue (My card is only partially blue so I am not sure they will accept my entry)
YNS - Bold Bright Summer colours
CRAFT - Photo inspiration (I have used the colours of the jellies as inspiration)
Cards for Men - Decoupage
Aud Sentiments - Anything goes
Stampin' for the weekend - Anything goes

Thanks for your comments! Have a nice weekend!

Spotlight card

Good evening!
Here's another technique I have been meaning to try for a while - the spotlight - and this week Crafty Cardmakers are challenging crafters to try it. So I decided to give it a go the other day and I must say - I love it! It really gives the image a new light, and it's actually very easy!
Very often I come up with my own sketches, but for this card I decided to use Oh Alice's. The colour combination is another one of my favourite, I've used it before (here, for instance) and love the result.

I would like to enter my card into some other challenges:
A pocket full of posies - All that Glitter
Pink Elephant - Ribbon and Sparkle
My time to Craft - Glitter and Glitz
Bee Crafty - Ribbon and bows
Sentimental Sunday - Ribbon or lace
Craft your Passion - Anything goes
Little Paper Shop - Stitching
Created by Hand - Stitiching
Everybody Art - In the garden

The digital image is from Pollycraft; the backing paper is from the Flora and Fauna CD by Docrafts; I used Letraset Promarkers to colour and highlight pieces of the image; 2" circle punch; Diamond Stickles on the spotlights and flower; orange and blue cardstock; turquoise ribbon and flower; orange gems; orange raffia - all from my own stash.
The card is for a good friend whose birthday was in June but I have not seen for a while. I am hoping to meet her on Sunday and hope she likes it ;-)
Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks!

My favourite colours

Todays card contains some of my favourite colours; unlike pink, which is a colour I seem to only use in crafting, but never never never in clothing, I love, use and wear a lot of green, khaki, olive, sand, taupe, beige. And I find that together with purple, these colours are stunning! And to my delight, there were 2 different challenges this week with this colour combination. Happy me!
I also wanted to use the Raindrop Echo Designs digital sentiments for a while, and todays card seemed the perfect opportunity. Isn't the sentiment beautiful?
Sentiment from Raindrop Echo Designs; the tree stamp is Papermania; the backing paper with green flourishes is from Love Jesse Edwards, Papermania; Green and purple cardstock are Core-dinations; purple vellum, purple flower, green button and brown cardstock are all from my own stash.

The challenges:

Daring Cardmakers - Tree-mendous

Cute Card Thursday - Tree-mendous

Colour throwdown - artichoke + eggplant + suede
Crafts and me - Purple and green
Fab'n'Funky - My favourite colour/s
Alphabet challenge - P is for punches

Hope your weekend is fantastic!

Beach scene

My card today features 3 of my own digital images, available for free -see previous post- until Saturday 14th August.

It is a beach scene for those who long for those beautifully hot summer days :-)

The sand, the sun and the sky have been masked using Distresss Ink; the sandcastle, the starfish and the seashell coloured with Letraset Promarkers; I also used different tones of Stickles, to give a sand look and some more life to the different elements; button from my own stash; 3D foam pads to add perspective.

I left the card without a sentiment so I can use it for whatever occasion is needed.
Oh, can anyone spot what I forgot from the original image? Yes, the little flag on the sandcastle! :-)

My card enters the following challenges:

Simon Says - Summertime Blues

Drunken Stampers - Masking

ABC Challenge - A is for August

Tuesday Taggers - Sunshine

Don't forget to show me your creations with DesigNeAl's digital images!
Thanks for your comments

Freebies - Beach sandcastle, starfish and seashell

I refuse to give up on summer! The sky is grey, it's only 15 degrees, it rained a few minutes ago and the forecast is for a wet and cloudy week ahead... still, there's sandals on my feet! (mind you, my feet are frrrrrrrrrrrrozen!)

With this mindset I decided to use my crafting skills to hold on to whatever summer we have left for a bit longer, and drew this little beach scene: a sandcastle, a starfish and a seashell.

For all those who are still holding onto the warm weather, here are some summer freebies! Enjoy them until Saturday 14th August (when they will be replaced by watermarked images).

I would love to see what you create with my digis. See my next post to see how I used these images!

Usual rules apply: 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. Thank you and enjoy!

Please leave a comment after downloading the images, thanks!

Little Pink Fairy

Good (and sunny!) evening
Here's todays card, which enters the following challenges:

Critter Sketch - Sketch # 26

Sugar Creek Hollow - No Designer Paper
Our Creative Corner - Embossing
Lots to do - Ribbon and Lace
Cupcake Crafts - Lace
Ooh-la-la - Spots and Dots
Sentimental Sundays - Anything goes
Sweet Stampin - Pretty in Pink
Just Scraps - Anything goes

The cute fairy image is June Bug, coloured with Letraset Promarkers, using my new blender pen :-); Papermania and Cuttlebug embossing folders; distressing tool; Diamond Stickles; lace, ribbon and cardstock from my own stash.

I {also} chunky dunk!

I purchased the Born to Shop stamp collection by Docrafts last weekend and have been looking forward to using them all week. I feel soo identified with the sentiments! LOL! Last night I finally got the chance - and the pleasure to play a bit :-) and here's my first creation with them:

Born to Shop stamps by Docrafts; Papercraft Perfect Match backing paper; Fiskars border punch; hot pink and pale blue cardstock and ribbon from my own stash. Image coloured with Letraset Promarkers.

This card enters the following challenges:
Alphabet challenge - O for Ovals
Get sketchy - sketch # 50
Stamp Something - photo inspiration
Crazy Amigo - Free theme
My Time to Craft - Let's eat cake!
Creative Card Crew - Cute and Girlie
City Crafter - Yum!

When Life gives you Lemons...

A quick one today...
I've had these gorgeous lemon papers for a while, they are from Pink Petticoat; the sentiment is a freebie from Meljen's Designs - don't you love it?! I also used Anita's embossing fluid and Stickles to emphasize the colour and texture of the lemons.

I sincerely apologise for the quality of the photo; it does not matter how much I retouch the colours it keeps turning into this horrible blue-ish... the card is so much brighter and yellow IRL :-(

Onto some challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - Whateva!

Dutch Dare - Anything goes

Frosted Designs - Celebrate Life (the sentiment says it all!)

The Stamp Man Challenge - Take 2 colours (white and yellow)

Have a nice weekend!

Welcome Little One

Happy evening to you all.

One of my lovely neighbours has become a grandmother. This is my card to congratulate her on such special occasion.

The fabulous teddy digi stamp is a freebie from Wendy, mounted on 3D pads; the sentiment stamp is from the Honey and Hugs collection by Papermania; new Docrafts Polka dots embossing folder; Circle Nestabilities; Xcut border punch; buttons, gingham paper, blue and yellow cardstock from my own stash.

Onto a few challenges:

Totally Gorjuss - Baby baby

Die Cut Dreams - Gingham

Charisma Cardz - Teddy bears

Meljen's Designs - Clean and simple

Pixie Dust Studio - Cute as a Button

Tissue holder

...And this is my project with the rhino image - a pocket tissue holder for the tough guy in the house, using my digital rhino - which will enter the following challenges:

Alphabet Challenge - N for Nature
Creative Inspirations -  Animals
Bee Crafty - All about the image
Cowgirls Sunday Stamp'en - Animals/bugs
By the Cute and Girly - Animal antics
Rosie D's - All creatures great and small
Scrappy Frogs - A stitch in time

Please leave a comment!

Freebie - A digital Rhino for you

A while back I offered my digital zebra as a freebie. The response was great and I was thrilled to see the amazing creations some of you came up with it!

Today and for 3 days only, following with the African theme, I am offering my DIGITAL RHINO FOR FREE! You can download the JPG by right-clicking the image without watermark and saving it onto your computer. You can then resize it and print it as you wish.
Needless to say, usual rules apply: 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. Thank you and enjoy!

I am leaving the digital image free of watermarks on the blog until Friday 6th August for anyone to download it (the digital image without watermarks will be then removed and replaced by a watermarked one), and I would appreciate it very much if all those who download it leave a comment. Cheers!

For ideas on how to use the image, see my next post :-)

Side step card

My good friend Wendy and I were shopping yesterday when we came across the Smooch Spritzers by Clearsnap. Completely new to me, they quickly caught my attention so I decided to purchase two colours: Log Cabin and Wine Berry. And of course, I couldn't wait to get home to try them! For the last couple of days I had also been working on a new technique, a side step card - gosh, it took me a while to get the measurements of this card right in cms!- and putting the two techniques together seemed the perfect way to spend my Monday evening! And here it is, the final product:

Cream, golden and copper cardstock; Bird stamp by DoCrafts Gstudio; Manuscript background by Hero Arts; swirls stamp by Rhonna Ferrer; Pirate Gold Stampendous Embossing Powder; Log Cabin Smooch Spritz; Inspirations Golden pigment ink; Metallic copper pigment ink; circle and scalloped circle punches; the sentiment is a golden sticker; the copper ribbon is from my own stash.

My side step card enters the following challenges:
CupCake Craft - Distressing
Ellephantastic - Distressing
Ooh-la-la creations - Birthday
Stampin B's- Birthday
Squigglefly - Ribbon
Alphabet Challenge - N for Nature
Sentimental Sundays - New technique/new style
Creative Inspirations - Anything goes

I need to practice a bit more how to use the Smooch Spritzers so please let me know of you are aware of any good videos out there :-)

Thanks for your comments.

Jak's fab blog candy!

Have you seen it? If you haven't yet, go and check - http://www.jakheath.com/2010/08/blogcandy-hanglar-stanglar-promarkers.html

It runs til August 8th - hurry up!